Matthew 9:35-38 NRSVUE

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. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for 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 laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 

Matthew 10:7-8 NRSVUE

⁷ As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

I grew up outside of Louisville, KY.  It was one of the only areas that was a commercial free zone, and it was kind of in the country.  Most of the lots were at least 8 acres I believe.  We had one lot and my great aunt and uncle, and my cousin, whom we all adored had another 8-9 acre lot next to us.  Our two families shared a lot, including a hobby farm.  

My uncle had cows and there was, at the end of our property, a manure pile.  Every fall, before it got cold, we would go to the manure pile and shovel that stuff into a trailer to be taken up the hill to our huge shared garden, put it in the manure spreader and spread it.  In addition to shoveling the stuff, it was also my job and my sister’s job to ride on the back of the manure spreader so that while it was churning up the dirt the manure could get deep into all of the soil.  

This made the ground rich for growth as seeds were planted.

Our gospel lesson this morning is talking about a harvest field.  First century Palestine was, and still is, an agrarian culture.  It is rich nutrients in the soil for growth and rich in terms of weather.  It was, and is, a bread basket, literally, for the surrounding area.  But, before the author gets to the harvest field, he’s laying down a story about Jesus’ character, his emotional connection to people, and his charge, or call, to the disciples.

This phrase of Jesus going around to the cities villages and healing folks and loving them is something that Matthew uses before the sermon on the mount as well.  It seems as if Jesus made it a habit to be with people, in their neighborhoods.  He did preach on the Sabbath in their synagogues, but, throughout the week, you wouldn’t find him in the office.  He was with people.  

While he was with people, he heard them…and they heard him.  He was vulnerable, real, and did not promise them a new movement, a new church, or the latest fad or program to draw people towards the good news of what it means to be human, an image bearer of God.  He simply loved them and shared in their struggle.  The word for compassion in this passage in the Greek literally means moved with emotion to where it moved your bowels, Jesus’ entire body was being moved by the people.  The phrase for harassed and helpless literally means that the people were skinned, flayed.  The author is saying that Jesus was heartbroken, to the point of physical stress because that people had been misinformed, divided, and had lived into a narrative that left them less that human, less than image bearers of the divine.

They were sheep, led to a slaughter, a slow death of the status quo…and their supposed leaders were not leading out of compassion, but out of anxiety and control.  They did not have a shepherd to guide them towards wide open green pastures…instead they settled for being in a ghetto of the same thoughts, the same pastures that are overused and exhausted.  Instead of judging them, Jesus ached for them.  

Jesus then looks at his disciples.  He doesn’t tell them they need other gifts, more money, or that they lacked anything.  He simply says that the harvest is plentiful.  There are persons who are ready for a change, ready for growth.  He doesn’t tell them to plant seeds.  Those seeds have already been planted.  He tells them to go and simply proclaim the good news that they are loved.  To draw out of them from the rich nutrients in their lives that have not been tended.  To see where the seeds of God’s Presence have landed and bring them out.  

Notice, Jesus does not say go out and recruit new workers.  He looks at this messy, emotional group of disciples and says, GO.  You have all of the gifts you need, be the workers, the cultivators, the people that you’ve called to be.  

The next verses starting in chapter 10 are an imperative.  Receive the call.  Be the church, be the body of Christ, be image bearers in a world that is harassed and helpless.

Oh Fleming Road, we have had so many discussions about calling and church these past few years, and even these past few weeks.  You have everything you need, all the gifts in this room to be magic with one another and this neighborhood.  The question is do you want to heed that calling?  Do we want to put behind us the narrative that divides us that the systems of the world have used to keep us harassed and helpless?  Do we want to be raised from the dead and then go and raise others from the dead?  Do we want to live in the expansive pasture that God has given us to live in filled with rich nutrients for growth?  I believe that you have said yes to this call.  As have I.  Let’s get on with it shall we?

As I grew up, I began to appreciate the lessons of shoveling manure.  It’s kind of like life, even the church at times.  It can be messy, you maybe can’t wait for the job to be done and do something else.  Yet, in the mess, goodness is being spread that can bring things, and people to life.