Sermon - 2020 - 06 - 14

 

Today within our gospel, we hear of Jesus preparing the disciples to go out into the world. He goes to cities and villages where he would proclaim the good news.  He would cure diseases and restore people back into the community.  When he saw crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

This last line really stood out to me.  Turning on the evening news and hearing crowds of protesters who are longing to be heard and wanting a community where they can belong.  What is it that they are longing for?  They are longing for compassion and to be understood.  They are longing for people to recognize them and allow them to be part of the flock, part of the society once again.  So yes, when we hear of Jesus training disciples over two thousand years ago, he is still training us.  Preparing our hearts, our minds, and our lives to how it is we are reaching out and caring for those who are in need.  Jesus goes on to give the disciples specific instructions of giving them boundaries of where it is they should go and that this would be their fields of labor for the harvest.  Jesus gave them authority and instructions of what it is they should do as they experience those who are willing to listen and those who refuse to hear the good news of the Kingdom.  

Yet Jesus does not stop there. Jesus tells the disciples that many people will want to be followers and laborers in the kingdom.  However, the work that is to be done, only a few will actually want to do the work.  For the harvest will be plentiful, but the laborers few.  Jesus tells to his disciples not to discourage them when they feel overwhelmed because there is so much pain in the world around them.  But he sends them out into the world to actually do the work.  In our modern times, it would be telling us to “walk the walk and not talk the talk”.  Jesus wanted the disciples to grow closer to him and more importantly closer to the Father in Heaven by doing the work of the kingdom for those who were in need of it.  To be able to share the love, grace, and mercy that is needed in this world in order to understand the Will of the Father in Heaven.  

Yet Jesus knew of the brokenness of this world and the way people had turned from God, time and time again. So he warned them about family, friends, and others who may turn against them.  We want to hear the good news, but sometimes hearing the good news of God causes us to realize all the pain, suffering, and brokenness in the world around us and in our own lives.  

This is where we find ourselves today, we are being called as disciples into the world, to do the work of the Father here on earth.  Yet, we are wrestling with the good news as we are also delivering it.  We are constantly struggling with how it is shaping us and shaping the world around us.  As soon as we think we understand where the Holy Spirit is going then the Holy Spirit moves us to another place, another person, and another calling in the world.  It raises the question, how is God shaping you?  Are you willing to be shaped?

For many of us, this is where we stop.  For as Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.  So then, it is up to us to realize and take action in the world.  The ELCA has the slogan “God’s Work, Our Hands” to remind us that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ in the world.  We are bringing forth the good news of Jesus Christ, we are bearing the love, grace, and mercy that he delivered to us when we were in need and in the baptismal waters called us by name to do the work of the Kingdom here in this place where we are.  

So go and do the work that Jesus Christ is calling you to do, hear the good news, be shaped by it, and share it with others who are in need.  Amen.