All we’ve heard this past month from Jesus through Matthew comes to fruition today in Jesus’ promise to give you all the strength and guidance you need to be faithful.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 14 A
Texts: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30; Romans 7:15-25a; Zechariah 9:9-12

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

The Gospel readings this past month have led us on a strange journey.

You can’t accuse Jesus of a bait and switch, the way these weeks have gone walking through Matthew 9, 10, and now 11. It’s the opposite: we heard the hardest things first, and now are hearing of hope and relief. Jesus started with the call to go out and heal, bring life, drive out the demonic, proclaim the reign of God, massive, difficult jobs, followed by warnings of rejection, families splitting, and other difficulties when we do the work of Christ’s love. But then, last week Jesus simplified it all to doing kindness and empathy. And now today, it’s even more good news. Don’t worry about this work I need you for, Jesus says. I’m here to help you.

And our readings from Scripture today beautifully take us through the emotional journey we’ve just been on, so that by the time we get to the Gospel we’re ready for the relief and hope Jesus offers.

Zechariah speaks first today, of joy.

Zechariah says, “rejoice greatly” – God has come to you, will end war and suffering, bring peace, and will reign over all. You’ll be freed from what binds you, and restored to the fullness of your life.

And that’s why these women and men followed Jesus in the first place. Not because of what we’ve heard the past month, the sending. They followed because they saw in him the sign of God’s coming into the world, fulfilling not only Zechariah’s promise, but many others in Scripture. Their joy was full as they met Jesus, were blessed by him, followed him. Some, like Mary Magdalene, were healed of possession themselves. Some, like Matthew, who were treated as pariahs, were told they were worthy of God, too. All saw in Jesus God’s coming reign of peace justice and mercy and wholeness for all.

So, if you can remember why you ever loved Jesus, ever came here hoping to hear from him, if you remember why you trust that God in Christ loves you and all things and is promising to make this world new, even ending death’s power, you’ll recognize that joy.

It is from that joyful following that Jesus then sends people out to be Christ.

But no matter where the sending originates, it’s a hard path.

Jesus himself was overwhelmed by it, and needed fellow workers. All of the difficulties and risks Jesus talked about are real. And today the apostle Paul opens his heart and says, “it’s really hard for me, too.”

This section of his letter is so personal, but you can immediately recognize in yourself what Paul is saying. He wants to do the law of God, delights in it, wants to do good. He wants to live in the Spirit and be the Christ he’s called to be, the loving Christ he urges all his congregations to be.

But he struggles. The good he wants to do, he says, he doesn’t always do. The bad he wants to avoid, he ends up doing. He’s trapped in his old habits, patterns, ways, even when he desperately wants to live in new ways. When he tries to break free, he falls back.

There’s your gift: whatever anxiety you had over your inadequacy or possible failure when listening to Jesus’ call to you these past weeks, Paul says, “I know exactly what you’re going through.” You’re not alone in your fear of failure, in your frustration at your stuck-ness, in your confusion about why it’s so hard to walk a new way, even if it’s a way of love and mercy. Thank God Paul says, “me, too.”

And yet, Paul’s real gift is at the end of this section. “Who will rescue me?” he cries. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” he answers. So Paul takes you by the hand and leads you to today’s Gospel, to Jesus.

And Jesus gives you the best news of all: I’m here to help you.

After filling you with hope that in Christ God will heal all things, and calling you to follow with your life and love; after sending you anointed as Christ to be God’s love in the world, and telling you it’s going to be hard and risky; after asking you to be Christ’s compassion, kindness, and empathy, now Jesus says this: Just come to me if you’re burdened with all this, and I’ll help you.

I’ll do all this work with you, yoked at your side. I’ll pull along with you, guide you, support you. Even give you rest. I’ll make the work almost feel easy.

When you’re exhausted at your struggles with your old ways and habits, frustrated that you forgot yet again, or failed in your love, or missed a chance to make a difference, whenever you feel like Paul feels, remember: you’re not pulling the weight alone. Christ bears that weight with and for you. You have all you need right at your side, if you look for Christ and listen for the Spirit’s voice. You’ll find that strength, that partner, that work-sharer.

But there is one important warning.

None of this matters if you don’t want to follow, if you refuse to be sent. There is no joy Zechariah can give you in God’s coming, no relief and hope Paul can give you in your struggles, no shared strength Christ can give you in your work, if you don’t want God to come, don’t want to struggle to be Christ, don’t want to work in God’s reign.

If you want to live your life as you choose, on your terms, doing things your way, God will let you. If you don’t want to be changed, don’t want to learn compassion and kindness and empathy, don’t want to love enemies or pray for people you don’t like, don’t want to risk loving your neighbor, don’t want to work to change the world, God won’t force you.

Lots of people come to crossroads in life and know the right way to turn, the way of life and good, and don’t choose that way, because it’s too hard. That’s your choice. Just remember you can’t take two different paths at the same time. It’s not possible.

But if you want what God is doing, it is yours.

If you want to take the right turn, if you want what God is offering in Christ, all these gifts are yours. You’ll find Zechariah’s joy, Paul’s commiseration, Jesus’ relief.

So come to Christ with all your burdens about how you are living as Christ, all your anxieties about not being good enough or faithful enough. All of us carry the same burdens, even Paul himself.

And all of us are here to remember we are yoked with Christ in this life, in this ministry, and with that guidance and strength, anything is possible. Even you becoming someone who changes the world, if only your little part of it, with God’s love and mercy.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Following Christ, bearing Christ’s heart, is very simple: share Christ’s empathy and kindness in all things.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 13 A
Text: Matthew 10:40-42

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

A cup of cold water. That’s all you need to know to be a faithful disciple. Or at least it’s a start.

That’s what Jesus says today. And that’s a bit confusing. The past few weeks we’ve heard a lot of challenging things from Jesus from the verses in Matthew leading up to today.

He sent out disciples to heal, to bring life, to drive out demons, to proclaim the reign of God. That seems to need skills and abilities we don’t easily see in ourselves. Jesus himself was overwhelmed at the sheer number of God’s children he needed to reach in person, that’s why he’s sending you and me.

And Jesus warned about opposition that will come to those who bear Christ’s heart into the world, rejection, even worse. Following him might even break up families.

If you’ve been listening carefully, and if you hope to be a faithful disciple, Jesus’ words are daunting. Nothing sounds easy, and the work we can see for ourselves that God needs to be done in this world is overwhelming. Maybe it’s easier not to follow.

But today Jesus says, “don’t overthink it.”

A cup of cold water. That’s all you need to know to be a faithful disciple, he says. Or at least it’s the start. Because it reveals two critical qualities of the heart of Christ that are simple, and easy to understand. They take all the overthinking and anxiety out of following Christ on this path of discipleship.

The first quality is kindness. The heart of Christ you bear is kind.

Kindness is seeing a thirsty “little one,” and offering a cup of cold water. It’s the only action Jesus asks for today. And it’s the simplest of acts. To notice someone, and to be kind to them. To be kind to that one person whom you are with. That family member. That friend. That co-worker. That stranger.

Kindness is the first quality of Christ’s heart. Your heart in your anointing as Christ.

Can you be kind? Jesus asks. Then you’ll do just fine following me. You’ll do wonders when I send you out into the world.

The second quality is empathy. The heart of Christ you bear is empathetic.

Empathy is sharing the suffering of the other one. Empathy is not assuming you know what the other person is going through. Empathy is not putting your experiences on them. It’s listening, intuiting, simply being with another person until you can share in their feelings and needs.

Because a cup of cold water might not be what’s needed. You don’t want to assume you know what another is going through, or what they need. Or assume they respond to the world as you do. You want to be with them, and listen. And if there is something you can be or do, be ready.

Empathy is the second quality of Christ’s heart. Your heart in your anointing as Christ.

Can you find empathy for my children? Jesus asks. Share their pain, listen to them, be with them in love? Then you’ll do just fine following me. You’ll do wonders when I send you out into the world.

Of course, the obvious question needs to be asked: Is this enough?

Can kindness and empathy bring healing to the sickness of this world, life to the death in this world? Can they drive out demons? Proclaim God’s reign? Jesus answers this by modeling it himself.

Yes, he came as God-with-us, incarnate in our human flesh, and bore God’s sacrificial love for the whole creation, for you, on the cross. That’s huge, universe-healing stuff. And yes, he called followers and sent them out, incarnate Christs like him, to be community together and to spread God’s love across the world, so the big changes God needs changed in this world could happen.

But Jesus also had hundreds of one-on-one moments of kindness, hundreds of times he deeply felt the pain of just one person, and was God’s love to them. The vast majority of what Jesus did was kindness and empathy for those he met individually, touching them personally with God’s love.

Now it’s true, the problems of the world won’t necessarily be solved only by your individual kindness and empathy.

If you’re giving out cups of cold water, and everyone is, at some point someone’s got to ask, “why is everyone always so thirsty? What’s going on with our water supply?”

The ills that cause so much pain and suffering, the systems and structures God needs removed, need more than that moment of kindness you’ll show this afternoon, more than that empathy you’ll find tomorrow.

So we gather together as a community. To pool our kindness and empathy and ask God to guide us to make a difference in a bigger way than any single one of us could. Ask God to focus our work on being a part of God’s justice and mercy in this city and world, so we can make a difference on all that ails our world: racism, sexism, classism, oppression, inequality, socially authorized violence, so many things.

And we can’t do it alone as one congregation. So, we partner with other communities, within our city and beyond. For example, we are members of Align, an interfaith group of 17 congregations in Minneapolis working on the severe problems of housing in this city, from rental assistance to low cost housing, and all kinds of things in between, including advocating at the legislature. Other partners we have in this city work with us on issues of food scarcity, and domestic abuse, and mental health counseling.

The kindness and empathy each individual has, multiplied in a community like Mount Olive, then by other communities of faith, across the city, across the nation, across the world: suddenly walls fall, chains are broken, lives are restored, wholeness comes.

But don’t overthink it, Jesus says.

It all starts with a cup of cold water. Your kindness. Your empathy. For all. No exceptions, not even that person that really gets under your skin, or that stranger you fear. No exclusions, not even that one you profoundly disagree with, or just don’t like. That’s the heart of Christ you are called to bear.

You’ve heard from Jesus that you’re needed, you’ve been anointed for this. You’ve heard you are called to proclaim God’s reign, bring healing and life, that you’re sent as Christ. You’ve heard it might be frightening, challenging, risky to bear God’s heart in your world.

But you’re not doing this alone: you have all of us in this community, and we have so many others who partner with us. And you have the Holy Spirit in you, changing your heart into the kindness and empathy of Christ.

It’s pretty simple, Jesus says. Can you handle a cup of cold water? Then you’ll do just fine.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

You are called and anointed to share God’s heart and guts – the deep compassion and love of God – for all God’s children, and to be Christ in your world, for those children.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Third Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 11 A
Texts: Matthew 9:35 – 10:23; Romans 5:1-8

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Jesus was torn up inside by love.

Gut-wrenching, gut-twisting love, that’s compassion in Greek. That’s what Jesus felt as he saw these huge crowds who showed up everywhere. So many broken people, so many people crushed by the world, and all wanted what Jesus was giving. And he loved them so much. So he healed people everywhere he went. He proclaimed the Good News of God’s reign, God’s love for them. But there were so many. Every day, more and more heard, more and more came.

It was almost more than Jesus could handle. Correct that. It was more than Jesus could handle. Changing the metaphor from sheep to harvest, he told the women and men following him he needed more workers like him to go into these fields, to these flocks. To embody the same gut-wrenching love he had, become Christ as he is, so all could be reached.

Embodied compassion is still the job Christ needs done. Now in your body and mine.

It’s a job that needs human contact, human touch. It’s why the Triune God first came as a human among us. It couldn’t be taught as a lesson. God came to us in person to show this gut-wrenching love in person. To be God’s peace, in person. To be God’s healing, in person. To embrace, to kiss, to love, to touch. It’s the only way anyone knows love is real.

And there are so many sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless ones, Christ called you in your baptism to be God’s embodied compassion. So all can be embraced in God’s love.

Look at the job Jesus sends the disciples to do today.

“As you go,” Jesus says, “proclaim the good news, ‘The reign of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. As you enter people’s homes, greet them with God’s peace.” Jesus doesn’t send them to make sure everyone’s following the rules, everyone’s doctrine is correct. Jesus doesn’t send them out to bash other people’s experiences. He sends them to do something that only can be done in person, in real bodies.

Christ sends them out, sends you out, to be the personal embodiment of God’s love in the world. To proclaim the Good News in your body, your words, your life, that God’s love is for all. To bring healing in a world of sickness. Life in a world of death. To stand against evil and the demonic and drive it out where you can. To speak God’s peace in all you do. There are just too many who need God’s love for one – even God-with-us – to reach personally. Your body, your person, is desperately needed. All ours are.

And this heart you are called to be loves all without judgment.

Jesus looks at the crowds, harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and is torn up inside with love for them. For all of them. He doesn’t think, “well, that sheep kind of deserves the mess he’s in. And that one is never kind to others. That one always screws things up. And that one’s just different from the others.”

No. Christ loves the whole crowd to the depths of his guts. It’s the miracle Paul declares today that forever proves God’s love: no matter how sinful, rebellious, stupid, mistake-prone you are, I am, God sees only love. And came as Christ so you could know that.

So as your heart beats with God’s heart, as your guts twist in love alongside God’s guts, this is the love you’re bearing: a love that will not stop, will not rest, until all God’s children are found, healed, brought home. Until all are safe and fed and cared for. No exceptions. No exclusions.

This call is risky, and Jesus warns you of that, too.

Maybe you and I will never stand trial for our faith, but Jesus knew some of these women and men would. It’s likely that anyone who bears God into the world will face setbacks and rejection.

Not everyone will be receptive to your God-beating heart and what it leads you to do. If driving out demons leads you to political actions, you most certainly will face pushback. If reaching out to the sheep God shows you leads you to changing things about your life that make other people uncomfortable, you’ll hear about it. And so many who need God’s love are vulnerable ones who are being targeted today for hate and even death. Standing in love with them will put a target on you. Even the ones you greet in God’s peace might reject that peace.

So be prepared for that. But if someone throws your peace onto the ground, Christ says, it will return to you. You still get to have God’s peace, that can’t be taken away. And shaking the dust off your feet isn’t answering rejection with rejection. It’s just a reminder that you don’t need to carry your rejections with you as you go forward as Christ. Shake them off and move on.

 Christ sends out these twelve, and later 70, and after Pentecost more than 120, and now millions, knowing his gut-wrenching love got him killed. So if you bear the kind of love God has in your own body, all kinds of sacrifices are going to be asked of you, too.

But you’re embodying God, which means God is in you.

Which means you are not alone. Jesus says, “don’t worry what you’ll say – the Spirit will give you all the words you need.” When you wonder, “what will this mean for me today and tomorrow? What am I supposed to do?”, the Spirit will give you all the help and guidance you need to figure that out.

Paul proclaims today that God’s love has been poured into your hearts by the Holy Spirit! Poured into your heart to join your heart, your guts, your hands, your voice, your life, your love, to God’s. To change you. So that healing can transform sickness in this world, life can change death, demons can be driven out.

There’s one more thing: you don’t have to do everything.

These first twelve were only sent to their Jewish siblings for now. Christ’s mission was to the whole world. But this first time, Jesus said, “don’t go to the Gentiles or Samaritans yet.” They weren’t ready to do that.

So, you get baby steps, too. Until you get better and better at bearing God. Until your heart and guts more instinctively react to the world as the Triune God’s do, and you more and more sense the Spirit.

Maybe you’ll never feel you’re good at this. But God’s Spirit is going to do this, and you’ve been called to be this. You were anointed for this. And you are loved with the same gut-wrenching love of God that God is hoping you’ll have for the other sheep, the ripe fields.

So that all will know that love of God now and always.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Go and learn your need for God’s steadfast love and mercy, and you will find it.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Second Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 10 A
Texts: Matthew 9:9-26 (incl. vv. 14-17 not appointed for today); Hosea 5:15 – 6:6; Psalm 50:7-15

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

“Go and learn what this means,” Jesus says: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”

Jesus is crossing all kinds of barriers the Pharisees believe God has in place. He’s called an undesirable to be a follower, this tax collector Matthew, and he eats with undesirables. They don’t know yet, but he’s not finished – he’ll soon allow a bleeding woman to touch him and even heal her, even though the law says that he becomes unclean if an unclean person touches him. He does it once more when he touches the dead child and raises her, again becoming unclean by touching what is unclean.

But Jesus says two powerful things to them. First, only sick people need a doctor, and seek a doctor, not healthy ones. And second, they need to do their homework, go back to Hosea, our first reading, and understand what Jesus quoted from it, that God desires steadfast love, mercy, not sacrifice.

Go to those Scriptures you say you know, he says, and learn what God really wants. Then we can talk.

Today’s readings all reveal what God desires most.

Both the northern and southern kingdoms have sinned against God, and Hosea declares God’s anger. They’ve worshipped other gods, permitted perjury, committed murder and theft and adultery. And the people think if they just return to their sacrifices, their burnt offerings, God will be happy with them again.

But God says, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Echoed in today’s psalm and throughout the prophets, God desires a changed heart, not empty words and rituals and practices.

The Pharisees think they have this all figured out. Both kingdoms ended up destroyed and exiled. So when only Judah returns, groups like the Pharisees emerge, with a system of laws and purity standards intended to make sure the people never stray again. Lesson learned. Keep the rules and God’ll be happy.

But Jesus says they haven’t learned anything. They still don’t understand what it truly means that God desires steadfast love and mercy, not burnt offerings.

Now, the Pharisees are trusting in their rules, not their burnt offerings.

Temple sacrifices are still happening at this time, but what they’re angry about is Jesus breaking the purity laws and codes they’ve set to keep the people in line with God. And yet Jesus says they still have the same problem as Hosea’s people.

We don’t sacrifice animals to please God. So here’s the first piece of our homework: do Jesus’ words apply to us? What are we clinging to that prevents us from understanding God’s heart is about steadfast love and mercy for all? If not burnt offerings, what?

Is it our belief that we’re the right kind of Christians in a world where many Christians seem to be the anti-Christ? Christian fascism and Christian nationalism are on the rise in our country, and many who bear the name Christian promote death and destruction and oppression and exclusion and hatred, all in Christ’s name. They seek political power to do what they want without restriction, and cover it with Christianity’s label. We are right to decry that abuse of the name of Christ, that betrayal of the love of Christ. We need to work against it as hard as we can.

But is our judgment of these Christians also our trap? Our self-justification? Do we think, “we’re right, we’re loving like Christ, and God knows that and is happy with us, not like those evil ones?” Maybe our self-righteousness is our burnt offerings.

The true answer for us is hidden in Jesus’ words and actions today.

Jesus says “those who are well don’t need a physician, only those who are sick.” He spends time with so-called “sinners,” the undesirables, the unclean, folks the Pharisees reject and cast out, because God’s mercy is for them.

And there’s the hidden secret: Jesus can only give God’s steadfast love and mercy to those who need it. Those who know they’re broken, sinful, those who have no ground to stand on before God. No offerings. No self-righteousness. These are the ones Jesus spends time with and loves because they’re the only ones who realize what he’s offering and their own need.

This is your real homework assignment, learning this: do you need God’s mercy? Do you have nothing to stand on before God except your hope that Jesus, God-with-us, came to seek and to heal the lost?

Go and learn what this means, Jesus says.

Ask yourself, what mercy do I need and want from God that I have a hard time admitting? It’s easier to compare ourselves to others who seem to be a lot worse. But it risks missing the mercy we need for life.

How are you handling those deeply rooted habits and ways you cling to that hurt those you love and others? How are you doing with those inner prejudices that keep cropping up even though you’ve tried to get beyond them? How are you handling the racism and sexism and classism that lurk under the surface of our hearts? It’s hard to imagine what it would be to let go of our privilege we have, and yet, how is that keeping us, keeping you, from being a part of God’s abundance and grace for all God’s children?

Do you see? Once you take Jesus’ assignment seriously, you pretty quickly long for a God who has a heart of mercy and steadfast love for you.

And do you see? That’s exactly where you need to be to receive and know God’s mercy in Christ.

I didn’t come for people who think they’re well, Jesus said. Just for sick folks.

And I came, Jesus said, to give them abundant life, and a healed heart, and a hope for a healed world. Look at this dinner party Jesus attends: it’s full of people who only know two things, their need of God’s love, and the truth that they’ve found that love in Jesus.

The sooner you do our homework and learn your need of God’s steadfast love and mercy, the sooner you’ll rejoice in it. And the sooner we can all become part of the Triune God’s persistent plan to spread steadfast love and mercy to every child of God on this planet.

Go and learn what this means.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen