Let us pray…
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Today’s gospel text is from Matthew
and as we read Matthew alongside Exodus this morning,
it’s helpful to remember that in his narrative,
Matthew casts Jesus as a new teacher, like Moses. Matthew’s mainly Jewish audience would have recognized the parallels that Matthew draws between the two men.
It’s here in Matthew’s narrative that we get five speeches or discourses by Jesus, mirroring the early tradition that attributed the first five books of the Bible to Moses.
While the Pentateuch begins with Genesis and the creation stories,
in Matthew, Jesus’ first discourse is the Sermon on the Mount, and the second discourse begins with the naming of the apostles
that we have in our text today.
But before that happens, we meet Jesus as he’s traveling around Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and healing women, children and others with a host of afflictions.
And as he travels, Jesus encounters more and more people whom he says are “like sheep without a shepherd.” (v. 36)
We don’t know where the shepherds are,
or why they have deserted the people, but like Jesus,
we know that “sheep without a shepherd” are vulnerable.
Earlier in Scripture, in the Hebrew Bible, the psalms describe God’s people as sheep and the Lord as our shepherd. (Ps. 23) and declare that “The LORD is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.” (Ps. 95:7)
And then, the prophet Ezekiel warns Israel that their shepherds are neglecting their care for God’s people, their flock. The prophet told the people that the God of Israel would be their true shepherd. (Ezekiel 34)
Luke’s gospel tells the parable of the shepherd who leaves the 99 to find the one who is missing. (15:1-7) And in John’s gospel, Jesus says, “I AM the good shepherd.” (John 10)
Throughout Scripture, the message is clear: shepherds are the ones who lead and care for God’s people.
But when Jesus sees the crowds following him, he realizes that
the people who had called themselves shepherds
have abandoned God’s people,
leaving them without green pastures or clean water
or protection against predators or evil.
And Matthew says Jesus is moved with compassion for the people. (9: 36)
But before we go any farther in the gospel text,
let’s go back to the Exodus text.
There, we hear a conversation between God and Moses after the people of Israel have reached the wilderness of Sinai. God recalls God’s covenant with God’s people.
We can understand “covenant” as another word for “relationship”. Keeping God’s covenant is about living in relationship with the God who created us and loves us.
As God recalls this covenant or relationship with God’s people,
God tells Moses to remind the people
“how [God] bore them on eagles’ wings….” (19:4)
And while the hymn “On Eagles’ Wings” beautifully captures this imagery and that of Psalm 91 of our being carried upon eagles’ wings to safety, and sheltered by God, I couldn’t help but also remember the scene in The Hobbit when Bilbo, Thorin and company are fighting the Wargs and the Great Eagles swoop in and rescue them from the fiery cliffs.
Whatever image appeals to you,
what we witness is an awesome, majestic power.
God, whose creative power is responsible for the whole earth (v.5), and who calls us beloved, bears or lifts us up. (v. 4)
And to make it even more dramatic, the Hebrew word used here (nasa/nasah) is also used to mean that our sins are taken up or forgiven.
In God’s majesty and divinity,
God rescues us from bondage,
forgiving our sins
– those things that separate or draw us away from God,
delivering us into the shelter of God’s love,
and inviting us into covenant or relationship with God.
Both God and Jesus both respond to God’s people because of the steadfast, faithful and everlasting love they have for us. (Psalm 100)
Remember how Matthew’s narrative patterns Jesus’ ministry after Moses?
Earlier in Exodus, Moses, with encouragement from his father-in-law Jethro, had given authority to trusted elders in the community to help him lead.
And, here in Matthew, Jesus names the twelve apostles and shares the mission of proclaiming the Good News with them.
And now,
rooted in the relationship we have with God,
confident that we are loved by God,
we too are sent out to do the work that we find Jesus doing in Galilee – the proclamation of the Good News.
Like Jesus, and Moses before him,
none of us can do this work alone.
And thankfully, we won’t.
As we are reminded in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us. (5:5)
We are being led by the Holy Spirit,
and given authority from God, as followers of Jesus,
to share the transforming power of God’s love in our lives,
to tell what we know
and to bear witness to the ways that God has lifted us up
and freed us to live as God’s beloved in the world.
A few weeks ago, at the closing worship of our North Carolina Synod Gathering, Bishop Hartner put it this way:
If we try to go it alone, we won’t get very far; we won’t have what we need. But when we recognize that we are co-missioned, that we are tasked with collaboration, we will have everything that we need.
As we look ahead to where God may be leading our congregation next, my prayer is that we will be bold in telling our stories of what God has done for our congregation and for us individually.
And as we listen well to each other and to our neighbors,
may we notice where God may be inviting us into ministry together, all for the sake of the world.
Let us pray…
Holy God,
We give thanks that you rescue us and deliver us from the things that would separate us from you and your steadfast love.
We give you thanks for your Son Jesus who shows us how to invite others to accompany us and work together for the sake of the world you love.
Help us live in relationship with one another and with you, living out our covenant as your beloved community.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
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