Sermon Title: What We Need In Our Journey

Sermon by the Reverend John Young-Jung Lee on June 15, 2008

Matthew 9:35-10:10

9:35   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.

9:36   When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

9:37   Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

9:38   therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

10:1   Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.

10:2   These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

10:3   Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

10:4   Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

10:5   These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans,

10:6   but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

10:7   As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.'

10:8   Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

10:9   Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts,

10:10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.

What We Need In Our Journey

Today is Father’s Day. As a father, I always felt that I should take responsibility to protect my child from every danger or emergency. Before I started my theological education and training, I was the father of Hannah as I am now. When Hannah was little, we used to go to the nearby park nearly every Saturday. On these trips, I tried to be prepared for all possible things could happen. I used to pack the BBQ equipment and prepare two ice boxes of food and pop drinks, a few beach chairs, blankets and all necessary things even for an emergency. My car trunk was always jam packed with all these necessary things. 

On this Father’s Day Sunday, however, I would like to confess that women are smarter than men. What I learned from Young Sook and Hannah, who are travel experts, is that they never carry more than one small carry-on sized bag even when they have a month long trip. With a few exceptions, when we travel, we tend to prepare more than enough and sometimes tons of unnecessary things. Now the summer vacation season comes around and I hope we can enjoy what we are hoping for without carrying loads of baggage.

Despite having said this, one thing I still want to continue to carry without any exception is the Bible. I like to read the Bible like all of you here. I notice that the Scriptures we read does many different things for us Christians who are all different. To one person, it is a rule book. When there is something that is hard to decide or a problem, some people open the Bible and read it to search for a solution. I know a friend who reads the Bible every day but in a funny way. He opens the Bible in the morning and whatever passage he reads first is what he believes that as the message from God. Another friend uses it as a pillow and sleeps on it when he could not get the meaning of the passage.

There are tremendous unimaginable ways of using the Bible. I use the Scriptures differently. I tend to use the Scriptures as a tool rather than as a rule book, not a pillow to sleep on it but a tool to learn about Jesus, and ‘who he is’. I do not stop in the middle of reading and ask "How do I interpret this passage? "  I do not ponder what text I should refer to in order to get my answers to questions. Rather, I see the Bible in the overarching theme that guides me, “not my will but thy will be done”, and I do not search for individual sentences or stories that tell me what to do or not do. I would rather read the Bible hoping to understand Jesus’ way of thinking and acting. I think this is much of what Jesus wanted in sharing his life with the disciples and the people of Galilee.

The disciples did not move or risk their lives until Jesus was crucified and resurrected. They even denied Jesus as their teacher, master or Lord.  But when they saw the nail prints on his hands and scars on his side, they finally believed and confessed that “You are my Lord!” Until they knew who Jesus was, they did not believe. In the Bible, there are quite a few stories that the disciples argued with Jesus.

Surprisingly – or perhaps not that surprising – most of the arguments were derived from financial matters. When the crowd did not have enough to eat, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “We do not have enough money to buy food.” Medical research says that when people are hungry and their blood sugar level becomes too low, then they become nervous and lose patience. If we try to understand the situation of 5000 people’s gathering, and they are all hungry and asking for food, we can imagine the shouting and fighting each other for something. We easily can imagine that the disciples’ saying is not a gentle report of what is happening, but it is rather a same degree of shouting and yelling of the crowds like, “Don’t you hear people’s shouting for food? We need money to by food. But our treasurer says we do not have any money left!” Jesus’ solution was not bringing money, but blessing the little boy’s small contribution, two fish and five loaf of bread.

Another famous incident happened on their way to Jerusalem. Traveling by foot costs more money and tiring as we can guess with our common sense. One day Jesus was sitting down and relaxed while a woman brought an expensive perfumed oil and poured it on Jesus’ feet. The Bible reports that the disciples complained that they could have sold that expensive perfume and used it for good cause. This is another incident where the disciples got angry and argued with Jesus. What Jesus concluded is that money is not the ultimate solution, and he said that the story of this good deed or what people call wasting and unproductive” will be said wherever the Gospel is delivered.

We can recognize a huge contrast in the ways of thinking between the disciples and Jesus. When they realize the shortage of fund or notice any unproductive use of material, they were worried and argued with Jesus and even got mad at what Jesus did. But Jesus continues to say the same thing. Do not worry about money. Do not worry even about what to eat and what to wear. And in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus clearly says, “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.” Jesus shares his way of life as he send out the disciples for doing God’s mission.

In the midst of his ministry, his taking a new journey each and everyday, Jesus saw the crowds “with compassion” for them. The Bible records that there are so many things they have to do, but they were harassed and helpless. What Jesus did at that time is that he prayed to God to send him workers for ministry.  Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. This is what we call the ministry of healing and reconciliation. To this ministry, today we are summoned by Jesus to heal the community and the individual, and given the authority to do this.

When Jesus talks about what to do to the disciples, one of the things he said is that, “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts.” By this, Jesus means, “Do not take any money with you. You don’t need any money.” What a thing to say at the start of a new journey of great challenges and of many uncertainties. Common sense tells us that we need to bring more money, just in case of an emergency. What is clear in Jesus’ way of thinking and acting is that he is a man of “no worries.” However he prays in all his time of venturing into new challenges of God’s mission. I want to cite today’s reading again. “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.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore he ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. This is what we are called to by Jesus today, at this place. Jesus does not worry about anything. Even he does not bother to take any money and seeming necessary things for the journey. I am sure when he prayed to God, Jesus must have heard the message of God, “I will provide everything you need for the healing of you and of the world.” This is what Jesus said to the disciples who are in despair. It is the blessing of hope and the promise of God. I believe we also can hear this good news of God in our prayer.

Do not worry.

Peace be with you.

Receive the Holy Spirit.

It is God’s blessing for each one of us who will take a new journey for God’s work. Thanks be to God.