Gospel Reading:
Matthew 9:35 to 10:18.
Jesus went about all the cities and
villages teaching in the synogogues and proclaiming the good news, curing every
disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them.
He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few,’
and sent them out with the following instructions. “Go and proclaim the good
news that the kindom of heaven has come near. Cure the sick, cleanse the
lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment, give without payment. As
you enter a house, greet it. 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. I am sending
you out like sheep into the midst of wolves. Beware of them, for they will hand
you over to councils and flog you, and you will be dragged before governors and
kings.”
Sermon
Call To Action
Today’s lectionary passage is a call
to action for the disciples. 5 chapters earlier, Jesus first called them to
join him on his mission, of teaching and healing and proclaiming the good news
of justice and equality for all people. They heard his teachings and witnessed
his healing, and in these verses, he tells them it is time for them to step up.
“The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. I need your help.” The call was
not a supernatural one. Jesus didn’t need a burning bush to get his message
across, because the need was obvious. He said, “Look around you. The people are
in need of healing and hope. You have seen what I do. Now you go and help me
change their situation. Go with compassion and with purpose. Don’t worry about those
who refuse to listen. Some will not welcome you because they don’t want change.
They like the status quo. Don’t use up your energy trying to get them on board.
Shake it off and go on to the next house and the next town, to people who do
want to be a part of this inclusive, equal, and just world we call the kindom
of God.” He warns them that some people will do worse than refuse to listen. They
will physically try to stop you. They will try everything to keep you from delivering
your message, because their being at the top of the hierarchy means they must
keep everyone else at the bottom. Just keep going. You will make a difference. You
will bring about change.
It isn’t difficult to find the
relevance of this story to our own time and place. We only have to look around
and see that the same thing is happening in our world. Injustice and inequality
are rampant. Police murder black citizens with impunity in a racist system with
huge disparities in healthcare, education, housing, and jobs between white people
and black people. Those who began the mission over two weeks ago to bring
change to our society have also met with pushback, some of it violent, from the
fearful and the stubborn and the hateful. It would be easy for them to give up,
to say nothing is going to change no matter what. After all, this fight has
been going on for centuries. Racism is the foundation of our country. But they
aren’t giving up. They are growing stronger, because they can see that there is
light despite all the darkness. And they are making a difference. Change is
already happening. What can we as privileged white people, those at the top of America’s hierarchy
do to help? We can stand in solidarity,
as so many across the world are doing. We can listen to black voices and learn
from them. We can educate ourselves about racism and white supremacy in our
country and in our town. We can learn how to become not just less racist but
anti- racist. And we can use our privilege to help dismantle the racist systems
that we benefit from, until our world more closely resembles the one that Mary,
Jesus’ mother, envisioned with his arrival, where those in power who oppress
others are brought down, and those without power are lifted up. I’ll close with
a charge to all of us from Michelle Alexander, author of the New Jim Crow, about the movement for justice and equality that is taking place
today. “Our only hope for collective liberation is a politics of deep
solidarity rooted in love. In recent days we have seen what it looks like when people of all races,
ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds rise up together, standing in solidarity
for justice.”Amen.
Thanks, Kathy! And appreciate Jane's music!
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