A sermon by Fr. Davenport ©
Church of the Ascension and S. Agnes, Washington, D.C.
16 June 2002
Exodus, 19:2-8a
Romans, 5:6-11
Matthew, 9:35-10:15
+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Except for the most eccentric, scholars agree that when S. Matthew wrote his gospel he had on his desk S. Mark's. Indeed, the second half of Matthew's follows Mark's very closely. Matthew is more creative in the first half of his gospel in which he presents "Jesus as the Christ in five clearly defined phases." It may be that he modeled the first half of his gospel on the Pentateuch - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In his first two chapters, Matthew describes our Lord's origin, ostentatiously using the Greek word 'genesis' in chapter one and reminiscing about the patriarchs in chapter two. Second, in chapters three and four, he uses Exodus themes (Israel's passage through the Red Sea and her journey in the wilderness) to describe our Lord's baptism and his temptation in the wilderness. Third, in chapters five through seven, he echoes the events of Mount Sinai by inserting the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' definitive interpretation of the Mosaic Law, which was received at Sinai. Fourth, once Matthew has portrayed Jesus as the Messiah in Word, as the giver of the definitive law, in chapters eight and nine, Matthew shows that Jesus is also Messiah in deed; Jesus does mighty works to demonstrate the power of God, to show what the Kingdom of God looks like and that it is coming. Fifth, in chapter ten, today's gospel, our Lord chooses disciples to continue his mission. (1)
Matthew strongly links today's gospel with his two previous chapters, eight and nine, where our Lord does ten marvelous acts of power, just as Moses had afflicted Egypt with ten plagues. (2) These mighty acts bear witness to the good news proclaimed by Jesus. First, our Lord heals three excluded persons, three persons excluded from Jewish worship: a leper, a Gentile, and Peter's mother-in-law. (Lepers, Gentiles, and women had to keep a distance from the Temple cult.) These healings imply that in the new order, in the Kingdom of God, lepers will be cleansed, Gentiles will be welcomed, women will be able to offer direct personal service to the Lord. (3) Then our Lord calms a storm and stills the raging sea; he exorcizes a couple of men possessed by demons, and the demons flee into a herd of swine; and he forgives the sins of a paralytic and thereby heals him. Our Lord heals a woman who has suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years. He raises from the dead the daughter of the ruler of a synagogue. He gives sight to two blind men. And he cast out demons from a dumb man, who can then speak. Not surprisingly, the crowds, the masses, are amazed and glorify God for these acts. The Pharisees, however, accuse Jesus of conspiring with the prince of demons.
Our Lord frequently tangled with the Pharisees, but his concern was not to defend himself from their attacks. Our Lord's concern is for people. He appeals especially to the crowds, to the masses, those Jews without a definite religious party or ideological affiliation, those most likely to hear the gospel and to be open to the Kingdom of God. He sees that they are sheep without a shepherd, harassed and mangled and cast down. The imagery suggests sheep abandoned and susceptible to the attacks of wild animals. The flock is scattered, divided, and lost. Here and throughout the gospel, the plight of people moves Jesus with compassion. As pathetic as they appear, he does not treat them with contempt, or condescension, or pity ( - and isn't pity just a form of condescension?). Our Lord wants all people, regardless of how pathetic they seem, to enter into his Kingdom, to be part of him. To gather in this harvest, to renew lives in God, he needs help. "Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." We may assume that the disciples followed our Lord's bidding, and that they did say this prayer. They must have been astounded when they learned that they were the answer to the prayer. God called them to share in his work and in his authority. They said 'yes,' and the God sent them out into the world. Their mission is to do what Jesus does, that is to preach the coming of the Kingdom of God and to make it present by doing what Jesus was doing in chapters eight and nine; that is, healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and casting out devils. The disciples are to be a light to the world, the salt of the earth, a tree bearing good fruit.
Our Lord choose twelve of his disciples to be apostles. The Twelve represent the twelve tribes of Israel, the ancient confederation of the sons of Jacob. The apostles represent the renewed Israel, the true Israel, the Church. 'Apostle' means 'sent out.' Our Lord sent out the Twelve to help him establish a new people, the Church, and the members of the Church, like the people of Israel, are a kingdom of priests; that is, they make offerings to the Lord, they do the Lord's work, they build the Kingdom of God.
What may be most amazing is who God calls. We know little of them, but the apostles were clearly not prominent men of the world. They were ordinary people like you and me - no movers and shakers, no jet-setters. S. Peter, S. Andrew, S. James, and S. John were fishermen. Peter, the leader of the apostles, comes across as a bumbler, a lovable bumbler, but a bumbler, that is until he receives the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and he becomes a strong leader. The few words there are about S. Philip suggest he was a shy, naive man. S. Thomas was impetuous and incredulous. We know virtually nothing about S. Bartholomew and S. Thaddeus, a.k.a. S. Jude, who may have been the brother of S. James, son of Alphaeus. Of course, Jesus also choose Judas Iscariot to serve him. Judas betrayed him, but let us remember that even Peter denied him. S. Matthew was a publican, a tax collector, a collaborator with the Romans. It is stunning that Matthew would have been in the same small group as S. Simon the Canaanite. 'Canaanite' is a mistranslation. Simon is better known as 'the Zealot,' which is the way S. Luke identifies him. Simon likely had been a member of a revolutionary party, known as the Zealots. They were violent, nationalist agitators against the Romans, motivated probably more by economic issues rather than by religious ones, more zealous for conflict than for observance of the law. They wanted the oppressive Romans, and their tax system, bloodily removed from Palestine, and it is possible that Simon began to follow our Lord because he confused Jesus' kingship with a worldly kingship, because he thought Jesus would liberate Israel politically and economically. Like any Zealot, Simon would have considered Matthew to be a traitor and a bitter enemy. Yet, following Jesus changed Simon. His understanding deepened; his vision broadened and became larger. Our Lord united Matthew and Simon; he united the opposing extremes and brought harmony instead of hatred. Among the apostles there is unity despite exceptional diversity.
The conventional wisdom is that we are happiest and most fulfilled when we are with people like ourselves, people with the same values, with the same socio-economic backgrounds, with the same opinions, with the same lifestyles, with the same education. The conventional wisdom is that it is easiest to love those with whom we agree, those like us. Yet, is not that a form of narcissism? Does it not make ourselves the measure, the standard for proper thinking and proper behaviour? Certainly when we consider the little we know about the apostles, we have to question conventional wisdom. Our Lord chose a variety of people, regardless of their backgrounds, regardless of their beliefs, regardless of their personalities, or temperaments, or dispositions. Polychrome is better than monochrome because variety makes us grow. The Church is not a club; it does not exist for our comfort, but to give us life. If we want life, we have to be open and welcoming to people, to all people. Every day, every hour God is sending us new people, new invitations, new responsibilities, which may transform and renew our lives. Too often, we pay no attention, and not only may a friendship be lost, but we have resisted God's will for us. We have resisted his plan to give us richer, fuller lives. We are so often oblivious to his presence and to his loving mercies.
As Episcopalians, we take great stock in being part of the Apostolic Church. Most fundamentally, that means we have bishops, whose succession and authority comes directly right down the line from Jesus. Our Lord's apostles laid hands on disciples making them apostles, who in turn laid hands on disciples making them apostles, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, all the way down to Bishop Chane, our apostle, the Apostle of Washington. Yet, there is another way we can think of being part of the Apostolic Church. Since we are members of the Apostolic Church, since we are part of the renewed Israel, the renewed kingdom of priests, every one of us ought to consider ourselves to have been sent out by our Lord. It is not only Bishops who are sent out, but every one of us. We may not preach sermons, but the way we live may proclaim the gospel. We may not heal the sick and cleanse lepers, but we may let people know that wholeness and purity come through the Lord. We may not raise the dead, but we can assure people that new life comes through Jesus. We may not cast out devils, but we can welcome and invite people to the Church. If we are members of the Church, the body of Christ, we are sent out to do what our Lord did.
+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
1. H. Benedict Green, The Gospel According to Matthew, OUP (1975), pp. 16-18.
2. Ibid., p. 97. These 'ten' miracles, Green points out, could be better reckoned as three sets of three.
3. Ibid., pp. 98-100.
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