For the first nine chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is the only missionary. That forever changes in this morning’s reading. In it, Jesus inducts his disciples into his ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing.
Matthew makes it clear that the foundation of Jesus’ missionary work is compassion for his people because they were “harassed and helpless.” The basis of Jesus’ ministry to people like you and me is empathy because we are often helpless and harassed. Now I know that the “harassment” Jesus is talking about is the burden that the religious professionals – people like me – were placing on people like you. But who reading this text – whether you’ve been troubled by religious leaders or not (and I know that some of you reading this now have been vexed by people like me, and I’m sorry about that) – but who reading this doesn’t feel helpless and oppressed in twenty-first-century century New York City (or twenty-first-century planet earth for that matter). Maybe you feel this weight at work, at school, or at home. What I hear from people more than anything else is that they are exhausted. What you tell me more than anything else is that you are burnt out by the demands of life – and this is true for folks who work seventy hours a week and those who are in-between jobs. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my, now, ten years in ministry, it’s that we are tired.
But weary friends, I have good news! In this morning’s Gospel lesson, we see that Jesus has come into the world preaching to burdened people like you and me. And what is the content of his message? It’s peace!
If you were paying any attention during the second reading this morning from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, you hopefully caught a glimpse of “the balm of Gilead,” the deep well of the Gospel, (what scholars call) the kerygma (i.e. the main thing). And that thing is that God, in Christ, has poured his love into the weary and wounded parts of our hearts. The lesson reads, “while we were weak,” (read “while we were harassed;” “while we were exhausted”) Christ died for us. And it is in those places that he has given us his peace.
What this means for you and me in our day-to-day lives – whether we work seventy or zero hours a week – is that we need not strive to prove ourselves anymore. The Man does not want you to get off the hamster wheel. The “powers and principalities” do not want you to quit the rat race. And yet the good news of the gospel is that we have already been deemed worthy by the ultimate judge. We have already been approved by the CEO of bosses. We have already been validated by the most praiseworthy authority. Therefore, you and I are free to be because God, in Jesus, has done the proving work on our behalf already. In sum, we have the approval that we so desperately seek, and we can rest in that love because it’s unconditional. You and I can have peace in twenty-first-century New York City – the very center of the rat race itself – because his promise is indelible.
Now one of the amazing things about this love – in addition to being too good to be true and yet it is – is that it’s contagious. In this morning’s Gospel lesson, Jesus inducts his disciples into his missionary ministry. Now, the cynics among us might read this and think, “classic bait-and-switch. You offer rest and then you give us one more thing to do.” But you know that’s not what’s going on here. I mean, you remember what love feels like – even if you are light-years away from that initial experience. When you’re approved by someone you deem praiseworthy talking about the experience isn’t work, it’s pure joy.
What the disciples (and, by extension, you and I) were commissioned to do is talk about the praiseworthy one who loves and approves us. This is no burdensome new task. In fact, because we have peace with God already, we don’t even have to talk about him at all. But I suspect that when we experience this love we won’t be able to help ourselves. For as the great hymn puts it, “How can I keep from singing?” We simply will not be able to keep silent about the promise.
So friends, next time you take a look at this Gospel reading, and you think about this mission that we have been given, remember, “We love because he first loved us.” His approval has the power to heal, and when we experience that this love is real, all of our cynicism will melt away, and we won’t be able to help but pass it on.
So, Lord Jesus, fill our weary hearts with your healing love, and let it overflow into our fellow “harassed and helpless” brothers and sisters. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Great stuff. I needed this. I too, am
In fact, exhausted!