Proper 6A (Pentecost 3) 2023

Text: Matthew 10:7 “7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

There are worse things than being like sheep without a shepherd. We live in a time when there are far too many people who aspire to be shepherds who have no business doing it.

I think one of the best examples in our day is a very popular quote from Nelson Mandela. He’s quoted as saying, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Now, it’s hard to criticize Nelson Mandela. He was a genuinely great leader, both in terms of what he fought for and how he did it. He’s absolutely working with the best of motives, but equally wrong about what is in the human heart; tragically wrong about where hate comes from.

In essence, he’s trying to cure lung cancer with cough medicine. If you can’t see— or, at least, acknowledge— the sin in the human heart, then the best you can do is try to ease the symptoms. You may tamp down one form of hate, but it will pop up somewhere else in another form. The basic problem is always there.

And he’s an example of someone who fought for something worthwhile. But there is no shortage of ‘shepherds’ in our world who are far less noble. The needs of others are simply means for them to accumulate power. They will offer empty platitudes like I just mentioned. They will promise you that they have every answer for your problems. They may even seem to have wisdom to them, but that wisdom turns out to be empty and meaningless.

They will tell you who to blame for your problems. They will tell you who to fear. And, in the end, they will leave you harassed and helpless.

We can not make this a perfect world. It is absolutely necessary to push back against hate and fear, but it’s always with the realization that we can not make this a perfect world.

“1 For everything there is a season,” Solomon wrote, “and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ).

That’s not going to make it into a political speech any time soon. That’s not going to be posted on the website of any advocacy group. No, they need to push you to act; they need to motivate you with fear; they need to convince you that they could solve all of your problems, if only those evil Democrats— or if only those evil Republicans— were not standing in the way.

The reality is that we can not make this a perfect world. To the contrary, this world is precisely what we have made it. Day in and day out, you and I have chosen this world by deciding that you know better than God does how you were to live; you know better than God does what ‘love’ is. No, you don’t have the answers for how to make this world perfect. What you have is the message of the One who came to make this world new—beginning with you.

That was, of course, the simple, beautiful, powerful message Jesus sent His disciples out to preach: “Proclaim as you go,” He instructed them, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7).

Somewhere before eternity, Jesus looked at humanity, saw the sin that would pass from Adam to all of His descendants, saw the death that it would bring to all, and He had compassion you.

In a world where “There is a time for everything…,” He decided that there would be a time to be born, even for God. He decided to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to you.

“[Not only was there] a time for God to be born, there was also a time [for God] to die; a time to walk through the valley of the shadow of crucifixion all alone; a time for His head to be anointed with His own blood; a time for the shepherd to die for sheep [who are not only harassed and helpless, but] who [also] love to wander. And this He did, all for you” (Bird, Chad. “He Will Easter You.” 1517.org. March 26, 2016).

For God so loved the world that gave His only-begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Jesus Christ not only came and lived a perfect life—truly loving everyone, from the greatest to the least; honoring both God and Caesar; and even defended His neighbor’s reputation—more importantly, He has taken your sin—your hate, your rebellious spirit, your failure to defend your neighbor, speak well of him, or even to try to understand him—and He has paid the full price for it. He paid the penalty for the sin that has made this world what it is. He has died the death that you deserved for those sins. With His death, He has gathered together a people for God from every nation, tribe, people, and language. And soon He will return and rule over them in perfect justice and righteousness forever.

As a writer by the name of Chad Bird put it, on Easter Sunday, “He who at the beginning [looked over His creation and declared that it was] “Good,” had come to say it again. He had come to create afresh, to rebuild a fallen creation with His resurrected flesh and blood.

“Easter is the day when Jesus says to the world, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He makes you new in Himself. He gives you a new identity. You are no longer the children of this world, but the children of a heavenly Father. He will enfold you in His arms and never let you go....

“He gives it to you by uniting you to His own living body. For you there was a time to be born and a time to be born anew. Born anew from the womb of holy water, born anew to love the habitation of Christ’s body, the place where His glory dwells. You are baptized into the Easter of his unending life. All your sins have been drowned in the sea of His blood. All your death has died in the ocean of His mercy” (Bird).

Or, as Jesus puts it here in Matthew 10, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That’s the message. That’s the Good News that has come to you—He did it for you. Christ’s church is the Kingdom of Heaven in this place at this time. The kingdom has come to you here. You were gathered into that kingdom through baptism, you are strengthened to live as citizens of that kingdom by receiving His body and blood. That is the work of the church: rescuing people from this world and gathering them into that kingdom.

He sends you out with that message to declare to a world full of people who are harassed and helpless. He sends you out to promise them that

“Through every pain, every loss in this fallen world, He is by your side. Nothing and no one will separate you from His love. He will love you through sickness. He will love you through loneliness. He will love you through the deepest, darkest valleys of this life. And He will love you even into the grave” (Bird).

You go out into this world with the confidence, the assurance that, “From that grave, He will show you, once more, His love on the last day of this sad, dying world. He will reappear at the climax of history, when the earth and the heavens will vanish in smoke. He will reach down and pull your waiting body from the grip of this earth. He will transform you from dust and ashes back into flesh. He will put His mouth to your nostrils and breathe life back into your bones. He will give warmth back to your blood. He will stand you on your feet, in a body pain-free, sickness-free, death-free. He will give you your body back, glorious and resplendent, like His own” (Bird).

That harvest is plentiful. If anything, the workers are few. So He sends you out to proclaim that message of life, making the most of every time to heal, to build, to laugh, to dance.