"IT'S HARVEST TIME" - Matthew 9:36 - 10:8 (June 15, 2008)

Continuing from our message from last week where we see Jesus challenge the way the religious leaders were doing church. Today he turns his attention to the people. He had compassion on then for they looked like lost sheep, harassed and helpless. He tells the disciples to go out and share in the “Good News”, heal the sick, cast out the demons, raise the dead, do essentially everything He had been doing.

It is scary business. As we focus our attention on the evangelistic task of the church. Most members think that evangelism is for the Minister, or the Chair of Evangelism, or some paid staff.. However by limiting our vision of evangelism to one of these we may be stifling Christ's work on earth and cheating ourselves out of one of the most rewarding endeavors Christ offers us: Evangelism. What is needed is for all of us to become daily involved in evangelism. How, we might ask - I am just too busy, I don’t know how, I do not have that gift, I am embarrassed to share my religion with anyone.

Our reading for today gives us a glimpse into the inner life of Jesus allowing us to discover that compassion was Jesus’ primary mission and ministry in the world. The response to Jesus’ ministry was overwhelming. Crowds gathered around him at every stop. His teaching dazzled the ears of those who heard him. His ability to work miracles of feeding, healing and exorcism was stunning and raised the questions: Who is this guy?

He was deeply moved by the needs of the people who came to him. He recognized them as harassed and helpless. They were looking to him for help. At that moment, Jesus was compelled by the sense of compassion that he felt in the presence of human need to act.

That is the essence of compassion. It is not merely a feeling generated in response to the observed suffering of another, but also a burning desire to act in a manner that brings relief. Jesus was the embodiment of compassion. It was his calling card in Matthew’s gospel.

What about us? Every follower of Jesus becomes an extension of Jesus himself. Each of us who desires to follow Jesus serves as Jesus’ hands, feet, ears and eyes in the world today. Jesus seeks to unleash men and women to touch the lives of those within their spheres of influence with the good news of the Gospel. All of this begins with compassion.

Consider these reflections on compassion by leading thinkers:

• “Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.” —Thomas Merton
• “Compassion is the desire that moves the individual self to widen the scope of its self-concern to embrace the whole of the universal self.” —Arnold Toynbee
• “A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.” —Abraham Heschel

Compassion is central to the movement that Jesus is seeking to unleash into the world. Our gospel text for today functions as a guide to mission and ministry for Jesus’ followers past and present. In this text, Jesus envisions and launches a ministry of compassion.

This compassion is the only reason He sends us out to disciple the world. In today’s reading from Matthew we hear: "When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Can you think of a better description of the mass of people today" harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd?"

Not only did Jesus have compassion, he also had established goals. Jesus time on this earth was limited to 30-33 years, he therefore had to have goals to accomplish his mission.

There is a famous study involving graduates of Yale University of the class of 1953. It involves goal setting. Do you know where you are headed in life? Do you know how you are going to get there?

The graduates involved in these studies were asked if they had a clear, specific set of goals for their future. Were these goals written down with a plan for achieving them? It turned out that only 3 percent of those interviewed had such written goals.

Twenty years later, in 1973, the researchers went back and interviewed the surviving members of the 1953 graduating class. They discovered that the 3 percent with written specific goals had achieved more in financial terms than the entire other 97 percent put
together. They also seemed to be happier and more "together" in every way.

Jesus’ goal was to be about His Fathers business. He came to facilitate bringing God’s kingdom to the lost people. He desired the people to come to know the Real Authentic God. He wanted them to know they were cherished. Jesus definitely had his goals in mind while he was on this earth. Do we? What are our goals as Christians?

Can you see that the only motivation for what we call evangelism is Christ's compassion for the world? We are not a business enterprise. Our motive is not a more impressive bottom line. Our goal is not to enhance institutional pride. Our aim is not to be the biggest and the best. There are people outside the walls of this church who are confused, angry, hurting, dying. There are families that are disintegrating, young minds being destroyed by drugs, old folks feeling forgotten. The need is almost overwhelming. Truly the harvest is plentiful.

The question, then, is, where are the laborers? Where are those committed to being the body of Christ in ministry to the world? Where are those who will point their family, their friends, their neighbors, and their associates to the One who can satisfy their needs in all circumstances for now and eternity? I'm not talking about buttonholing people on the street. I'm not talking about an offensive holier-than-thou kind of sanctimonious salesmanship. I'm talking about caring enough about people that you seek to help them out of their confusion, loneliness and fear. Let me give you an example.

Catherine Marshall once told about a couple named Mary and Harold Brinig. Mary and Harold moved to Chicago many years ago. They had no friends in Chicago. Soon they were lonely. They were also irritable and unhappy with each other.

While seeking help from the Bible, they saw these words of Jesus: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." (John 15:16) Somehow that passage became like light penetrating their darkness. They realized that much of their unhappiness was caused by self-centeredness. They wondered if Jesus was choosing them for some kind of unknown service. They also wondered what type of service they could possibly perform in such a big city as Chicago.

The first person they encountered after this discovery was the waitress who served them in a nearby restaurant. She apologized for giving them such slow service and said she was new in the city and miserable. They invited her to visit them in their apartment after work.

The next person they encountered was a neighbor who was a widower who was lonely and sad over the loss of his wife. They befriended him and invited him to join them in study and prayer. Soon a dozen people were meeting once a week for conversation and prayer.

Out of these meetings grew a project called "Adventures in Friendship." Soon scores of people were involved in visiting the lonely and the shut-ins throughout the whole area. There was an interesting byproduct of this ministry. Mary and Harold became so absorbed in the needs of others that they soon forgot their own troubles. Their lives became immeasurably richer and fuller.

They would never have thought of what they were doing as evangelism. It didn't fit the cup that they pictured when they thought of that word. They were simply showing compassion to people in need in Jesus' name. And, my friends, that is what the church of Jesus Christ is all about.

Jesus had compassion on the crowds. Harassed and helpless they were like sheep without a shepherd. And there were so many of them. Just like today. "The harvest is plentiful; but the laborers are few." Where are the laborers? Where are those who care enough to become involved in the lives of others? Where are those willing to take their time to show love to young people and old folks, to the substance abuser and the victims of broken families, to the down and out as well as the up and in? Where are the laborers? Christ asks even today.

Jesus changed the way the religious rulers portrayed God, Jesus calls for us to be change agents to those whom we encounter, whether they be our family, our co-workers, our neighbors. We are called to share the “Good News” with them to help them see the true “Kingdom of God” in the here and now.

Can He count on you?