06/16/2026
Messiah on the Move - Sermon, 6/14/2026
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus, the Lord of all creation, is also the Lord of the mixed metaphor. Jesus couches his comments with references to any number of animals and other, mixed reference points. We have sheep without a shepherd and a harvest in need of laborers. There are sheep and wolves plus serpents and doves. Jesus creates a little Noah’s Ark of imagery – all to get his message across.
But what is Jesus’ message? What is he trying to tell his followers – both to the original twelve and to those of us gathered here this morning? Jesus uses these diverse images to convey to his audiences through the centuries the importance of ministry – both his ministry and their own ministries.
Today’s reading opens with a brief overview of Jesus’ own ministry of teaching, proclaiming, and curing. Jesus is a Messiah on the move, bringing compassion and healing to an oppressed people. He recognizes how harassed the people are – by poverty, by injustice, by the Roman imperial presence. He recognizes how helpless the people are – leaving them to fend for themselves without guidance or support.
Jesus looks around him and sees struggle. Jesus looks around him and sees risks – but he also sees resources. Jesus looks around him and sees his twelve disciples. Those first followers are the ones sent out by Jesus to broaden the ministry Jesus starts. Jesus gives them authority over unclean spirits and power to cure illnesses.
In preparing this morning’s message, I read a few commentaries – articles written by smarter and more insightful theologians than I can muster on the average Wednesday afternoon. There was an unresolved question underpinning the various perspectives: Why did Jesus invite his disciples into a ministry of teaching, proclaiming, and curing?
After all, being God, Jesus can probably handle the job of bringing the message of healing and forgiveness to the people. There must be some benefits to being fully human and fully divine! Does Jesus need the disciples? Does Jesus look at his to-do list and get overwhelmed by the world’s needs? Does Jesus invite the disciples into his mission because he can’t handle it himself?
Or does Jesus invite the disciples into ministry because that’s just how ministry works? Ministry is not and cannot be a solo endeavor – even for Jesus, the fully human and fully divine Son of God. The kind of ministry Jesus undertakes proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God. More than simply talk about the arrival of God’s kingdom, Jesus’ ministry actually ushers in that kingdom.
The kind of kingdom Jesus ushers in is one of justice and peace. It is a kingdom in which all are equal, all are supported, and all are valued. It is a kingdom that looks nothing like the world around Jesus. It is a kingdom that still looks strangely and annoyingly unfamiliar to us today.
Jesus models for his followers – both back then and today – an approach to ministry that invites all people into his way. When we proclaim our belief in Jesus, we also accept his invitation to join him in his ongoing ministry today.
Today’s Collect of the Day, our opening prayer, asks God for the “grace” we need to “proclaim (God’s) truth with boldness.” Usually, I think of bold truths as ones that exclude others. The legacy of Jesus shows us that boldness and exclusion are not the same thing. Instead, Jesus’ true message of inclusion must be proclaimed with boldness.
In today’s opening prayer, we also ask God for the ability to “minister (God’s) justice with compassion.” I don’t always think of justice and compassion in the same sentence. Justice, in this world, does not always present itself as compassion, but often as judgment. The legacy of Jesus challenges us, though, to see that justice and compassion must be completely intertwined – so we cannot see where justice ends and compassion begins.
It is by doing both of those things – proclaiming God’s truth with boldness and ministering God’s justice with compassion – that we are kept in God’s “steadfast faith and love.” That is what Jesus did in his earthly ministry. And, although we are merely human, we are invited to do the same in our ministry.
What ministry looks like in our daily existence differs for all of us. I look out this morning and see faithful Christians devoted to ministering faithfully in their own, individual contexts. I’m not sure who is joining us online, but I’m sure that each of you is faithful, too.
Jesus endows each of us with authority and power. Jesus also endows each of us with the wisdom to figure out how to use our authority and power in the service of God and God’s kingdom. Jesus uses his authority and power to proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom and to usher in God’s kingdom – a kingdom marked by justice and peace. May we do the same. Amen.
