Matthew 9:35-10:8 - Jesus Sends Out Harvesters, Then and Now - June 28, 2020

Then and now. Past and present. That distinction has become quite an issue in recent days, hasn’t it? Music, movies, literature, statues and even maple syrup bottles from the past are being rewritten, revised, removed and even destroyed, supposedly because they don’t match the societal values of today. There are three fairly obvious reasons this movement is foolish and misguided. First, as the 19th century poet famously said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” [1] Destroying the past makes for a bleak future. Second, while you can rewrite history books and tear down statues – you cannot really change the past; what’s done is done. Finally, the point that relates to our text today – this movement fails to recognize that there are real and fundamental differences between past and present – and to impose the supposedly “enlightened” values of 2020 on past generations is intellectually lazy and dishonest. In the same way, Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, sent out workers into his harvest field in the past and he will continue doing so until the end of time, but there are real, substantial differences between “then” and “now.”  

We start with then. “Then” is about 28 A.D. Jesus has been traveling throughout Israel preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. At first it might appear that this is just a generic description of Jesus’ ministry, but there is actually a close link between his message and his miracles. In Jesus, heaven has come to earth. In heaven, there is no sickness or disease – no cancer, no Covid-19, no diabetes, no arthritis, no miscarriages – none of any of the awful effects of sin that make our lives miserable today. Therefore, where Jesus is, heaven is, and where heaven is, sickness and disease cannot be. Like pouring water into a glass displaces the air, Jesus displaces evil. These miracles served as signs; to signify the reality of his kingdom’s spiritual blessings, Jesus gives physical ones.

The problem is that, both then and now, people tend to focus on the physical rather than the spiritual – looking for earthly rather than heavenly blessings from Jesus and his Church. They may say, “But didn’t Jesus feed and heal hundreds during his ministry?” Yes, he did. But he didn’t heal or feed or raise everyone. And even those he did got hungry and sick and died again. But he did come to do something for every suffering soul in this world – he came to die to save them from eternal death (1 John 2:2). That was the real goal of Jesus’ ministry, as Matthew comments: When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus was concerned about the crowd’s spiritual condition – not merely because they were sick without a doctor, depressed without a therapist, or poor without a banker!

At the same time, it’s not surprising that the unbelieving world has a mistaken idea of what the real problems of life really are. Global warming is truly terrifying to those who have no hope for a new world to come (Revelation 21:1). Dying of Covid-19 is really the worst thing that can happen to someone who doesn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. Stopping the hatred of other human beings is the most pressing issue for those who don’t much care that the wrath of God burns against them for their sins. And it’s so easy for us to fall into the same trap, isn’t it? Even though we pray the Lord’s Prayer regularly (Matthew 6:9-13) – of which only one petition is concerned with earthly things (the fourth) – how often don’t we get wrapped up in the earthly problems we face, looking to God for material rather than spiritual blessings, for a happier life now than eternal life in heaven?

Then again, this misplaced focus is nothing new. Jesus had to redirect the focus of his first disciples, too. He urges them to beg the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Why did Jesus have to tell them to pray for more ministers of the Gospel? Because while they could certainly see the sick and helpless crowds, they couldn’t see the underlying spiritual suffering – that these people needed spiritual leadership, not just medical assistance. By offering this encouragement to pray, Jesus is refocusing his disciples on the real problems in this world: sin and guilt and eternal death.

And…then, in the very next verse (10:1), he answers their prayer. He sends out workers, twelve of them into his harvest field. Their mission was to be an extension of his own. He sends them to the lost sheep of the house of Israel just as he had been exclusively teaching in their synagogues. He sends them to preach…‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ just as he had been preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He sends them to heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse lepers. Drive out demons. Just as he had been healing every disease and every sickness.

They were to proclaim that in Jesus, heaven had come to earth. Why? John says that this is why the Son of God appeared: to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8). What is the devil’s work? You might think it’s what you see on the nightly news: disease, destruction, rioting, racism, death. But those are only symptoms of the far greater problems of sin and unbelief, spiritual apathy and indifference, idolatry, hatred of God and his Son – that’s the devil’s real work because that’s how he leads helpless sheep to hell with him. That’s the work Jesus came to destroy – and that couldn’t be accomplished by miracles.

If it could, there would have been no need for the Son of God to become flesh and blood. He simply could have spoken from heaven and banished all disease and sickness and death forever. But, again, those are only symptoms of the tragic fact that we have failed to live up to God’s standard of holiness, that we stand guilty and condemned under his Law, that we owe him a debt we couldn’t pay in a million years. But Jesus could and Jesus did. That’s why he came. While we must confess that we have done evil and failed to do good – Jesus did no evil and never failed to do good. He lived the perfect life God demanded and God in his grace has credited that perfect life to our account. The result is that in a world filled with rules and laws and guidelines and should’s and ought’s that place ever new and heavier burdens on our consciences, the Gospel of the kingdom says that there is no law, no command, no obligation that Jesus hasn’t already kept in our place. Jesus has set us free from the demands and threats and punishments of the Law (Romans 8:2).

And the same is true for the debt we owed God. People sometimes wonder how a loving God could actually punish unbelievers in hell for all eternity. The answer is simple: the punishment matches the crime; we’ve wracked up a debt so large that we could never pay it (Psalm 49:7-8). But what we could never do, not in all eternity, Jesus did on Calvary. As God himself Jesus was able to suffer an eternity of damnation on a cross in a matter of hours. Jesus’ suffering and death was holy, perfect and complete. The result is that no one – not the devil, not the ungodly world, not even your own conscience – can hang the threat of hell over your head any longer! There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)! The price has been paid! The blood he shed “then” continues to wash away sins “now.”

That’s the beating heart of the gospel of the kingdom. And just like then, Jesus is still moved with compassion for the masses of people who are like sheep without a shepherd – that is, those who are still oppressed by the devil’s lies and don’t know that their sins are forgiven and their debt is paid – and he still sends workers out to restore and harvest lost sheep with this Gospel. But there are some important practical differences in how he does this.

First, Jesus and his apostles proclaimed: the kingdom of heaven is near! What do we preach? The kingdom of heaven is here. What? How can that be? Where are the visible signs of the kingdom? They are there, if you know where to look. In Baptism, God himself raised you from spiritual death to spiritual life through water and the Word. In the Absolution God himself announces that you have been cleansed of the incurable disease of sin. In Holy Communion, the Son of God offers you his own body and blood to eat and to drink for the healing of your conscience and the strengthening of your faith. These are the visible, tangible signs that Jesus is still displacing the evil of sin and unbelief today – still bringing the blessings of heaven to earth “now.”

Second, “then” Jesus sent out the apostles only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now he sends workers to gather disciples from all nations (Matthew 28:19). Third, and perhaps the most misunderstood difference is that “then” Jesus sent his apostles with the power and authority to do miracles. Today we have no such authority. In the three letters directly addressed to NT pastors, there is no command or promise regarding healing, raising or cleansing. What you will find is the command to preach the word…Correct, rebuke, and encourage, with all patience and teaching (2 Timothy 4:2). What you will find from our Lord’s own mouth after his resurrection is the command to go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you (Matthew 28:19-20).

So what are we to make of all this? There’s an uncomfortable tension “then” and “now.” If now is so much different from then, should we just erase the miracles and the healings from our Bibles – like some are trying to do with American history? Or maybe, should we demand that pastors today to do miracles and wonders to validate their message? The answer is “no’ to both. No, we shouldn’t erase the miracles and ministry of Jesus’ apostles – because their miracles and their message are still the foundation of saving faith today (Ephesians 2:20). And no, we shouldn’t expect pastors today to be running around doing miracles today – not only because they have no command or promise from God; but because even if I could make you all rich, all the money in the world can’t buy eternal life; even if I could rid the world of Covid-19, people would continue to suffer from cancer and heart disease and violence; even if I could raise the dead, they would just die again another day.

More importantly, if I had the power and authority to make your life here on earth perfect and pain-free, what wouldn’t you long and hope for? The eternal life that is to come. Sure, I suppose more people would be interested in our church if I could cure Covid-19 – but I’m glad I can’t. Because when you come here, it shouldn’t be because you expect to have all of your worldly problems solved, it should be to find answers to the eternal problems of sin, death and hell. The mission of the church has never been to give you your best life now – but to proclaim that Jesus came to permanently destroy the devil’s work and that one day he will return to raise all the believers and take them to heaven where there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4) – where you will have your best life forever. And then, now and always, the hope of the glory of heaven that Jesus won for us is the only thing that can give us true comfort and joy – especially in the trials and troubles of this present time. Thank the Lord for sending workers to gather a harvest of souls with this true Gospel message. Amen.

[1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Santayana