“The Shepherd’s Mission”
“The Shepherd’s Mission”
Matthew 9:35-10:8
Matthew 9:35-10:8
In the name of the Living God and the risen Christ. Amen.
The first sermon, is rather like the first kiss. You want it to be good, but you’re sure hoping there’s a lot more to come. Although I’ve preached here quite a few times, this is my first, official sermon as your pastor. What a special moment to me.
Being “just” guest preacher is both harder and easier. It’s harder because you don’t really know in-depth the needs of the congregation or community, so it’s hard to really apply God’s word with precision. But it’s easier to guest preach because, well, you can just say whatever you want and just leave. Drop that theological bombshell and run away. But now we’re kind-of stuck with each other…which means we’ll need the Spirit’s guidance and glue to keep us together in charity and grace.
So, first “real” sermon: in reflecting upon today’s gospel, I initially thought I would start with “and they were like sheep without a shepherd”, as our historic congregation has been officially vacant for over a year.
But that’s not quite right, is it? In the first place, we’ve been compassionately and competently served by Pastor Gregg. What a blessing his steady hand has been! But even more importantly, there IS only one true Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, living messiah raised from the dead on the third day who rules and guides his flock through his word and sacraments. He has never left this place. What does Psalm 23 say, “the Jeff is my Shepherd?”? Gregg? Tom? No, say it with me: “the Lord is my Shepherd.” Any other mortal—talented or not, fervent or not; introvert or extrovert; good hair or bad— any other moral will always fall short and will ultimately let you down.
But not the one living Shepherd of the flock. His words bring life. His hand heals. His death forgives sins. Hisresurrection brings eternal joy. His spirit, flows through and enlivens the church for mission, ministry and service. And this Good Shepherd has promised that not even the gates of hades will prevail against his church.
And yet…and yet, here he is in Matthew 9 sort-of asking for help. Eh? How can this be, the logos through whom all things have come into being, now asking frail mortal creatures not only to be part of his mission, but actually embody it: proclaiming the kingdom; curing, cleansing; casting out evil in all its forms? What a mystery this is, that the one true shepherd uses frail mortals to do is work! (Honestly, folks, just between you and me, if I had been in charge, I definitelywould have chosen a more effective method than using human beings. We’ve managed to mess-up everything else up, why should the church be any different?)
The Church is different, and unlike any other institution, because, as one commentator put it: “whenever Jesus sends missionaries, that ministry is empowered by Jesus, shaped like Jesus’ own ministry, and centered in the message about the reign of heaven—in Jesus himself.”[1]
So, congratulations, in a timeless mystery the One True Shepherd has called to you a frail, sinful human being to embody his work among us! And congratulations, again, he also calls you to be an extension of that embodied work, here in this place!
So what does God’s word to us from Matthew tell us about the Shepherd’s mission through the Shepherd’s missionaries? I’d like to offer three brief insights regarding our work together here at FSP’s: I’m going to talk about its scope, its motivation, and its initiation.
First, it’s scope. Although the Lord would send his followers unto all the ends of the earth, and indeed would send them eventually among the gentiles, here, in this first sending, Jesus sends them first among their own. They are to go among all the cities and villages of Israel. In fact, in verse 5 of the gospel he specifically tells them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans.” The scope starts local; with the familiar; among those culturally most similar. Of course, the greater mission to gentiles would come—by Jesus’ own biding and example; through the conversion and work of St. Paul; and the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth, of which we here are its fruits. But note well, here in Christ’s first sending of the apostles in Matthew, he asks them to start small…to locate it local.
Our work together at First St. Paul’s rightly includes the broadest work of support for missionaries throughout the world. May it always continue! But isn’t it the case, that, sometimes that’s easier? It’s removed, distant, we do our part and then can say, “Yep. We’re doing mission work.”
But the reason the Lord asks them to start small, to locate it local, is not because it’s easier. It’s because it’s harder. And we know this, because, in the rest of the chapter he explains to them the challenges that await them: hardships will come, divisions will come, persecution will come, and all this precisely because they bring the kingdom of God to those nearest to them: their own homes and culture and communities.
So, that’s point one. The scope of the mission of the church begins local, and the spreads from there. Secondly, it’s motivation: “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them…” Compassion. The Greek word is really cool: “Splangnizomai”. It’s the deep covenant love God has for his people. We, here in the west, like to place the seat of human emotions in the heart. Not so with ancient Mediterranean cultures. They moved it down deeper, into the bowels and entrails—the guts we might say.
So it’s a gut-felt compassion that the Lord has for the lost. This Splangnizomai verb throughout all of scripture, is only used of the Lord, except in three parables: when the Good Samaritan beholds the beat-up man along the side of the road, and has compassion on him; when the servant who owes millions kneels before the king, and the king looks upon him in mercy and forgives his great debt; and when the Prodigal sees his unfaithful son still afar off, looks upon him, and filled with compassion, receives him in the open arms of forgiveness and grace.
Our motivation for mission is this same compassion, because it is the compassion through which the Lord has received each of us. Has the grace-filled God not seen us, wounded and weary sinners along the side of the road, and healed us? Has he not canceled our great debt through Christ’s holy precious blood and bitter sufferings and death? Has he not, even today, looked upon us with the eyes of mercy and welcomed us here, no matter who we are or what we have done? Freely we have been given; freely we now give, motivated also by the guts of our gracious God.
So the scope begins local and moves outward; the motivation is compassion for all God’s creatures—the same compassion we have received. And then thirdly, the initiation. The beginning is always prayer. Before he even sends them he tells them to pray. He tells us likewise to pray about his mission, his harvest. “The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” No truer thing did our Lord speak, right? But then he follows it up with, “therefore pray unto the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” No better promise can be given. We know and trust that the Lord will hear our prayers, as every task, every plan, every work we do as embodiments of his kingdom, begins with prayer to the Lord of the harvest.
Fellow sheep, loved by the shepherd; fellow sinners, forgiven by his compassion; fellow saints in prayer to the Lord of the harvest: the Lord is the Lord of the Church. He is at work, even now, among us. Beginning with prayer, filled with compassion, let us begin here, and even then to the ends of the earth: the Shepherd’s mission through the Shepherd’s missionaries.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew, vol. 1, p. 497