To Know and to Go
Original sermon given on The Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 14, 2026 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
“To Know and to Go”
Matthew 9:35-10:8
To Know and to Go
In the name of the Living God and the risen Christ. Amen.
Just a couple of weeks ago, on Trinity Sunday, we heard the Great Commission — Our Lord’s call to go onto the ends of the earth, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit — and teaching all to observe and follow Christ’s words. This morning we witness one more example of the fulfillment of this commission, as Margaret Louise has forgiveness poured over her, the Holy Spirit poured into her, and the promise of Christ to walk with her, no matter where she goes in life.
The gospel reading from Mathew 9, however, takes us back to an earlier moment in the ministry of Jesus, before his death on the cross and before his resurrection. This sending and commissioning is narrower in scope. (So maybe not as great.) It’s a commissioning of just the original Twelve Apostles; they go first only among the lost sheep of Israel; they do no baptizing into the saving death and resurrection of Christ, for it hasn’t even occurred yet. So, we’re witnessing in today’s gospel reading a bounded, limited, initial mission specifically connected with the early, earthly ministry of Jesus; what we will witness in a few minutes with Margaret Louise is the unbounded commission of the church until the end of time: it’s for all nations; it engrafts all into Christ’s final saving work; its results are not just healing and driving out evil in the body, but the defeat of sin and Satan, death and hell for all time. The splashes of water this morning will echo into eternity for her.
Nevertheless, this bounded, limited, initial earthly commission of the Twelve from Matthew 9 has much to say about our own work as Christ’s “sent ones” on Chicago’s north side. “Sent ones” – that’s literally what the word “Apostle” means and, at least in part, what it means to be an “Apostolic Church.” In addition to holding to the teachings of the Apostles, we are always “sent” wherever we land in life. You’re never not sent as a Christian.
Here’s what I want you to take with you this morning: “To Know, and To Go.” That is, in this early sending and commissioning recorded by Matthew, there is something to learn and something to do.
To Know: The mission of the church begins with what Jesus sees and feels. We all need to know this, for it is for us as well. I used those specific words, “What Jesus sees and feels,” for Matthew writes, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.”
He looks and he loves. This is the divine son of God, second person of the Holy Trinity, present at the creation before the foundations of the world were laid, and now enfleshed on earth, Jesus looks and loves upon us, and upon all his broken and hurting world. It’s his first reaction to the crowds.
His compassion, his love, is far more than a temporary emotional reaction. Compassion here is a visceral, gut-wrenching love for the lost. Like the Father who runs to embrace his returning son, in the well-known parable of the prodigal son; or the Samaritan who looks upon the half-dead man laying beat up on the side of the road, this Jesus’ guts ache for his creatures.
People need to know this compassion of God for them — as much as we do. To be loved by something greater, to love something greater, to love with others a common mission and direction in life — this is where we find ultimate meaning. How many live life without this knowledge — who believe we came from nothing and we’re going to nothing; who desperately try to find meaning only in what this faded and fleeting life can offer? Are they not like sheep lost without a Shepherd, meandering confused through life, beat up by the world, desperately seeking after things which can never satisfy? Our calling from Christ begins with this knowledge: he sees and feels, looks and loves upon all people in ways that nothing and no one else can.
This gut-wrenching compassion of Christ took him all the way to the cross for us, for all. His eyes looked toward Jerusalem with the incredible weight of the sins of the world upon him. Suffering and death awaited him there. Yet, the holy, divine Son of God went willingly, lovingly in search for his sheep. He went even into hell for them. Victorious now, risen from the dead, the conquering savior calls us now also into his mission. That’s the “To Go” part. We are to know his great compassion for a lost and lonely world, and we are to go with him on his mission.
We don’t need much — just his word and promise, and a willingness led by the Spirit. Note what the original twelve “Sent Ones” needed. A couple verses after today’s reading, Jesus tells them, “Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff… freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10.9, 8)
We are “to go” where we are, who we are — in our own homes, communities, workplaces, play places, schools. Someone you know needs to know that God has indeed broken into this world in the work of the divine son, and he looks upon all with gut-wrenching compassion.
To live a life not knowing this love; and not loving this divine love; and not sharing in a common mission of divine love — it is to live a lost life, like sheep without a shepherd.
To know and to go. The divine, eternal Son saw his fallen creation and felt compassion for them. This love is for you. To be known this way by God, and to know this for yourself is the first step in not being lost.
To go. The church is always sent, wherever we are. We’re always on the move, even if we’re right where we should be. We bear the apostolic teaching as “sent ones”, and nothing more is needed than hearing and heeding his call.
From a little one baptized this morning into Christ, to the oldest member of the church; from the shores of Lake Michigan to the farthest, largest seas; to the rich or the poor; to all nations and people and cultures and languages; by words and deeds, we are sent on. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray now, unto the Lord of the harvest, to send out workers into his harvest… beginning with yourself.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
Image Source: Peterson, Kathleen. Other Sheep, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57612 [retrieved June 17, 2026]. Original source: Kathleen Peterson, https://www.kathleenpetersonart.com.
