Matthew 10:40-42

40 "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. 41 He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 42 And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."


“Blessed Into Change”

Jesus didn’t come just to bless us into complacency, compliance, contentment;
He came to bless us into change.

Change which can be disruptive, disturbing, difficult, even destructive on the outside, as it seeks to make more real what is on the inside.

Destructive that is of those systems which are not life giving, just, fair, sensitive, compassionate. Which are not doing good for the least as well as for the most.

The bottom line with Jesus is always - what is this doing to the helpless.

Matthew 10:24-39

10:24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! 10:26 Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known. 10:27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. 10:28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 10:29 “Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, 10:30 but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 10:31 Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. 10:32 Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. 10:33 But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
10:34 “Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. 10:35 For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 10:36 A man’s foes will be those of his own household.* 10:37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 10:38 He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me. 10:39 He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it

“Life: Lost And Found”

“Man has learned how to swim in the ocean like the fish; to fly in the air like the birds; now all he needs to do is learn how to walk on the earth like a man.” Unknown

Jesus came to show us how to live like humans- lose life in Him!

We seek to find life - “eat drink and be merry”; live at the expense of others; grab what we can get. Jesus tell us to lose life - become caught up in something bigger then ourselves. get lost in doing good. Forget about what we can gain; turn our attention to what we can do.

We have been given the gift of life, love, grace, forgiveness by our loving God. The secret Jesus calls us to is to give the gift we have first been given! For “It is in giving that we receive; pardoning that we are pardoned; dying that we are born to eternal life.” St. Francis of Assisi

This is not always an easy thing to do. Nor is it always something we want to do.

Our problem (sin) is that we don’t want to be like Jesus. We want to be religious but not compassionate. We want to stay out of trouble; Jesus got in trouble, because he put love ahead of piety.

We don’t like to suffer; Jesus suffered much! “It is sometimes said that Jesus died on the cross instead of us. But it is perhaps more correct to say that Jesus died on the cross ahead of us.” There will be a cross to bear when we follow Jesus.

We also find it hard to trust that God knows what is going on when what is going on seems to be so out of sync with all that is true or right or good. Then it is hard to trust that God is still for us.

To be like Jesus is to know trouble, suffering, and it is to trust that God’s love will have the last word - always. That God is for us, not against us - even when we’re naughty and not nice.

Matthew 9:35 - 38

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

“He Had Compassion For Them”

We know the Kingdom of Heaven is near by the acts of compassion evidenced in, under, and with those who say it is here - signs of God’s gracious love.

Compassion comes from the Greek word “Charis” (grace) from which we get the word “cress” - gently touch. It means “to be moved in our bowels”; “to suffer with, to undergo with, to share solidarity with” Compassion is the powerful presence of the Kingdom of heaven on earth.

“You may call God love; you may call God goodness; but the best name for God is compassion.” Meister Eckhart

The following quotes come from Matthew Fox, “A Spirituality Named Compassion”:

“Empire builders are notoriously slow to welcome compassionate persons, much less encourage compassion among the peoples of an empire. Compassionate people do not make docile citizens.”

“If we do not make every effort to relate compassion to economics, then compassion is only a hollow word and a pious sounding phrase. And economics becomes a highly developed form of violence.”

“The surest way of discerning whether one has pity towards or compassion with another is to answer this question: Do you celebrate with this same person or these same people? ... True compassion includes joy... (for) joy and celebration constitute the better half of the whole that compassion is about...(as the) German proverb (says) ‘ a sorrow shared is sorrow halved; joy shared is a joy doubled.’”

“There can be no compassion without celebration and there can be no authentic celebration that does not result in increased compassionate energies. A person or a people who cannot celebrate will never be a compassionate people. And a person or a people who do not practice compassion can never truly be celebrating.”

Matthew 9:9-13

9:9 As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him. 9:10 It happened as he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
9:12 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 9:13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’* for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

“A Scandalous Affair”

The real scandal is not “eating with tax collectors and sinners.” The real scandal is thinking WE are not like the tax collectors and sinners. We are not sinners as they are.

The real scandal today is the self righteousness which parades around in religious and political circles seeking someone or some issue to judge and condemn.

Righteous people are seldom merciful; be it in politics, law, or theology. Those who know forgiveness are! But only sinners can be forgiven, the righteous do not need it. Or at least not very much!

Forgive as you have been forgiven. Much! Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful. Much! To be a follower of Jesus is not just to be better and better; it is to be more and more caught up in grace and forgiveness. It is to be forgiven much and love much!

Matthew 7: 21-29

7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 7:22 Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 7:23 Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
7:24 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. 7:25 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. 7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. 7:27 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
7:28 It happened, when Jesus had finished saying these things, that the multitudes were astonished at his teaching, 7:29 for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes.

“Words Are Not Enough”

There are no animals who use words as we humans do. There are a great variety of animals that ”whistle, shriek, squeak, bleat, hoot, coo, call, and howl”, but we are the only creature which uses words.

“Saint Francis of Assisi may have had much to say to the birds, but they had nothing to discuss with him.”

Words are important in our lives, yet words alone are not enough, unless they are an embodiment of ourselves, unless they have something of us in them. That is, they are continued in action.

A lot of religious talk is garbage. The less I care about people the easier it is to sound religious. Don’t try to sound religious; just be religious in human ways. God will do the rest.