Matthew
9:35-10:8
Jesus
is in the thick of his ministry. He’s going about teaching, healing, and
proclaiming the good news. Which sounds like Jesus, doesn’t it? And, to our
ears, it also sounds pretty harmless too. I mean who can argue with teaching,
healing, and proclaiming good news? Well, actually, a lot of people can and
did. Because what may sound as relatively benign to us was actually quite
radical - particularly the part about good news.
For
Jesus was not the first to claim he had good news. Far from it. The proclamation
of good news was the language of Rome - the occupying force in the land. “Good
news” was the propaganda term used to frame dominion and power. Whenever a
military victory was won messengers would be sent out throughout the empire to
announce the “good news” of the kingdom. The good news that Rome had conquered
yet another people. The good news that new lands had been acquired. The good
news, and a “friendly reminder,” that those who were willing to surrender and
pledge allegiance to Rome would be saved from destruction. That was the type of
so-called “good news” that the people were used to hearing.
So
when Jesus comes on the scene and proclaims the good news of a different
kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, and that the kingdom of heaven has come near no
one would have missed that he wasn’t just talking about a personal message of
good news. He was talking politics. He was going up against the powers that be
using their own language - political language - to confront and to challenge.
When
Jesus went through village after village, city after city teaching, healing,
and proclaiming the good news that the kingdom of heaven, not Rome, had
come near, he was letting people know that there was a new king in town with a
new kingdom that offered a very different political vision. No longer would
violence, fear, and oppression rule the day. Rather the kingdom of heaven’s
power came from love, peace, and justice for all. Which made those who were
doing just fine under the current system shudder. But for those on the margins,
those who bore the brunt of fear, violence, oppression, well, Jesus’ news
sounded very good indeed. No wonder so many flocked to him.
Yet
the crowds were like harassed and helpless sheep, as we hear in the gospel
today. Sheep for whom Jesus had great compassion. But not only compassion, but
a sense of urgency. "The harvest is plentiful,” he says to his
disciples,”but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to
send out laborers into his harvest." The time was ripe.
Just
as our time is ripe. For now is the time that the harvest is plentiful. Now is
the time for God’s kingdom to come near. Now is the time to right the wrongs of
the injustices of racism. And now is the time that Jesus tells us to pray - to
pray that God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven -
and to act, to become a part of the answer to that prayer. To go and proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come
near.” A kingdom that offers a very different political vision than the
kingdom of this land.
Our
lives can announce this good news not by leading the cause or acting as if we
are the ones with the answers, but by listening and by valuing the experiences
and leadership given by those who have lived on our margins, people of color.
We can join with them by calling for justice, by voting for reforming
leadership, by supporting black owned businesses, by making a long-term
commitment to racial healing. These, among other acts for social justice, are
ways that we can fulfill the call to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven has
come near so that when people hear that message in our words, but more
importantly in our deeds, it will actually sound the way that God intended -
like Good News!
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