Matthew 9:35-38
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 ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
“I feel like I’m here to learn something special,” a homeless friend I met on the street explained to me earlier this week.
“It’s like I’m in a field, a wide field and the ‘harvest’ spreads out before me, but there’s no one to help with the gathering!” he continued.
The conversation reminded me of the longing, prayerful words of Jesus in this text.
People need relief.
People need grounding.
People need connection and community.
People need hope, direction, joy, peace and love.
Through St. Matthew, we learn that Jesus’ strategy involved at least three practical dimensions.
First, his mission led him out to the crowds. His ministry was the ultimate in itinerancy! He moved from town to town and from gathering place to gathering place to bring a message shaped by the good news that the kingdom had arrived. There was no waiting for folk to come his way! Through Advent we’ve waited for the great arrival. Here we see what the arrival meant for all humanity! God moves aggressively toward God’s world, and God invites us to join the journey outward.
Second, Jesus delivered what people needed. His arrival brought healing of all sorts of human maladies. Jesus didn’t come just to talk! Jesus came to engage, to change life and circumstance. By tackling the deepest pains of those he met, Jesus defined and displayed the authentic nature and the clear intent of God’s amazing kingdom in the here and now.
Third, Jesus recognized the pitiful plight of the people he came to liberate. The people Jesus addressed and healed were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” The backstory of the oppression of the people he came to touch moved him deeply—his compassion could not be constrained. Jesus lived and worked as the strong shepherd who would upset and remove the forces of oppression and tyranny that captured those he loved so deeply.
Advent and the incarnation call us to move out beyond the safety of church and clan where we discover people in need of grace. The life of Jesus we celebrate today compels us to take action to provide what people really need. The amazing child of Christmas presses on our hearts to work alongside the oppressed for liberation in a world of injustice and darkness.
Like my homeless friend, Jesus recognized a labor shortage in the company of the kingdom. The call of Christmas is to join the revolutionary movement created by this amazing child.
Rev. Larry James, President and Chief Executive Officer of CitySquare
