Loved and sent
Text: Matthew 9:35—10:8
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Last week, we began the long green season of the church year. This year in the lectionary, we are spending 26 weeks (give or take) in Matthew’s gospel, which began with the call of Matthew. Today, Jesus continues in the theme of calling and sending disciples.
Jesus sees sheep without a shepherd
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:35,36)
As a Jewish rabbi, it is no surprise that Jesus is spending a lot of time teaching in synagogues and building a following of students along the way. But that is where the similarities end. Jesus is different from any other Jewish rabbi for many reasons, but there are a couple of obvious ones here.
Firstly, rabbis normally teach their students how to interpret God’s laws in the Old Testament. It’s all about learning how to be a better Jew and be the most faithful and diligent person possible. But Jesus isn’t teaching law—He is “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.” Jesus preaches the gospel. The content of Jesus’ teaching is completely different to other rabbis.
We’ll look at the second major difference a little later on.
So, Jesus was going from town to town, telling people about God’s kingdom and that the promised Messiah had arrived. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt. 9:36)
The Jewish people were suffering under the pressure of the harsh rules and regulations being enforced on them, either by the Romans or their own religious teachers. They weren’t being guided or shepherded in godly living, but whipped into line and punished for any wrong moves. Jesus was sorry to see His people suffering like this—Jesus had sympathy for them. Sheep need a shepherd.
This kind of suffering is very real for us today. There are sheep wandering all over the place without a shepherd to bring them back into the fold. There are people who are “harassed and helpless” because of the world around them.
When a young person is struggling to work out who they are, who is there to listen and guide?
When a young adult is struggling to work out what their purpose is in life, who is there to help and support?
When a retiree is struggling to work out their place in the world, who is there to provide a place to belong?
For many, the answer to these questions is no one, nothing. These are the lost sheep in our community. For us who belong to Christ, we have several answers to those questions.
In times of difficultly and questioning, we have a community to belong to.
In times of uncertainty and struggle, we have our Good Shepherd to guide and care for us.
In times of challenge and aimlessness, we have the Holy Spirit living within us and speaking to us.
When Jesus sees His sheep without a shepherd, He has sympathy on them and wants to bring them back into the fold.
Jesus called a community of disciples
On Trinity Sunday, Pastor Deane preached on the community of God in the Holy Trinity. It is God’s nature to be in relationships of love. After all, God is love and love requires more than one.
It should not be a surprise to us, then, that Jesus does not go about His ministry alone. He attracts many followers as well-known rabbis tended to, but He specifically called those twelve men to be His closest disciples.
Throughout the gospels, we hear about the disciples having conversations with each other about Jesus’ miracles and teaching. We hear them question together, “Who is this man? What have we gotten ourselves into?” I have a strong feeling that those twelve developed an extremely tight bond during those few years as Jesus’ students. They learnt together, struggled together, and grew together.
It is much the same for us. We are not disciples of Jesus on our own—we are a part of a community of disciples. God established the Church to function as those twelve men did: learning, struggling, and growing together. God established the Church after His own nature as the body of Christ. God established the Church as a community of believers rather than a bunch of rogues and solo spiritualists.
How would you define a healthy, successful local congregation? What are the signs of success in a local church? Our minds tend to go to big numbers: lots of members, lots of baptisms, lots of money, lots of projects, lots of programs. A diverse small group network. A group for everyone: shed men, ladies fellowship, a thriving youth group, confirmation classes of 20 or more…
These are worldly expectations for a worldly community. The Church is not a worldly community—it is the holy community of God.
Can a small church be successful? Can a small church be a community where the kingdom of God is proclaimed? Can a small church be a place to come for forgiveness and life? Can a small church reflect the love of Christ? You bet it can. That sounds like success to me.
Like that motley crew of disciples, the Christian church is a mixed bag of people that, from a worldly point of view, God shouldn’t be including. Like the disciples were called by Christ, the Church is established by Him and not us. The Church is not based on the people that are in it or even the things we do and don’t believe. The Church is an extension of the community of God.
Jesus called a community of disciples, and still does.
Jesus loves and sends His disciples
We mentioned before that Jesus is different from any other rabbi. The first reason was because of the content of His teaching: not laws and expectations, but the good news of the kingdom.
After seeing the sheep without a shepherd, Jesus turns to his disciples and tells them to pray for God to send workers into the harvest field. The very next thing He does is call the Twelve and authorise them.
When we pray for God to send workers into the harvest field, the last thing we expect is for Him to send us. Be careful what you pray for—He might just send you.
This is the second difference between Jesus and other rabbis. A rabbi’s authority is based on their ability to read Scripture and interpret it. They held a tight grip on their authority and control, and no rabbi would ever consider sharing or delegating it.
Interestingly, a very similar thing can take place with pastors in the Church. It can happen both ways: the people willingly submit to the pastor and expect him to perform the ministry, since he is the expert after all. They think it is wise to leave ministry and worship to the guy that’s been trained for it, and it’s best not to get in the way. This leads to Christians becoming inactive in their faith and have no sense of ownership of their congregation’s ministry.
The other way can also happen, where the pastor assumes all responsibility for ministry and worship, refusing to delegate or authorise others. He thinks this is a healthy respect for the office of pastoral ministry, but it suffocates people in the process. This will usually lead to a pastor burning out and leaving while the congregation is left to pick up the pieces without having been trained or prepared in any way.
In both cases, this style of ministry burns people, makes growth impossible, and removes any chance of the gospel being proclaimed in the community.
Jesus’ style of ministry is one of multiplication. He gives His authority to these twelve unqualified and inexperienced disciples. This authority is the right to have control over four specific things listed here: healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, and casting out demons. Later, Jesus will give them authority to grant forgiveness of sins and withhold that forgiveness. However you look at it, Jesus is effectively giving the keys to His Ferrari to a 12 year-old boy.
Jesus would know the risk involved in authorising these twelve ordinary people, but He does it anyway. He loves them. He knows them each by name and He knows the life He called them from.
Likewise, Jesus loves you. He knows you by name and He knows the life you live for the other six days of the week. Yet, as Jesus loved and sent the disciples, so He loves and sends you.
You are no less capable or prepared for this work than those twelve men were, or even Abraham for that matter. It’s amazing what God can do with an ordinary human being with even the smallest amount of faith.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”
