Harvesting

Our Merciful Lord Shares His Harvest With Us

6.14.26 [Matthew 9:35-10:8] River of Life (3rd Sunday after Pentecost)

For fifty years, Benny Hinn has been the most famous face of the Word of Faith movement. He speaks of Jesus as someone who wants to deliver, heal, bless, and prosper everyone. He speaks of a God who needs you to believe in him before he can bless you with the healing and the prosperity you need. He is famous for declaring: This is your day for a miracle! Hinn is the world’s most infamous spiritual healer. His crusades have been attended by millions worldwide. As crowds flock to him, most of them attend, hoping for personal healing. Those hopes are whipped into a fervor as they see a parade of other people brought on stage, whom Hinn claims God has healed through him.  

But there are many—both inside and outside the Church—who look at Benny Hinn with a high degree of skepticism. Much of that is due to his obnoxiously luxurious lifestyle. Benny Hinn has become fabulously wealthy from preaching that financial seed-faith will result in miracles. Hinn claims his affluence is proof that he has been anointed by the Lord. But that is not the only dubious claim Hinn makes. Not one of his healings, the highlights of his miracle crusades, has ever been verified to be true. Most tragically, many who go to these crusades, hoping to be healed from things like cerebral palsy or MS, are turned away and left thinking they didn’t have enough faith to be healed. 

What Hinn preaches and purports to do is false, deceitful, and demonic. Based on those who have critically examined his ministry, including journalists and family, Hinn is a liar. Even if some of the healings turned out to be genuine, he would still be a heretic. Whether he intends to do so or not, Hinn turns faith, a gift of God, into a work of man and leads people away from Christ crucified.   

So why do so many flock to him? Because so many are desperate for deliverance. So many long for healing. So many want it to be true.  

Even you, perhaps. How great would it be if, at the end of each service, anyone who was sick or struggling with something could come forward and they would be healed? Wouldn’t that be exciting? Wouldn’t the community flock to our services? Wouldn’t your family and friends, and neighbors be more eager to join you? Wouldn’t the church grow by leaps and bounds?

In Matthew chapters 9-10, we see that God does indeed possess that power. Jesus healed every disease and every sickness. 

Jesus was doing for real what Benny Hinn only claims to do. The crowds were flocking to Jesus, but he wasn’t doing any of it to enrich himself. Not only that, Jesus shared his power when he deputized his disciples to do the same things. Mt. 10:1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him, and he gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. He instructs them to Mt. 10:8 heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons. 

When we read that, perhaps there is a part of us that really wishes God still worked in this way among us. So for a moment, let’s just imagine what that might be like. For a while, it would be very exciting. 

For a while, it would be very exciting to see blind people see again, the lame leap for joy, and the mute speak for the very first time. For a while, it would impress us to see the dead rise again and demons driven out. But, after a while, the novelty would wear off. After a while, we’d develop an inflated sense of our own power and importance. 

Now, perhaps, you think that wouldn’t happen. But it does in so many other areas of life. We so easily become desensitized to the incredible.  When you watch old movies, are you as impressed by the special effects or do you giggle a little? The technology in our pockets and purses can do more than we would have ever asked or imagined thirty years ago, but instead of being impressed, we’re often frustrated by the fact that they aren’t doing what I want fast or easily enough. Look at the Grand Canyon! The first time you saw it, you were impressed. How about now? 

People get desensitized to impressive power. That’s what happened here as well. In Matthew 11, Jesus denounces three places: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. He says Woe! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre, Sidon, or Sodom, they would have repented. But you have not! And it’s not just the healed that have this problem. In Luke 10, Jesus has to remind the 72 that he commissioned like these twelve disciples that Lk. 11:20 they shouldn’t be rejoicing because the demons submit to them, but that their names are written in heaven. 

So often, power and glory become the goal. We want to see power in action. We want to exercise power and have it at our disposal. We want to see glorious things and be a part of an impressive organization. 

Compare that to your Christ. He didn’t come to earth to put on a show. He didn’t come to build a following or grow in popularity or power. He did not come to financially enrich himself or his disciples. 

He came to give of himself freely. We see that in his evaluation of the crowds flocking to him. Did you notice what Jesus sees in the crowds? He sees individuals and their real needs. He is filled with compassion because he sees them as sheep without a shepherd. Look carefully at how Matthew describes Jesus’ assessment of the crowds. He does not say they are hurting. He does not say they are hungry. He does not even say they are being hunted. He says they were Mt. 9:36 harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

Some were being harassed by evil spirits. But most of the spiritually weak were being pushed around by those who had more power and strength, the spiritual leaders of Israel. They were placing heavy loads of perfect law obedience on the shoulders of the people, but Mt. 23:3 they were not practicing what they purported to preach.

We see an example of this in John 8. The teachers of the law caught a woman in the act of adultery.  They use her sin as a way to try to trap Jesus when they tell him: Jn. 8:5 Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? Jesus turns the whole thing on its head when he declares, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone. 

This was not Jesus’ way of saying sin didn’t matter, but a powerful illustration of his deep mercy toward sinners. He did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world. Which is why he told the woman to Jn. 8:11 leave her life of sin. He came to redeem sinners. He came to set the captives free from the power of sin, the fear of death, and the tyranny of the devil. He came to give his life as a ransom for those held hostage by evil. This is why he lived perfectly. This is why he died innocently. This is why he rose powerfully. This is his kingdom. 

This is the message he gave to his disciples. Help is on the way. Mt. 10:7 The kingdom of heaven has come near. God has come to rescue his people. This is why he sent his disciples to Mt. 10:6 the lost sheep of Israel first. They knew the one true God and would recognize that these miracles were done by his power. Yet even these miracles were merely a preview of God’s power, not the full and final expression of it. Our God is not satisfied to merely heal us from what afflicts our bodies. He longs to heal us from what truly ails our bodies & souls. 

Mark 2 is a perfect example. In Capernaum, there was a paralyzed man. His friends wanted to have Jesus heal him, but the place where Jesus was preaching was so packed that there wasn’t even room outside the door. So they tore through the roof to lower him to Jesus. 

The first thing Jesus did was say to the paralyzed man: Mk. 2:5 Son, your sins are forgiven! Why? Because that was his greatest trouble. Jesus had the power to heal his body—and did as proof he had the power to forgive sins—but his sin was the most important issue. The miraculous healing was only a sign that he had the proof to do the harder, greater task of forgiving sins. 

Our Savior has given us that greater power—to forgive sins. Though, at times, we and our world may long for the lesser power, God knows what he is doing. His will is always good and always done. Through our proclamation of his Gospel, Jesus heals sin-sick souls. Through our proclamation of his Gospel, Jesus raises those who were dead in their transgressions. Through our proclamation of his Gospel, Jesus cleanses people of the leprosy of shame. Through our proclamation of his Gospel, Jesus drives away our guilt. Through our proclamation of his Gospel, Jesus freely gives the forgiveness of sins. 

He does the greater work first, and the lesser later. One day God will heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse all infections, and drive out everything evil. He will do these things fully and finally on the Last Day. B ut through our proclamation of Christ, he does these things for people, through his people, right now. This is God’s greatest work. 

And he shares it with us. Freely you have received. Freely give, Jesus tells us. He shares his power and harvest with us, each time we forgive someone who has sinned against us. He shares his power and harvest with us, each time we proclaim the good news of salvation in the name of Jesus. He shares his power and harvest with us, each time we invite someone to sit alongside us at Jesus’ feet. He shares his power and harvest with us, each time we let our light shine in a world of darkness. He shares his power and harvest with us, freely. So let us get to work in his harvest field. Let us pray fervently that he will provide many more to work alongside us. Let us eagerly anticipate his power at work in us and through us. Amen.