“Help Wanted” Matt. 9:35-10:8 Pent. 2A, June ‘20

1.                Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word on the 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost is taken from Matthew 9:35-10:8, it’s entitled, “Help Wanted,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Vision, Compassion, Gathering, Sending, that is the movement in the Gospel reading for today. It is also the movement of Jesus’ response to those who are harassed and helpless, of God’s interaction with His fractured and fallen creation, and of the sanctified Christian life as it lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.  In our text today from Matthew 9 & 10 Jesus says that there is Help Wanted for service in His Kingdom.

3.                Dr. Martin Luther called experiencing life on this earth as going through a “vale of tears.” It certainly is with its multitude of sorrows, pain, heartaches, and death. During the bubonic plague in Germany, Lutheran Pastor Philip Nicolai buried 1400 hundred members of his parish in one year, having as many as 30 funerals in one day. Truly those days were evil. Strife, misery, despair, sickness were all around, and the smell of death was in the air.  

4.                Everywhere Jesus journeyed in Israel, He found illness, misery, and strife. Jesus saw the whole world of humanity straying and losing itself in the grief of sorrow and death. People were scattered by doubt, unbelief, and apathy. They were lost in fear, self-pity, and the stress of daily living. No one cared for their souls.  As He went throughout the cities and villages, Jesus saw. This is not a minor detail. Many people go through life wondering if anyone sees them, if anyone notices them. The crowds Jesus saw were “helpless and harassed” (v. 36; these verbs could be translated more literally “whipped/flayed” and “thrown down”). Jesus noted they were like sheep without a shepherd, which meant they had neither protector nor provider.

5.                Jesus does not name the source of their harassment, but it is not hard to imagine. Simply look around today. Some are tossed about by injustice, grief, and abuse of authority. Others are flayed by disease, economic strain, and isolation. Everyone is harassed by a sinful inclination to respond with (un)righteous anger, fear, and self-righteousness. 

6.                The problem, in part, is many people do not see. Maybe they cannot, having never put themselves in the position to see. Maybe they will not, refusing to look outside their own lives and their own bubbles. Contrast them (us) with Jesus. Jesus sees. He sees the crowds in the text. He sees their helplessness. He sees those who are harassing them, and He does not look away. This is not surprising, for He is the Son of the One who sees all things—good, bad, and ugly (cf. Proverbs 15:3; Psalm 139:1-3; Jeremiah 23:24).

7.                Truly seeing others and their plight is a necessary beginning. But if being seen is not accompanied by being helped, it does not do much. This is the second movement in the text. Having seen the crowds, Jesus has compassion. That is, He suffers with them (from the Latin, com·passio). In this sense, the suffering of Jesus is not limited to the events of Holy Week. It encompasses His entire ministry (even His entire incarnation). Jesus came among us to suffer with us before He suffered on Golgotha for us.

8.                The Lord came with a heart of compassion. As He walked the streets and lanes of the villages, He looked on the people with sympathetic eyes and reached out His hand to help. He gave sight to the blind, new life to a dead girl, and delivered a demon-possessed man from the devil’s tyranny. No matter the sickness, He was ready to touch the hurting with His healing hand.  Then Jesus went to Calvary to give His life as a payment for the world’s sins that we might be gathered into His sheepfold. Only in Christ can one find healing from the pain of sin and His protection against the evil foe. He laid down His life for the souls of all people that they might be redeemed from the guilt of sin and the fear of death.

9.                We are not as good at suffering with others. Luther’s explanations to the 5^th and 8^th Commandments come to mind. We are to fear and love God by helping and supporting our neighbors in every bodily need. We are to defend them, speak well of them, and put the best construction on everything they do. We fall short, which must not be easily excused even though it is true. But Jesus does not. He protects and provides for His people as the Good Shepherd they have been missing.

10.             The compassion of Jesus, which arises from seeing the suffering of the crowds, leads Him to gather. He begins by gathering the twelve (they are first listed in Matthew’s Gospel here at the beginning of chapter ten). But He does not stop there. As Lutheran Theologian Robert Kolb likes to say, we worship a God of conversation and community. That is, God continually speaks to us through His Holy Word and continually gathers.

11.             It is still a little odd to speak of gathering these days. Some congregations remain unable to gather in groups larger than nine. Others have resumed gathering, but not within six feet and not without facemasks. This points to an important aspect of the gathering Jesus does in this text. He does not gather the disciples for their own edification; not primarily, at least. He gathers them so He might send them.

12.             Matthew 10:2 is the only time in Matthew’s Gospel where the twelve are called “apostles”. In this instance, Jesus sends them to cast out demons and heal diseases (this is a related, but different mission than His sending in John 20 where the resurrected Lord sends them and His Church to forgive sins). It is not a stretch to say Jesus sent the Apostles to do what he had come to do: To see, to have compassion, to gather, and to send.

13.             The situation has not changed today. Sheep are still scattered. People are without hope, trying to make themselves look good before God by self-appointed acts of mercy that will induce God to grant them salvation.  Jesus is still compassionate today. He offers Himself in the Scriptures and the Sacrament as the Light, Hope, and the Savior of the world. We know how much He loves us.

14.             The search for scattered sheep is limitless. The blessed Savior asks that our eyes behold this tragic scene. He asks that we pray He will send workers to proclaim His mission of salvation through the cross. Jesus continues to send His people to see others (especially the widow, the orphan, and all who suffer injustice) as human beings and fellow creatures of a loving God. He continues to send His people to have compassion on those who are helpless and harassed; to suffer with them and help them bear their burdens. He continues to send His people to speak words of life and forgiveness that not only create saving faith in the hearts of individuals, but also gather them together for life as His body. And He continues to send His people to continue sending others until all have heard and believed and come together in His name. Romans 10:14-17 comes to mind here.

15.             Last week the Gospel reading came from Matthew 28. We call it the Great Commission. In a sense, this week’s reading gives us the background. Before the sending is the gathering. Before the gathering is the compassion. Before the compassion is the seeing. And it all starts with a gracious God.  Vision, Compassion, Gathering, Sending, that is what God does through Jesus. He does it for you, for your hearers, and for all creation.  May our compassion for lost souls be followed by our prayers and support for those laboring in the harvest field for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  Amen.  Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen. 

“Jesus Has ALL Authority” Matthew 28.16-20, Trinity Sunday June ‘20

1.                 Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word as we celebrate the Rite of Confirmation at Christ Lutheran and also Trinity Sunday is taken from Matthew 28:16-20.  It’s entitled, “Jesus Has ALL Authority.”  The words Trinity and triune aren’t mentioned in Scripture, but the concept of our triune God is everywhere in evidence in God’s Word, maybe most succinctly in today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew 28.  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                The Lord, who is with us, retains authority over us. His promise calls for trust and obedience.  In 1981, Jeffery Stout, a professor of religion and philosophy at Princeton University, published a book called The Flight from Authority. In it, he described a social and philosophical trend in western society. Collectively, he argued, we have been on a, “flight from authority,” for several centuries. In the Reformation, we fled the authority of the church. Under Rationalism, we ran from the authority of the Scriptures. With the Philosopher Immanuel Kant, we turned our backs on the authority of reason, and then morality. The flight continues in our own times as we resist conformity to governments, social norms, and institutions in general. Obedience is out. Autonomy is in. Simply put, we like to be charge.

3.                This is nothing new, of course. Shortly after this week’s Old Testament reading from Genesis, the first leg of the flight began. The first humans exerted their autonomy against the will of their Father and Creator to their own detriment (and ours). Among other things, the continuing result is we have all learned to sing with Frank Sinatra the autonomist’s creed, “I’ll do it my way.”

4.                This human flight from authority came to mind as I pondered Jesus’ first words in Matthew 28:18. “All authority,” He says, “has been given to me.” This is a striking claim. “All authority,” after all, leaves out nothing. And nothing less than the resurrection was needed to back it up. On this Trinity Sunday we remember that all authority had been given to Jesus by the Father. It was given to Jesus in the power of the Spirit, by whom He was conceived, with whom He was anointed in the Jordan River on the day of His baptism, and through whom Jesus spoke powerful words and performed powerful works.

5.                Here is the point: Jesus has all authority. He is in charge. Despite appearances to the contrary and our thirst for autonomy, the risen Christ is Lord over all. Try as we might, we can’t escape His rule. If we had our heads on straight, we wouldn’t want to, for He exercises authority with wisdom, mercy, and grace.  Despite appearances to the contrary and our thirst for autonomy, the risen Christ is Lord over all.

6.                Jesus’ announcement of authority in the text is followed by a command and a promise.  Matthew 28:19-20 says, “19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Jesus commands His disciples to make more disciples by baptizing and teaching all nations.   This is why the Church observes the practice of Confirmation, so that those who are baptized in the Christian faith learn to understand the teachings of Christ our Lord from Holy Scripture and what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the work of the Church. That is how we live under His authority. Christ calls us as the Church to be about the work of baptism and teaching the Christian faith.  After the command, Jesus continued with the promise. “I will be with you,” He says, until the very end. There is grace in this promise. Jesus promises to be with His disciples to forgive and renew them, and to lead them to delight in His will and walk in His ways. But there is also accountability in this promise. The Lord, who is with us, retains authority over us. His promise calls for trust and obedience.

7.                If the Covid 19 pandemic has taught us nothing else, it should be teaching us there is only One who has all authority... and Jesus has all authority.  Our flight from Jesus’ authority continues. For the unfaithful ways in which we have fled the authority of God in His 10 Commandments, we need to repent. For the unfruitful ways in which we’ve operated independently from God, we need to follow the commands of Jesus. For the fearful ways in which we’ve despaired over our loss of control in these challenging times, we need to hear the promise of Jesus who makes Himself graciously present with His forgiveness, life, and salvation.

8.                This is why we need Jesus as our Lord and our Savior.  How Jesus began as a human being made a huge difference in what happened in his life. He didn’t begin on his own, but with the unity and activity of the whole Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Son right from conception. He is conceived by the Holy Spirit. And the Father sends his Son to us.

9.                That same triune God that was working together at his incarnation continues to do so throughout his life. Jesus begins his public ministry at his Baptism. What happens? The Holy Spirit comes down as a dove. The Father declares that Jesus is his beloved Son and that he is well pleased with Jesus. Jesus began his mission of salvation together with the Father and Holy Spirit, and all are active in completing our salvation. We see him regularly in prayer with his Father, and the Spirit is with him every step of the way.

10.             Then come the final days of his life. Now on the cross Jesus is alone. Even his Father has abandoned him as he goes through hell for us. But you can see the Father even in that loneliness and suffering—Jesus is carrying out his Father’s will by going to the cross for you. On Easter morning, the Father raises him from the dead. Later, when Jesus ascends into heaven, he sends his Holy Spirit into the Church.

11.             Now, as I’ve just told you how Jesus began, continued, and ended his earthly life in the unity of all persons of the Trinity, I’m struck by how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all working together on our behalf. Read through the Bible, and you don’t find a hint of jealousy, resentment, anger, bitterness, or strife in the Trinity. The three persons are wonderfully and mysteriously one God.  How Jesus began his earthly life made a huge difference in what happened in his life. From beginning to end, the Trinity was wonderfully united in action for us.

12.             The same is true for our lives. How we start makes a huge difference. And for us in the Church, the triune God is our starting place. We begin by being baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. What difference does that make?  First, beginning with Baptism makes a huge difference in how we see the world we live in. The earth, stars, animals, plants, and universe aren’t just nature or an endless product of evolution, but all are fearfully and wonderfully made by God by His power & authority. Each day we believe that God the Father is Creator of heaven and earth.  We also believe God cares for his creation. He doesn’t watch from a distance but keeps and protects it.  The Triune God has authority over us, we are His creatures. Oh, sure, we see wars, natural disasters, pollution, hatred and violence that make us doubt. But when you begin by being baptized into God the Father, you believe that a tree bearing fruit is a gift from God, so we have something to eat. You believe that a firefighter is given by God to help keep danger at bay. You believe that the medicine you buy from a pharmacy is given by God through the wonderful minds who do research and study this incredible creation.  Food and drink, house and home, work and country, rest and school are gifts from God for us to live our lives in his gracious care.

13.             Second, beginning in the Trinity at Baptism makes a huge difference in our relationship with God. It’s all grace. It’s all a gift. How do we begin a worship service? With confession. We admit we are poor, miserable sinners. We confess we deserve only temporal and eternal punishment. We know we’ve sinned against God’s authority over our lives and we’ve sinned against each other by thought, word, and deed.

14.             But Jesus came long ago as Savior. He came not only to be born in a manger but also to be placed in a tomb. He came with not just a star to guide Wise Men, but also with an early morning rising sun as he rose from the dead. With all Jesus has done, we are forgiven. In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die and rise for us. For his sake, God forgives us all our sin. He has given us the privilege of becoming his children. Our Baptism places us into God’s loving and forgiving hands right from the very start of our lives.

15.             No wonder that in Matthew 28, Jesus says we’re to go and make disciples of all nations. We’re to go and tell others what Jesus has done for us. We’re to go and bring others to Jesus so he can give to them what we have received: that loving and forgiven relationship with God.  We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. We go, make disciples, teach, and baptize, all because what Jesus has done for us makes all the difference in our relationship with God. When you begin with Baptism into the name of the triune God, it makes a huge difference in your life.

16.             Third, it makes a huge difference in the kind of people we become. We believe the Holy Spirit has brought us together into the Church to become different people, people who listen to what Jesus says and become his disciples in this troubled world, people who want to do what is right and good and helpful.

17.             You see, when you begin with Baptism, it makes a huge difference in the people we become. The Holy Spirit brings us together to support, encourage, teach, and build each other up. All because the Holy Spirit gathers us together in the name of the triune God.

18.             Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, and I can think of no better way to celebrate this Church festival than by thanking our triune God for our salvation. In the waters of Baptism, we began our lives of faith in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. When you begin like that, it makes a huge difference in your life.  Jesus has ALL authority for your good and your salvation.  Amen.  Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.