06132020 – Matthew 9. 35-10.8
Pentecost II
It is an interesting Gospel text, one we have not had – for a few years, now…
And of course “the BIG line” used by THE CHURCH to “CLOBBER” people over the heads with is: “therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to SEND OUT LABORERS into the harvest.”
We get it! At least some of US.
Laborers are needed and necessary.
HEY, there is WORK to be done.
There is ALWAYS work to be done. There is always MORE.
You cannot expect the SAME people to do the SAME jobs over and over again, forever. SOMEONE else, PLEASE, step up!
It is probably WRONG to use the words of Jesus to “GUILT people” into helping out…that’s not HELPFUL. And it may indeed even be HARMFUL OR HURTFUL.
Nor do I believe that is WHAT Jesus WANTED or INTENDED.
You are supposed to HELP because you CARE. Because you are CONCERNED.
Maybe your LACK OF INVOLVEMENT speaks volumes AND maybe it DOESN’T!
EVERYONE has an excuse. Just try asking others for HELP sometimes. How can you NOT want to help OUT in some way, shape, or form? EVERYBODY can do SOMEthing. NO EXCEPTIONS.
And SOMETIMES (to be perfectly honest) the laborers just get POOPED. They get TIRED. They get WEARY. They get BURNT OUT. WHERE is the “second string?” Send in the RESERVES.
Send in the CAVALRY. Where’s the “B” SQUAD when you NEED them?
SO, because there was a NEED for workers in the kingdom…Jesus called the TWELVE. The Bible does not tell us how many NO’S he got…or EXCUSES.
Not ten. Not fourteen. Not twenty. The number twelve IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN an allusion to the TWELVE tribes of Israel.
You remember, Jacob’s boys…
(Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Issachar, Judah, Joseph, Levi, Naphtali, Reuben (like the sandwich), Simeon, and Zebulun.)
Not to be confused with the 12 that Jesus was calling for himself. (Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddaeus, Simon and Judas.)
The thing about them IS…they were COMMON and ORDINARY guys. Not POLISHED. Not EDUCATED. Not DEGREED. A little bit ROUGH around the edges…and JESUS called THEM!
Certainly, he knew WHAT he was getting into. But there was work TO BE DONE and SOMEONE had to do it.
No GUILT. No FINGER pointing. No BLAME! Just a reminder that NOTHING HAPPENS without someone DOING SOMETHING.
That’s the way it works. That’s the way it has ALWAYS worked.
So, he called Peter. The Apostolic leader. A fisherman. Actually four of the guys were fishermen and two sets of them were brothers. Peter, THE ONE who “cracked under pressure.” The ONE with “the big mouth.” The ONE who “denied knowing Jesus three times.”
There was Andrew (Peter’s Brother) who always lived “in the shadow” of his bigger, better, MORE POPULAR brother.
And James and John, the sons of THUNDER…HOT HEADED, thunderous TEMPERED…hot tempered…but VERY AMBITIOUS. Out for THEMSELVES.
There was Judas the GREEDY ONE, the BETRAYER. He loved “BLING”…more than he loved GOD.
And Matthew, the hated-despised-tax-collector. The businessman.
Simon, the ZEALOT was a “political fanatic,” a kind of revolutionary, RIGHT wing or LEFT wing, we have NO idea. But a religious NUT CASE, for sure.
Old Thomas, you will remember was the DOUBTER…who needed concrete proof. He wanted to see, touch and feel…and examine things closely…
Philip, Bartholomew, and Thaddeus were the quiet ones, the non-problematic ones, but who knows? Right? Still waters run deep! Isn’t that the old saying? All 12 totally COMMON, IMPERFECT, ORDINARY guys…with TONS of baggage – each and every one of them. And yet, someHOW, some WAY, these twelve managed to change the entire world.
“The harvest is PLENTIFUL, the laborers are FEW”…do what you can…wherever you are…
We ALL have A PART to play!
Amen.