Exodus 19: 2-8 (New Jerusalem Bible)
Matthew 9: 35-10:8 (Common English Bible)
In the reading from Matthew, a lot is happening. While Jesus travels, he teaches and heals along the way. Jesus summons his inner circle of disciples only to dispatch them to continue and expand his goal of teaching and healing (10:1, 7-8). Jesus establishes the scale of his mission through his selection of his disciples. And Jesus sets geographical boundaries for his missionary labor.
The good news of Jesus was offered first only to the Jewish people and not the gentiles. And there was a good reason for that. No, Jesus was not a bigot thinking only the Jewish people were worthy of God’s blessing. The Jewish people were offered God’s blessing because they were the first to experience the Ultimate Reality called “God.” And that is in Genesis chapter 12, where God makes a covenant with Abraham. Just imagine the reaction of the Jewish audience if they saw Jesus trying to convert a gentile audience early in his ministry. They would say, “Those people who Jesus is preaching to, don’t even believe in the one true God, Yahweh, and he ignores those who believe in that God? Yes, it would’ve been a public relations disaster! Also, the 12 disciples were not prepared to deal with a gentile audience. They were all Jewish people who had very little education of the outside world. Around 20 years later, Saul of Tarsus, later known as the Apostle Paul was chosen to lead this mission of the gentiles. Paul was a Jew, a Roman citizen and someone who could speak and write Greek fluently.
Today’s scripture is a true witness to what the Pentecost season should be about. Pentecost is not simply about how God has empowered us with the Holy Spirit, but also be bold and courageous. Let the Spirit speak on issues which might not be popular, but are popular with God instead. This is not the season to only think, “what’s in it for me?” This is the time of recognizing that we have been empowered to see the world around us and to pay attention to the people in the world often overlooked and ignored.
Syria, Congo, Sudan, Yemen and any area of America where guns flourish and kill.
Although Matthew’s gospel uses the harvest as a metaphor for the last judgment, in this reading it refers instead to missionary outreach. Up to this point, Jesus has been the sole missionary, but in chapter 10 he will commission his disciples to become partners in the work of preaching the gospel, teaching and healing. Matthew is also sending a signal to his readers in the late 1st century. They too are challenged to pray for the work delegated to them who acknowledge Jesus as the Christ.
Too many in the current era are inclined to act as if the reverse was true. That being, the workers are plentiful but the harvests are few. Why do we find the pronouncement of a plentiful harvest so difficult to believe? We can see the face of the harvest everyday. Anytime we look into the eyes of the forgotten, the abused and the discriminated, those eyes could be looking for a harvest.
In Exodus, we read of God’s assurance to the recently liberated Israelites from Egypt. They are no longer defined by their enslavement, but rather by their place of privilege in God’s realm. On Monday, we celebrate the newest federal holiday called, “Juneteenth,” which commemorates the day of emancipation that was finally announced and enforced for the nearly 250,000 enslaved in Texas. This was two months after the Civil War officially ended. The transformative journey to justice and freedom has never been a short trip. Juneteenth is both a holiday for some and a holy day because it affirms the God we worship is a liberating God whose justice will finally triumph.
PRAYER
Dear God, we have even more authority than Jesus gave to his first disciples. We have the Holy Spirit and the complete Holy Scriptures. And we also have the authority of the Holy Trinity. And let us pray that power transforms us through word and deed in a world ready for God’s harvest.
AMEN
