Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 15, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
The Compassionate Authority of Jesus Extended
(Matthew 9:35 10:8)
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and
villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease
and every affliction. So we read in our text for
today from the Gospel of Matthew. That particular
verse is Matthew 9:35, but its sounds a lot like a
verse we read about five chapters earlier, in Matthew
4:23: And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching
in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the
kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction
among the people. The two verses are almost
word-for-word identical. What Matthew is doing is
framing, in a sense, this five-chapter section in
which he recounts the early ministry of Jesus in
Galilee, showing Jesus doing these several activities:
teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and
every affliction.
Thats what weve seen and heard Jesus doing:
teaching, preaching, and healing. Teaching, teaching
in their synagogues, and even on the mountainside,
teaching his growing number of followers what it means
to be his disciples. Preaching, proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom, announcing its arrival, summed
up in his words, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. Healing, healing every disease and every
affliction, and weve seen a whole bunch of examples:
a leper; a centurions servant; Peters mother-in-law;
two demon-possessed men; a paralytic; a woman with a
discharge of blood; a girl raised from the dead; two
blind men; another demon-oppressed man.
Teaching, preaching, and healing. And as he has done
these activities, we have witnessed the unique
authority of Jesus. As Jesus teaches--about
righteousness and the kingdom and discipleship--he
stresses repeatedly, You have heard that it was said.
. . . But I say to you. . . . And at the end of that
long teaching section, in chapters 5-7, it says, And
when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were
astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them
as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
As Jesus preaches, his proclamation is full of
authority, the authority of the mighty one prophesied
of old. Gods end-time judgment and salvation is now
here, and Jesus has the authority to announce it and
to call men to act accordingly: Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. As Jesus heals, his
authority likewise is on display: authority over
disease, authority over the demonic, authority over
death. Jesus word and touch carry great power, power
to restore fallen creation.
Jesus teaching, preaching, and healing show forth his
unique authority, that he is in fact the Messiah, the
Christ, the Son of David whose rule and reign was
promised long ago, the one who would usher in the
kingdom of heaven here on earth. But notice how this
kingdom comes--not just with a show of bare power, but
with authority exercised for the good.
Last night we went to the Shakespeare Festival in St.
Louis and saw Richard III. In the program for the
play, an ad on one of the pages tells how Richard went
about getting his kingdom: Ruthless ambition,
insincere flattery, manipulation, treachery, and
deception. That is how the kingdom of Richard III
came to be at hand. Contrast that to how Jesus
brought in the kingdom of heaven. Instead of ruthless
ambition, selfless humility. Instead of insincere
flattery, bold exposure of hypocrisy. Instead of
manipulation, manifestation of mercy. For treachery,
truth. For deception, revelation. Truly, Jesus
kingdom is not of this world.
It is a different kind of authority that Jesus
manifests. Let us call it compassionate authority.
Compassion is a key word here. Note what our text
says: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for
them, because they were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd. Jesus had compassion for
the crowds. That tells us something about him--and
about us.
The term thats translated here, he had compassion,
could even be translated, his inner parts were moved
within him. Thats the imagery behind the
expression. It conveys deep emotion, deep feeling.
We might say, his heart was deeply moved. See the
compassionate heart of your Savior here! How deeply
does he love these people who need him so!
For this also tells us something about ourselves.
Apart from Christ, we are like those crowds:
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd. Harassed and helpless--torn up and beaten
down, bruised and buffeted by all the assaults and
afflictions of life in this vale of tears. Like sheep
without a shepherd--weak, vulnerable, straying, lost.
Thats us, apart from Christ.
But thats whom Christ, the Good Shepherd, came to
help. But how can he reach them all? So many to
help, so little time! So Jesus tells his disciples,
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to
send out laborers into his harvest. Field
workers--thats who Jesus wants to help him bring in
the harvest. The harvest season is short, and it is
labor-intensive. The workers have got to get out in
the field and get er done. So Jesus enjoins his
church to pray. Pray to the Lord of the harvest, your
Father in heaven, who oversees the work. Pray for
more workers. Jesus is going to extend his
compassionate authority by having men to join him in
the work.
So the larger group of disciples prays, and out of
that larger group, now Jesus calls some of them,
twelve of them, to be those harvest laborers. He
gives them authority to do what he himself has been
doing. He authorizes them and sends them out. Thats
why they now are called apostles, sent ones,
authorized and sent out with a commission. Twelve
apostles, and here are their names: Simon Peter,
Andrew, James and John, and so on.
Twelve apostles, to match the twelve tribes of Israel.
For that is to whom Jesus sends them, to Israel, and
nowhere else, on this first, limited mission: Go
nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the
Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.
Thats to whom he sends them. And this is what he
sends them to do: And proclaim as you go, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.
Proclaim, heal, raise, cleanse, cast out. . . . That
sounds a lot like Jesus own ministry. And thats the
point. Jesus is extending his compassionate authority
through the ministry of the apostles.
Well, thats great, you say. Great for the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. Great for those people back
in the first century. But what about us, here in the
twenty-first century? What about the lost sheep of
the house of Germany or Sweden or Kenya or America?
Doesnt Jesus have any compassion for the lost sheep
of Missouri, Ohio, and other states? He does!
Jesus compassion is without bounds. So great is
Christs compassion that it moved this Good Shepherd
to lay down his life for the sheep. Christs
compassion took him all the way to the cross.
Ruthless ambition, treachery, deception? Thats
what Jesus was willing to suffer at the hands of
wicked men. For by his rejection, betrayal,
suffering, and death on the cross, the compassionate
Christ would give his life for your redemption.
Clothed now with Christs righteousness, you are
spared Gods end-time judgment and you receive instead
eternal salvation. The compassionate authority of
Jesus has defeated your enemies for you, delivering
you from the domain of the demonic, disease, and
death.
Jesus compassion is without bounds. For the one who
first sent out his apostles only to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel later would extend that commission
to all nations. Having risen victorious from the
dead, Jesus called together his apostles again and
commissioned them anew: All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching
them. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of
the age.
And so the compassionate authority of Jesus is
extended even now to you. You see, Christs apostles
then ordained other workers to extend the ministry
even further. And so I come to you today--its really
Jesus doing it, hes just using my voice--I come to
you today proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, the
good news of Gods reign, calling you to repent of
your sins and turn to him, to receive the salvation
accomplished for you by Christ. As we open up Gods
word together, I will teach you about righteousness
and the kingdom and what it means to be Christs
disciples living in this world. Again, its Jesus
whos doing it. And in a few moments, I will give you
the very body and blood of Christ, given and shed for
you for the forgiveness of sins, thus guaranteeing you
ultimate and eternal healing for both your body and
your soul at the resurrection of the dead.
Yes, the compassionate authority of Jesus is being
extended today, even to you!
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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