He had compassion. Go and do likewise. (Matt 9: 35-38) read at your own risk

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  Matthew 9

I have probably said before that I was raised in a conservative Methodist church. And so I took quite seriously, at least for a while, Jesus’ request to pray for workers in the field. I remember praying that missionaries would be sent overseas to bring Christianity to those who were lost and going to hell. I still pray for workers, but perhaps now in the same way.

First of all, and some of you may find this offensive but I merely ask you to hear me, I don’t necessarily pray that others would be converted. Jesus is talking about bringing healing and the hope of the good news to others. What is the good news, it seems to be that Jesus says it is that the kingdom of God is here, right here. Is in our midst and in us. The place where God is, is here. And that in that place God is on our side. He brings healing, forgiveness, mercy, hope and …….resurrection! A new life, another chance, freedom from the death that sin brings. 

So it sounds to me that Jesus wants to send out the workers to bring healing, spiritual and physical to people. The disciples are going out to the Jews. They are not converting them to Christianity. They are converting them to love, forgiveness, justice. Jesus calls us to righteousness. Righteousness is simply this: right relationship—with God, others, and creation. Right relationship is found in forgiveness and justice and mercy and love.

The other thing I no longer pray for is for workers to reach the heathen of other lands. If we understand that we are proclaiming the righteousness that is in the Kingdom of God as a right relationship, we have plenty of unrighteous heathen in our own backyard. Can I hear an “Amen”?

And so our prayer is that workers would go out into the United States of America, as well as other lands, to change the hearts and minds of people.

How is this done? What is it we are called to here? 

A couple of weeks ago we heard the scripture of the Great Commission. 

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28)

What are disciples? Followers of Jesus. Not believers, followers. That is a big difference. What are we teaching them? Not all our doctrine and dogma, but the commands of Jesus. Which by the way are summed up in one word! Love!    Love God, your neighbor, and one another. Love!

And so, I am going to step out on a limb here. (Please God catch me if it breaks.) What are these laborers supposed to be doing in the fields ready for harvest? What did Jesus do when he saw the crowds? Have compassion.

Definition for compassion? Merriam Webster reads this way: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

And then this is added to the entry:

Compassion and empathy both refer to a caring response to someone else’s distress. While empathy refers to an active sharing in the emotional experience of the other person, compassion adds to that emotional experience a desire to alleviate the person’s distress.

Folks, the desire to alleviate the person’s distress is not found in the words “get over it” or “it isn’t my fault” or “stop your whining.”  Nor is it found in words like “Well, I”m not a racist.” or “She got herself into that mess.” or “Just get out and get a job.” or “According to my religion that’s a sin.”

Each of those statements may have some truth to them, please hear MAY, but they do NOT alleviate the other person’s distress nor do they have the desire to do so behind them.

Also notice, please, that Jesus did not say build a building for them to come to. He sent the disciples out to them, where the crowds lived, worked, walked, and played.

Yes, the way I pray this scripture has changed. But something else has changed as well. I have learned that God answers prayer and sometimes I am the answer to that prayer. I am the one being challenged to evaluate how I respond. I am the one being called to look into my own heart for compassion. I am the one being called to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus, not just a believer.

God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes (to be confident or trusts) in him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3: 16)

Jesus says in the 17th chapter of John that eternal life is being one with the Father.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved (healed, forgiven). (John 3: 17)

We are not here to point fingers and judge and condemn each other. We are here to bring the love of God to each other. To have compassion for each other. To bring one another good news.

And so here it is, the Good news:

God loves you more than you can imagine and desires for you to be united with him. In that unity compassion for the other will grow.

Matthew 28: 16-20 "The Great Commission?"

The “great commission” has been too often used as an excuse for the attitude of “convert, leave, submit, or die.” Brian McLaren in his book “Do I Stay Christian?”  spends the first 10 chapters giving us a rather disturbing yet accurate view of some of those atrocities. It is amazing what we do in the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace.

And yet, if we stop and consider what is being said in these few lines of scripture, we might get a different perspective on their meaning than our ancestors did. 

First let’s take a minute to go up on the mountain where Jesus calls us to meet him. The air is fresh and thin, so we need to breathe deeply and rest a bit. We need to take in the sounds of nature around us and clear our minds of our schedules, our expectations, our assumptions, and of all things that are not love. Weary from the climb, we find we can do nothing else but sit at Jesus’ feet, (or fall if you will) and worship him. 

The New Jerusalem Bible says some  hesitated. Other versions say some doubted. It doesn’t matter which one you choose. Bottom line, the disciples are very much like us. Even with Jesus in sight, doubts, uncertainties, hesitations are inevitable. Let’s just stay at his feet for a moment anyway and see what happens.

With me so far? Now if it were up to me, I would stay there in silence and go no further. But that is only the first line in the pericope, so let’s move on.

“All authority has been given to me.” Here is our first stumbling block. Authority means power to do as one pleases. But what is it that Jesus does with that authority? Does he whip people into submission? Does he use it to demolish people’s homes and families? Does he use it to destroy the earth? Answer is of course no, only we do. He uses it to create, love, and heal. As Jesus might say, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

“ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” or peoples. Disciples. A true disciple is not just a student or a learner, but a follower: one who applies what he has learned. I had a seminary professor from whom I learned a lot. Believe me when I tell you he is one smart cookie.  I promise you, however, I am not his follower. My prayer is to never be like him. (I’ll just leave it at that.)  Am I his disciple? 

My biggest fear for our young people is that we are making them students not disciples. And oftentimes, we make them students of the church rather than of Jesus. In order to explain, let me read more of the text.

“Baptize them in the name of the FAther and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you.”

Jesus’ instructions are about how to live, not what to believe. Jesus does not command us to learn the apostle’s creed, some pertinent dogma, or even the “Prayer Jesus taught us to pray.” Actually Jesus tells us to pray like this.  These things have their place and I love praying the Lord’s prayer together. But these were not the priorities.

Teaching them to observe the commands Jesus gave.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Or in all actuality, Jesus’ command was simply to love one another. Make them disciples, loving one another just as Jesus loved. I’m not sure our catechisms or confirmations or whatever name they go under teach this. And when we subvert a nation of people to convert, leave or die, we are not obeying that command either.

So how do we teach this? I love this. Baptize them. Now the word baptize is one of those words that has grown in meaning. In the Greek, the word baptize means to dip or immerse and was used in washing hands or dyeing material. Yes John baptized and the disciples baptized for repentance. But Jesus doesn’t mention repentance here. Baptize them in the name (singular) of the Father Son and HS (name of God). Immerse them, soak them in that name and all it means and who God is so that like material with dye, they soak it up and become like God. Is that not beautiful?

And how do you immerse them in that way of life? By living it, soaking them in the love, forgiveness, mercy. This is how Jesus wants his disciples,us, to change the world. By immersing it in the love of God. 

And finally, I am with you always!

How? Because you have been immersed, soaked in me and just like the dye is now part of the cloth, so am I part of you. What are your true colors?

Have you ever thrown something red in the wash with a lighter color? What happens? The red shares its colors with the lighter item. 

When people look at you or at the church, what are the colors they will see? If they become immersed in the culture of the church, what color will their cloth become? Is it that “love one another” color? Or is it love the institution or the dogma or the creeds color? Or is it the color of if I go to church I’ll go to heaven?

We are called to immerse people in the love of Jesus. We are called to do that by loving one another. How simple is that? 

Ever been to a dance, wedding reception, or any sort of party with a band and no one is on the dance floor? What does it take to get other people dancing?  It takes someone else getting up to dance and thus giving permission for others to.

Sydney Carter wrote the hymn the Lord of the Dance. 

He writes;

I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.

Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum I do not know. We are told that David danced (and as an act of worship too), so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly (in a church, at any rate) does not mean that Jesus did.

Let’s get out on the dance floor and dance the dance of Jesus. Let’s give others permission to dance that dance. It’ll be fun.