12 June 2005                                                                                           

Sermon: Matthew 9:35-10:15 (Proper 6A)

The Rev. Robert C. Lamborn, Rector

 ^NRSV Matthew 9:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.  10:1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. ⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' ⁸ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. ⁹ Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, ¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. ¹¹ Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. ¹² As you enter the house, greet it. ¹³ If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Children’s sermon (11:00 am only):

            Example of ripeness, using fruit that is beautiful and delicious, but must be harvested at the right time.  Praying for workers, including ourselves, to bring in God’s harvest.  We don’t have to harvest the entire field, but share with other workers in doing our part.

To the entire congregation (8:30 and 11:00 am):

            “Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.  These are the names of the twelve apostles . . . .”  The change is as quick as that; it only takes one sentence for the twelve disciples to start being called twelve apostles.  So what?  What’s the difference?  Disciples fundamentally are learners, students, ones working to master a discipline.  The word apostle, on the other hand, means sent from.  Missionary means much the same thing.  Disciples become apostles, missionaries.

            Students are sent out–a lot of that has been happening this time of year.  Students graduate from the disciplines of the academic world, and are sent out into the world, whether it be the work world or the world of further study.  For Jesus’ disciples, there was no set curriculum, no required number of credit hours to graduate; Jesus must’ve just come to the point that he knew that his disciples were ready to become apostles.  Jesus, who had been going about cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming the good news, and healing, sees that the crowd growing around him is harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  There are too many people for him to reach personally, so it’s time for a commissioning, time for a graduation–time for some disciples to turn into apostles–to be sent out into God’s world, and off they go.

            So how did they do?  Certainly they weren’t perfect; reading the Gospels and the Book of Acts shows us apostles who missed the mark,  stumbled over their own feet, couldn’t understand Jesus’ parables, slept through his last hours, turned tail and ran when he was arrested, and barely recognized the risen Christ.  But to such as these is entrusted the good news, “The Kingdom of heaven has come near.”  And that’s good news for us, because apostleship is not something that was just for the first century.  God still has apostolic ministry to do, and calls on the church to do it.  After all, in the Nicene Creed we call the church “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.”  At baptism, we promise to “Proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ.”  We are apostles, too; missionaries, sent out to let people know by what we say and what we do that God’s Kingdom has come near.

            Now later in Matthew’s Gospel, these twelve apostles are again called disciples most of the time, so if today’s gospel is a kind of graduation, it’s a graduation into life-long learning.  The Christian life involves both discipleship and apostleship, each informing the other and strengthening the other.  You can’t do Christian mission without it flowing from with the Christian message, but the Christian message is hollow in isolation--without Christian mission, without apostleship.  This apostleship, being sent, is at the core of who we are.  In organizational development one important factor is a clear sense of mission, and a mission statement often helps clarify that sense.  Such statements have been of help to many churches, as well, but I’ve heard it said that rather than thinking of God’s church having a mission, we should think of God’s mission having a church.

           God teaches us as disciples and sends us as apostles with a task much the same as the disciples’–“Proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”  The world God loves begins right outside our doors, full of people harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and God calls us to share in the mission of reconciliation in that world, giving without payment the priceless gift we could never hope to come close to paying for.