Author: admin

The Text: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Dear heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit on us so that we may not lose heart
when the weeds of conflict, deception, or persecution come, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.

You know, there’s so much to do (and most of it seems too hard or too complex), so you might feel stressed or anxious. Perhaps things haven’t worked out as you hoped, which might make you feel angry, frustrated, or depressed. Maybe you’re feeling tired and worn out. Maybe you feel as if you’ve let yourself or someone else
down. You may have succumbed to temptation again and feel bad or upset
about yourself.
But it may not just be about your internal struggles.
It could be that people you trusted or looked up to have let you down. They lied to you, argued with you, or withdrew their support from you. The world around seems to be filled with bad news or bad people. Even in the church, people who confess to be Christian don’t seem to be very forgiving, gracious, or merciful.
In response we might feel upset, let down, flat, depressed, angry, or frustrated.
All of these feelings and responses to what happens in our lives aren’t unusual or uncommon. Many of us can feel depressed, discouraged, worn out, or troubled.
We might feel like giving up, running away, or hiding from whatever’s affecting us.
It often happens when things don’t go according to our plans, or when we don’t feel appreciated for our effort, or when we have health concerns – either for
ourselves or someone we love. It happens when we get more complaints and
criticisms than words of encouragement or appreciation. It happens when the bad we experience seems to outweigh the good. It happens when we realise the people in church are not as holy as we hoped.
So, in response to what happens to us, we feel disillusioned, disheartened, and are tempted to give up.
I’m not sure if any of us are feeling this way at the moment, but I wonder what
might Jesus say to those who feel disillusioned and depressed by broken dreams, troubles and tough times?
Well, today he gives us an illustration of a man who sowed his best seed into his field. Since he later identifies himself as the sower, he probably gave loving
attention to every seed he planted. He knows his field, he knows his seeds, and he knows what he’s doing. He works patiently and diligently in order to get a good result. You’d think he’s guaranteed to succeed, and the resulting crop would be abundant and productive!
But at night an enemy came to sow a different seed. He also gave proper
attention to every seed he planted. He knows the field, he knows the seed, and he too knows what he’s doing. He wants to spoil the farmer’s crop, so he sows weeds among the good seed in order to ruin the harvest.
Now, unlike many weeds in our gardens which are easy to identify from our good plants, these particular weeds are often called Darnel wheat today, which is a false and very deceptive wheat.
This weed looks just like wheat right up to the moment when the wheat starts to produce seed on its head. It’s only then that the weed is revealed for what it truly is. So, by the time the weed is discovered, the crop is ruined.
Discovering this weed, the workers of the field come to their boss and tell him
about the false ‘wheat-weed’ which spoiled the crop. They ask whose fault is this?
Who would do such an evil thing? Who would ruin such a good crop?
Almost matter-of-factly he says his enemy did this.
Now, you’d think he’d be furious. His crop seems totally ruined. His careful work of planting the seed appears to be a complete waste of time. That’s not just a bad day or a bad week, but a bad season!
If this happened to any of us, we might want to exact revenge on our enemy, but we may also feel depressed, disillusioned, or want to give up.
The workers, like us, want to do something about it. They want to fix the situation.
They want to make everything right. They figure the best solution is to pull out all the bad weeds.
To us, this seems a simple and logical conclusion – if you want a good crop, then get rid of the bad weeds. If you want a good week, then get rid of all the bad things which happen. If you want a good world, then get rid of all the bad people or lock them up. If you want a perfect church, then let’s get rid of all those who aren’t faithful enough, spiritual enough, or who don’t seem to be living like a ‘good Christian’.
But strangely, the one who planted the crop doesn’t talk of revenge, even though he knew who did it. He also doesn’t show any despair or depression. In fact, he seems to show no emotion at all.
Instead, he says ‘No, leave them there, otherwise you’ll end up uprooting my good wheat. They’re my prime concern. Wait until harvest time and then we’ll divide the excellent wheat from the worthless weeds. The weeds will burn in hell, but the good grain will be gathered into my kingdom.’
Leave them there. Let the weeds live among the wheat.
In other words, this seems to suggest we need to continue to put up with difficult people, troublesome situations, conflicted relationships, evil attacks on the innocent, bad health, bad weeks, and an imperfect church. In fact, we’ll have to put up with evil and all its iterations until harvest day at the completion of the age.
Of course, this doesn’t appeal to us where everyone wants instant solutions and quick fixes to all our problems. It also doesn’t appeal to people who want a
trouble-free life, lasting good health, no more evil people, or even a perfect
church free from sinful and hurtful people.
It also doesn’t appeal because it doesn’t tell us what to do. The wheat is passive during this whole story and continues to be passive even after the harvest. The only thing we’re told to do is if we have ears, then we’d better listen!
But hidden behind this strange command is the fact the good grain who live
surrounded by weeds will have ears and will use them. Because they hear and trust the promises of the good gardener, they won’t despair when they have to live surrounded by deceptive and evil plants.
So, there’s no quick fixes. No guarantees of success or happiness. No magic wands to make all our problems and frustrations disappear. There’s only a call for us to keep listening to God’s Word with patience, endurance, and perseverance.
What frustrates and surprises people is; following Jesus isn’t all about fun and
success and happiness. Following Jesus isn’t about good times and a complete
freedom from evil. Following Jesus often involves suffering and putting up with all the bad weeds in our life. Following Jesus means the evil one will specifically target God’s chosen ones to ruin our faith and our loved ones’ faith.
Jesus has planted his precious seed of the gospel among us which tells us to rely on his work which has been fully completed on the cross rather than relying on our own work. But the devil will also plant misunderstandings, deceptions, and lies among us, which spread doubt in God’s goodness and mercy. We may even hear things in devotions or books or sermons or church conferences which sound good, but the true telling is when the fruit appears.
Those who hear and believe the Spirit-inspired Word of God will produce the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control. The fruit of those who only want to hear what they want to hear for their own benefit will be impurity, discord, jealousy, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy.
Jesus never guarantees every plan we undertake will be successful. While we’re still here in the world there’ll continue to be troubles and hardship and frustrations and persecutions and evil. We’ll be tempted to despair or give up.
Just because we’ve had a bad day, a bad week, or a bad life, doesn’t mean
Jesus doesn’t love us. Jesus still cares for every grain of wheat in his field. He knows each of us and he knows about all the ‘weeds’ we put up with.
While we may be tempted to think the proof of God’s love for us is only when God gets rid of all our troubles, it’s because he cares for us that he may leave the troubles, frustrations, difficult people, and stumbling blocks there.
Now this might seem strange but think of it this way: If any of our troubles and heartaches lead us to pray to God for his mercy, to search the Scriptures for assurance, to go back to his holy Sacraments, and force us to look to him for help, then our troubles were turned into blessings for us.
In other words, if our troubles and the evil we experience lead us to the cross of Christ so that we learn to rely on him rather than our own works or plans, then the devil’s plans have backfired!
It’s not our fault some things don’t succeed. It’s not Jesus’ fault things go wrong. If we experience pain and suffering, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us. God’s Kingdom is hidden among us and will be preserved until the end.
If any of us feel like giving up, then we’re encouraged to not lose heart. We’re to be faithful to the simple task Jesus has given us – to listen to him. We’re to keep on receiving his gracious holy nourishment in the Sacraments. He may not always take away all our troubles, but he’ll supply us with what we need in order to endure our times of trial.
Let’s be encouraged by the good news that all his good grain will be gathered up into his own barn. Jesus says the ones who hear his words are his precious people who’ll be gathered up in his arms and taken to his eternal kingdom of grace and
peace.
Therefore, for all those of us who have ears, let us hear……so that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

I’m not a gardener – I can barely gather the motivation to drag out the lawn mower
and mow the grass. I look with envy upon those who live in apartment blocks and
don’t have to worry about how long the grass is growing or how many weeds there
are. Sometimes I feel a little guilty about this. For I know that in Genesis, working in the Garden of Eden was a blessing that Adam enjoyed. In fact, the name Adam means
“from the ground or the earth.” But I also understand that one of the first punishments of Adam’s sin affected his enjoyment of gardening: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” So, most of the time, I don’t feel so bad about my reluctance to do gardening.
But in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus uses a beautiful gardening analogy; a well-known parable, “The parable of the sower.” As we heard, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart. I think we all know this situation.
Maybe you’ve tried to share the Gospel with someone. Maybe you’ve invited them to come along to church or a church function. We shouldn’t be surprised or disheartened when this happens. Instead we can recognise the truth about what Jesus says about this seed we attempt to sow: the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart. This is a spiritual battle going on. This is frontline work on the battlefield and before we attempt to do anything like this we need to spend time in prayer and seek the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit. So remember that when you’re trying to share the Gospel with someone and they are rejecting it, even antagonistic to you – if that’s happening then your efforts are working.
Too often we think when someone rejects our invitations that we’ve failed – far from it.
The more we work – the harder the devil works. But we work knowing that God’s Holy Spirit will work where and when he pleases. That’s encouragement to persist in praying.
Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. This is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
This is a sad situation. A person has heard the word – received the word – but then falls away when they are persecuted because of their acceptance of the word. This calls for us to take particular care of those who are new to the faith. We can’t just invite them – introduce them to the church – and then leave them and work on someone else.
This puts a great responsibility on the church to follow up visitors and newcomers to our church. We don’t just put them into our database, put them in the directory and send out the bulletin and that’s our job done. No, this may take a lifetime of nurture and maybe they may be the only person that God puts before us. This is not about quantity – trying to get hundreds or thousands through the door. No, the Bible says that
the angels in heaven rejoice over even just one sinner who repents. And this cannot be just the role of the Pastor or the Pastoral Assistants. We all have the responsibility of looking out for those who are absent for periods of time. Something has happened, maybe major, maybe minor, but it’s important to find out in case we can help. If not, at the very least it gives us more to pray to God about; to commend to God’s wisdom and strength.
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. This is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
This is also an all-too-common situation where priorities quickly take over. Sadly with 7 day work week – our 24/7 society – sometimes church on Sundays become the easy part in our life to neglect. Not intentionally, perhaps. This is not saying that church isn’t a priority, but it is the easy one to manoeuvre around. Sundays have quickly become family days for so many organisations, especially sport. But before we become critical of families – can you imagine what a child might think of church when a parent says to
them – you can’t play footy this morning – we have to go to church. Or, you can’t goto your friend’s birthday party because you can’t miss Sunday School. It’s a tough situation for growing families!
Children quickly begin to see church and related activities such as Sunday School as the enemy. How often don’t we hear young adults reject the church because it was shoved down their throats? I don’t know what the answer is other than this is a real
challenge for the church to work adaptively with families.
Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” This is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
There’s probably not a lot to analyse here. Sometimes we sow a seed of faith and it grows, but what we can gather from Jesus’ final statement is that sometimes it produces a hundredfold – sometimes sixty and sometimes thirty. So he affirms – this is not about numbers, but faith, and yes, faith even as small as a mustard seed. Maybe there will only ever be one person that God places in your life to mentor and nurture in
their faith. In fact sometimes we may only have laid the foundation that someone else builds upon. This is what even St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3: By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it.
The final thought which the Parable of the Sower leaves us is that we can sow the seed anywhere. The farmer in our parable intentionally threw the seed on the path. There was no hole in his seed bag, rather he intentionally threw the seed everywhere and
anywhere. Even though he would know that they were not good places to sow seed, he knew that ultimately it was not his decision or power to make them grow. Have you ever thrown out food scraps and sometime later you’ve seen something grow –
maybe some potatoes or tomatoes and yet when you try to grow them nothing appears. That’s how it is with God’s mission in the world.
Sometimes the most extraordinary results come from our unintentional actions. As, again, St Paul says in 1 Corinthians: I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. Today’s Gospel reading is all about mission work. And mission work is different to anything else we do because we cannot measure it by human measures. This is where we are called upon to trust in God and the work that he is doing which we don’t always see.
So let us be like the sower in our parable – let us sow wherever we go. We can spread the seed of God’s love every day, in every aspect of our life, as we go about loving our neighbour as ourselves. So may God bless you as you sow his seed of love wherever God sends you.
I’m not a gardener, and we might think that we are not missionaries. But we can all spread the love of God wherever we go and with whomever we meet. And let us trust God in all this who promised in our Isaiah reading today: so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus; the Word made flesh. Amen.

The Text: Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus said: Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Something strange has happened in the way we live our lives.
Once upon a time most people spent most of their lives doing things that were
physical—working the land with hand tools; running the household with great effort; making things with hard physical labour.
We can think of God’s word to Adam after he was thrown out of the Garden of
Eden: Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. By the sweat of the brow you will eat food, until you return to the ground.
People would work hard all day, and by the end of the day they were exhausted.
People would work hard all their lives, and by the time they were old, their bodies were worn out.
Then people started to get cleverer. People invented all sorts of machines that took over many of the hard tasks – machines for the household, and for working the land, and for manufacturing things in the factories.
I think that most of you would agree that our lives today are much easier than the lives of previous generations. Much of the burden of hard physical labour has been lifted off our shoulders.
But then something strange happened. We have realised that we need physical activity. We need physical exercise to keep us healthy. We need to do things that make us tired.
So what did we do? We invented some more machines, machines that we use to exercise, and we put them in gymnasiums, and sometimes in our own homes, and we use them, not to take away the physical efforts of life, but to give us the sort of physical effort that will help us to stay healthy.
Our text today talks about hard work, about the burdens of life, that leave us
exhausted, worn out. It talks about relief from your burdens, and rest, and
refreshment, and recuperation.
But then it also talks about a new burden, a new exercise that you need for the
good of your health.
Jesus says: Come to me all you who are weary and weighed down with heavy
burdens. Jesus promises: Come to me, and I will give you rest, and refreshment. But then he challenges us: And now pick up my yoke, and learn from me. Learn how to live a life that is healthy and strong.
What are the burdens that weigh people down? What makes you tired?
Do you get tired physically? For all the labour-saving devices that we have, life can still be physically demanding. At the end of the day we may feel tired and worn out.
Our bodies have their limits, and when we have been doing physical work, we
reach the point where our bodies tell us. If we are ill, if we are carrying injuries, then we become even more aware of our physical limits.
We feel tired. We need rest.
As you grow old, you become more and more aware of the loss of physical
strength. You cannot do the same tasks you used to do. You appreciate rest and
quietness more and more.
But there are other kinds of burdens and other kinds of weariness.
Today, when we spend less time and effort on physical work, our levels of mental stress have grown at least as much. As life has become more and more
complicated, our emotional stress keeps going higher. We talk about the pressures of life. There are pressures all around us—we are expected to succeed, to be able to manage new tasks, new technology, and we often get to the point when we cry out: I can’t cope with it all. Give me a break.
We have financial pressures—all the things that we want to get, the security we hope for. We struggle to make ends meet.
We have relationship pressures. We want to love and be loved. So often our
relationships become difficult and we carry disappointments and regrets.
There are pressures within us. We want to be successful. We want to be able to
manage. We want to be independent. But again and again we are reminded of
our own limitations. We feel that we have failed.
But the greatest pressure, and our greatest failures, are spiritual.
If we are honest, we know that we are not the people that we would like to be. We do not live the life that we know that we should live.
I know that I am not the person that God wants me to be, and expects me to be, and commands me to be. I know I should obey my God, and I should live
according to the life that God has set up for me. But I don’t. I fail. I disobey God, and I break God’s commands. The greatest burden we carry is our moral failure.
We try to get around it and think that as long as we do our best, that should be OK.
But it does not work. We carry a great and terrible burden of guilt. We have sinned against our God.
If we think back to Paul’s words in Romans 7, it is one of the most honest cases of facing the guilt within our human hearts: I am a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. What a wretched man I am! We can hear his frustration, his anger, almost despair. If we are honest, we know that we all share in the same sort of
struggle.
I once shared this passage with a person who was struggling with addictions
gambling addiction, alcohol and drug addiction, sexual addiction. This person
wanted to break free, but the reality is that an addiction keeps grabbing you and dragging you back.
So you have the burden of terrible frustration and guilt. You want to do what is right and healthy, but the urges to do something to satisfy your desires is so great that it keeps dragging you back.
Sin is an addiction. We don’t want to sin – but we do. Those desires to do
something, even if we know that it is hurtful—they keep grabbing us and dragging us down.
That is what Paul is speaking about, and we feel it too: I don’t understand what I am doing, and why I keep on doing it. I don’t do what I want to do, but I do what I hate. I know that God’s law is good, and I want to do what is right. But sin is living in me, and I keep on giving way to sin. I have the desire to do what is right, but I do not have the strength to carry it out. ….I don’t do the good I want to do, but I do the evil I don’t want to do.
We hear his great frustration, and we share that frustration. Who will rescue me from this body of death?
But Paul also has an answer. Paul knows where to go for relief, for release, for rest.
Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
That is also the answer that Jesus himself has given. That is the invitation that Christ gives to us: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. Come to me and I will give you rest.
One of the great gifts of God is rest. Rest is peace, relief, refreshment. When we have rest, our bodies, and our minds, and our spirits, have the opportunity to recover, to gather strength again.
When we are tired, we just want to stop, to put our feet up, to crawl into bed, to go to sleep. When we are rested, we are ready to start again. Our energy and our strength have returned.
We have been made in a way so that while we rest we are made strong. Our
bodies and our minds are refreshed and rejuvenated. If we are sick, often a good rest is the best medicine, so that your bodies can heal themselves, and overcome fevers and infections.
There is a beautiful psalm verse: “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for God grants sleep to those he loves” (Psalm 127:2)
Jesus Christ offers rest. But now it is rest that brings health and recovery from our spiritual weariness, from our burdens of sin and guilt. Jesus Christ offers to take our burden. Jesus Christ has taken the burden of our sin and guilt all the way to the
Cross. He has carried that burden and he has paid for that guilt with his own life. So
Jesus says to us that we do not have to try to prove your own goodness—not to
God, nor to ourselves, nor to anyone else. Jesus takes away that pressure.
And Jesus tells us that as we come to him in repentance, he forgives us. He takes
= away our sin. He sets us free from the burden of guilt, and that terrible frustration when we can never avoid following our human sinful desires.
Jesus gives us that deep rest and peace, for we know that our sins are forgiven.
With that rest we are refreshed, rejuvenated, recuperated. We are ready to live
again, with the strength and energy that comes from God’s Spirit.
But just when we think that all of our problems have been solved, Jesus comes back and says: But now I have something for you to carry. Take my yoke on upon you. A yoke is the big heavy beam of wood that was placed over the shoulders of a team of oxen, so that they could pull heavy loads. Jesus is putting a load on us.
Is it easy to be a Christian, to follow Jesus, to live for Christ? No, because Jesus also has very high expectations on us. Jesus calls on us to be totally dedicated to our God, to serve God with our bodies, minds and spirits. That is demanding, and it can mean a huge effort, a deep sacrifice.
Has Jesus lifted off one burden, and replaced it with another? Yes—and no! Jesus takes away the real burdens that wear us out and threaten to destroy us. But remember how we spoke about another sort of effort, about work, about exercise, which is part of healthy living that creates a healthy tiredness.
That is the sort of task and challenge that Jesus gives us. Jesus says: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
If you look at a yoke, you will see that it is not meant to be carried alone—it is
always carried by a pair of oxen. Jesus tells you, I am giving you a burden, but I am not expecting to carry it by yourself. I am not plonking it on top of you to weigh you down and oppress you and destroy you.
No, I am gentle and humble in heart. I am giving you something that is going to help you and build you up.
Jesus says that he is carrying that burden with us. Learn from me. When you share the tasks and challenges of Christian life, you are sharing in the life of Jesus Christ.
You are sharing the life that comes from God. That is a privilege, not a burden. And it is a challenge that makes you stronger, that builds up your faith. The more you respond, the more you grow, and you appreciate more and more what God is doing through you and what God is doing in you.
With Jesus Christ, this yoke is easy, this burden is not too heavy. As you commit to God’s tasks, yes, you do get tired. You know that you have been putting your body and mind and soul into it. But it is a healthy tiredness. It is the tiredness that brings refreshment and new life.
Until you finally have finished all of your tasks. Then you have a new rest and an eternal peace. Then you are living in the peace of your heavenly Father. For Christ has given you the rest for your souls. Amen.

Text: Matthew 9:35 – 10:8

There are different organisations committed to encouraging the act of volunteering across the Australia and New Zealand. They encourage organizations which are involved in any sort of service to invite volunteers to come and join them. They encourage people to look for opportunities to volunteer.
During National Volunteers Week you might read stories about volunteers in your local newspapers. National Volunteers Week is also a reminder to show appreciation to the volunteers who are often taken for granted.
It is hard to volunteer. To volunteer means that you are giving your time, and making a considerable effort, and maybe it is going to cost you some money too, because volunteers are not always well supported.
• Volunteering means letting go of your own commitments and giving
something of yourself for the sake of others, or for the sake of some worthy
cause.
• Volunteering means doing. Your hands are busy. But it goes deeper, to your
heart.
• Volunteers are committed with a sense of love and care, and a willingness to commit yourself to others in some way because you see a need.
Volunteering can be a hard slog. But ‘National Volunteer Week’ tells us it can also be rewarding, with inner satisfaction and joy. Volunteering for something worthwhile can bring out the deeper satisfaction of life and can enrich you in relationship with others – others who work with you, or others you help and who laugh with you as you share together.
Think of all the volunteers who touch your life. Think of how and where you
volunteer.
One of the areas where many people volunteer is in our church life. Church
volunteers are included among the volunteers in the community. In fact, figures show that church volunteers are more likely to volunteer in other organisations and causes as well.
So first of all, thank you. Thank you to all of you who give considerable time and effort in the life of your church and community. I know that doing some of the tasks which need to be done can be demanding and you can feel unrewarded. So, thank you on behalf of all who benefit. We do see, and we do appreciate. And I hope that through your voluntary work in your church and community you can live and enjoy life, and that you can laugh together and share together.
That all gives us a very good introduction to today’s Gospel text. Because Jesus is calling for volunteers, for willing workers to work for His Kingdom. And He is sending out volunteers into His communities.
Jesus went round visiting all the towns and villages. He taught in the synagogues, preached the Good News about the Kingdom, and healed people with every kind of disease and sickness.
The best way to enlist volunteers is by example. Never ask anyone else to do
anything which you are not willing to do yourself. Jesus shows us how. Jesus was a ‘doer’. He was out there, out there moving from town to town and village to village.
He was out there where the need was greatest. He spoke the Good News because He saw that the people were desperate and despondent. He saw the pain and suffering of the people, and He came with His healing power.
Jesus was on a mission. He came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the people of earth. That was not just a wonderful idea. It was bringing the grace of God into the real needs of people. He was out there, doing it. As He saw the crowds, His heart was filled with pity for them, because they were worried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus was motivated by a deep compassion. He saw the needs on the outside. He saw broken bodies, and troubled life-styles. He saw the needs on the inside. He saw the addiction to sin, which is the deepest addiction of all. He felt the pain and anguish which it brought in the lives of all these people.
He saw it in each person He met. He saw it multiplied in the crowds of people who came out into the streets hopefully when they heard He was coming. He could see that they were desperate, looking for something. They were like sheep wandering around, confused, defenceless, without a shepherd.
He was coming as the Shepherd. He was coming as the Good Shepherd, who had true care and compassion for each of His sheep, and for all of His sheep together, a true dedication to their protection and their welfare. He was coming with the mercy of God to lift the burden of sin and suffering and to bring these wandering sheep into the Kingdom of Heaven.
So He said to His disciples, “The harvest is large, but there are few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that He will send out workers to gather in His harvest.”
Now Jesus looks even further. He knows that the deep human needs are
experienced everywhere all over the world. He changes the metaphor from a
shepherd to that of a farmer. Now He sees a paddock of wheat, a vast paddock stretching beyond sight. He knows that a crop of wheat has to be harvested at just the right time, when it is ripe and before it is spoiled. He knows now is the right time.
But in those days harvesting was by hand with a sickle. To harvest a paddock of wheat you needed a team. To harvest a paddock this size you needed an army of workers.
We need workers, Jesus says. We have so few workers, we need many, many more.
This is not just our task. This is God’s task. This is God’s world. So, let’s pray to our heavenly Father, who is the Lord of the Harvest. Let’s pray for the workers, so that we can do this great work. Let’s get lots of people in, all involved in bringing in this great harvest.
Jesus called His twelve disciples together and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness. When you pray for something, you also commit yourself to being an answer to prayer. Jesus called on His disciples to pray for workers in the harvest. The very next thing He does is call them to be workers.
Jesus calls on us to pray for workers in the harvest. I hope that we do pray that God will provide the workers He wants for His harvest, for His mission, all over the world. I hope that we pray for God’s workers in every situation of mission and ministry all over the world.
But when we pray for workers, we pray that God will use us as His workers however and wherever He chooses. Jesus calls His disciples to be His workers. Jesus calls us to be His workers in today’s world too.
One of the principles of good human resources management is that if you give someone a job to do, you have to give them the authority to do it. It is no good expecting them to do a job, but not letting them get on and do it, because they have to refer everything back to you.
Jesus gives His disciples, His workers, His harvesters, His own authority. Just as He had been going around with the authority of God to proclaim the message, and to back up the message with the actions that show God’s power over all evil, He sent
His disciples out with that same authority. They were to go out in His name, to speak His Word and to do His deeds.
Matthew then gives us the names of these twelve disciples. We don’t have to go through those names now. But we are talking about real people, each with their own family history, own character and now their own mission. Jesus calls people like us to do His work too.
These twelve men were sent out by Jesus with the following instructions: “Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”
There would come a time when Jesus would send His disciples far and wide. Before ascending to Heaven He told them: “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. (Acts 1:8) As we follow the story of the disciples, they started in Jerusalem and Judea and they travelled with the Gospel to many distant places. We can follow the story of those who followed, literally reaching to the most distant places of the world.
Initially Jesus was telling the disciples to work where they were. He was sending them back to their own people and then to the wider world. He was telling the disciples to look and see the needs right there, all around them. He had looked with compassion on the people wandering around aimlessly, like sheep without a shepherd. He was sending His disciples to more of these people in their own communities.
Today too, Jesus calls some people to go to distant places, to places and people who have not yet heard the Gospel. We support missionaries who are bringing the Gospel to people for the first time.
God is calling us to work for Him, to take His message and His love to the people in our own communities. That is where He has put us and that is where He sends us.
Because there are needs right here, all around us, people in need, people
wandering around aimless, hopeless and defenceless. There are people right where you are, who desperately need to hear the Gospel spoken into their lives.
You are the best person to do that.
A volunteer is someone who acts voluntarily. That means you do something of your own free will. The word ‘volunteer’ means you are acting out of your free will or choice. A Christian volunteer is someone who is acting with a will that has been transformed by the Spirit of God.
If you ‘have to’ do it, you are not a volunteer. If you are ‘forced to’ do it, you are not a volunteer. If you do it because you are getting ‘paid to’ do it you are not a volunteer.
Jesus gives the very best reason to volunteer. You have received without payment, so give without payment. (Matthew 10:8b, ISV), or “Freely you have received. Freely give.” (Matthew 10:8b, NIV)
It is all about grace. God’s grace is the free gift of life with God, through the free gift of forgiveness and the free gift of God’s Spirit. Freely you have received.
That is the very best reason for giving, for doing, for being willing to respond to call
of Jesus, for volunteering in His service.
Jesus, with a wonderful free will, gave Himself for you, gave His life on a cross, out of compassion for you. He comes to you when you are wandering aimlessly and hopelessly and shepherds you into His Kingdom. This is the very best reason to give of yourself, freely and generously, to give your time and effort for His Kingdom.
We started by talking about all the different sorts of volunteering. People volunteer for many causes, and most are great examples of generous and willing service: serving people and serving the community in some worthwhile way. If you are involved in voluntary community service, I hope it brings you joy and fulfilment.
We talked about volunteering in your church life. We are here today sharing in this worship because many people have given of their time and effort. I hope and pray that as you serve in the life of the church that you find it fulfilling, and that you can rejoice because you share in this very special time with our God and each other.
Jesus calls you, like His first disciples, to give in a way that goes deeper. He calls on you to respond to the needs of the people around you with love and compassion, and to bring His love and the Gospel of His grace and care to people in every need.
Your volunteering may be in some sort of planned or organized way. It may simply be in your everyday life that no one organizes, where you act spontaneously.
Give freely, give voluntarily, give generously of yourself, of your time, with your efforts and dedication. Because God has given so freely and wonderfully to you.
Amen.

The Text: Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26
Today’s gospel is about faith – the faith of Matthew (the tax-collector), the faith of the
woman with the flow of blood, and the faith of a Gentile ruler named Jairus. But what is faith?
The first thing we must do is distinguish two sides to faith – the human act of believing from
the divine object that we believe in. “So faith comes from hearing…” (Romans 10:17) But to
believe what? Well, if we were Jews, it would be Torah (the Old Testament law). If we were Buddhists, it would be Buddha. If we were Muslims, it would be the Koran. But since we are Christians, the object of our faith is the Word of God, the Bible. More specifically it is Jesus, who is the Word of God in human flesh. We believe the Bible because it tells us about Jesus.
It is our means of encountering Jesus today.
For the three people in today’s Gospel, they didn’t need the Bible because they had Jesus right there in front of them. Each of them are called to faith in Jesus (Matthew, by accepting Jesus’ call to follow; the woman by seeking to touch his garment; and Jairus by trusting that Jesus will raise his daughter from death). In each of these three people we see their faith in Jesus by how they relate to him. They don’t just believe; they believe Jesus.
And they believe Jesus because of what they had seen and heard about him. This is not a blind faith; a leap in the dark (as Christian are often accused of doing). But neither is it complete seeing. It is seeing through a glass darkly.
Now it is common for people today to say something like this: It doesn’t matter what you believe just so long as you are sincere. In other words, what matters is not the object of faith (what we believe) but the act of faith (our believing). If you are sincere (that is, if you genuinely believe from the heart) then that’s all God requires, because God wants sincere hearts.
Well, it’s true that God wants sincere hearts, but he wants more than that. Sincerity is necessary but not sufficient for true faith. Actually, even we want more than mere sincerity.
Who of us would be satisfied with a doctor, for example, who sincerely believed that cancer could be cured by magic? Or who of us would be satisfied with an accountant who sincerely believed that 2 + 2 = 5? Or who of us would trust a travel agent who sincerely believed that every road ultimately leads to the same place? Muslim suicide bombers are very sincere that what they are doing is God-pleasing, and so is the Ku Klux Klan, but both are sincerely wrong.
Today’s Gospel shows that beyond sincerity, faith must have the right object. A map is no good if it is inaccurate; but neither is it of any use if it is accurate, but we don’t trust it or follow it. Faith in your doctor means both trusting his advice and following it. So too, faith in Jesus. That’s why Matthew’s example is so important, for it shows what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. It means being willing to forsake everything to follow him. Discipleship is not only of the heart but of the will – it is our willing response to Jesus’ call.
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What’s interesting is that most education programmes today presume the opposite – that knowledge comes first, and then action. First you learn what to do – then you do it. It makes perfect sense, only that’s not the way Jesus does it. To the Jews who questioned Jesus’ learning, he said, “If your will were to do the will of my Father, you would understand my
teaching”.
In other words, for Jesus doing what is right (the will of the Father), comes before understanding. Only by doing will our understanding become clear.
Dostoyevsky, in his famous book, The Brother’s Karamazov, provides an excellent example of this. Madame Holocov (called a woman of little faith) is going through a crisis of faith, and she confesses her doubts to the great priest, Father Zossima. “I had faith as a little girl,”
she says, “but I went to college, and I lost it. I was taught that everything can be explained by science, that there is no immortal soul and that when I die there are only the flowers on my grave. Please give me back my faith.” And Father Zossima says, “I can’t do that.” And she says, “Well, I’ve got to get it back somehow. Prove it to me.” And he says again, “I can’t prove it, but there is a way you can get your faith back. You have doubts – you
doubt whether there is an immortal soul; you doubt whether you are something more than a complicated machine. Here is the way to deal with that doubt – love your neighbour with an active love. Show mercy on the poor and miserable, and you will gradually come to perceive that your neighbour is not just a complicated machine but has an immortal soul.” She replies, “I understand, but the trouble is that I find that I can love humanity but I
can’t love my neighbour.“ Father Zossima replies, “Then I have nothing else to tell you, because love in action is a much more harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.”
That’s true, isn’t it? It is much easier to have feelings of love for someone who is absent than actions of love when they are present. But that’s what God wants. He wants us to love, not merely humanity, but whoever crosses our path in our daily lives. And he wants us to love not only those neighbours who are loveable, but also those who treat us badly, those who hurt us, abuse us, slander us, cause us grief. For that is what mercy is – it is love for the
loveless shown that they might lovely be.
Thus Jesus says to the Pharisees in today’s Gospel: “Go and find out what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Actions without sincerity (the heart) are as false as sincerity without action. God wants both, our hearts as well as our lives. Sacrifice is more about what we don’t do. Mercy is more about what we do. Thus, we are to measure our faith not by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, or who we exclude, but rather by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include. Mercy shows compassion for the weak, the fallen, the helpless and the miserable. Mercy is the soul of sacrifice, and thus of the essence of God.
Yubis was a middle-aged woman filled with grief who didn’t know where to turn. In 2007, Yubis’s husband, a missionary in Columbia (South America), was brutally murdered for his faith and teachings about Jesus Christ. Her two-year-old daughter became so despondent that she stopped speaking. She would only draw pictures, with each one just saying one word: “Daddy”. However, with the help of a Christian Mission organisation, Yubis received
support and healing, along with counselling for her daughter. In a recent interview she said,
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“I wanted vengeance on those who killed my husband – I know who they are. But now God has shown me that the best vengeance would be for me to tell them about Jesus. So that is what I plan to do.” That’s mercy.
In this we see that mercy is not weakness, as it is often supposed. Nor is it acquiescence to sin. Russian leader, Catherine the Great, once quipped when caught in sin: “The good Lord will pardon; that is his trade.” Perhaps you’ve heard people say something similar: “It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
But any who know what it costs to forgive someone who sins against them, knows this is false. And anyone who knows what God paid for our forgiveness will not dare make light of his mercy. God is both just and merciful, which is why the Father sent his Son to die in our place. On the Cross, Jesus got the justice while we got the mercy.
“Your faith has saved you.” In the end, it is faith in Jesus that makes all the difference. It is faith that saves us. It is faith that lets Jesus into our souls; and to have Jesus in our souls is what salvation is. At the end of the movie, Saving Private Ryan, the old Ryan stands before the grave of Tom Hanks (who died saving Ryan’s life many years before). He recalls Hank’s last words to him as he lay dying: “Earn this”. As an old man, Ryan is still unsure whether he
has done enough good to “earn his life” and repay Hank’s for his sacrifice for him. Thank God, Jesus did not say “Earn this” from the cross. Instead, he said: “Forgive them”, and so he has, and so he does, and so he calls us who are forgiven to pass it on, to follow him in showing mercy to those around us, for that is our faith, and that is our sure and certain hope. In the name of Jesus. Amen.