MT 9:35 - 10:8 

Matthew in the Margins…2nd S. after Pentecost …Revised 2017 

Jesus is 'moved in his guts' at the state of ordinary folk, God’s flock, deserted & led astray by self-serving leaders, spiritual & political. Are our own elected, appointed, or self-styled, leaders doing exactly the same things? Out for power! Out for pickings! Feasting on both, or at least dining out! Today’s passage still reveals them for what they are & what they’re at.

May it not be, ‘reveals us’ or ‘what we are’ or ‘what we’re at’!

  

With EZK 34 surely ringing in his ears, Jesus shows us a better way, but it will cost him - & us! There's little we can do for the harassed, helpless, stomped on, until we’re moved in our guts for them as much as God in Jesus is; as much as Holy Spirit energises us to be.

However today’s healings of people & whatever is oppressing them take place, by whom, & by whatever means, God’s Rule still comes near. On earth as in Heaven! A version¹ I use a lot talks of God’s rule ‘closing in’. It sounds a bit threatening, but maybe it’s a reminder God’s Rule isn’t as ‘sloppy’ as we may like to think! MT reminds us God’s freeing any of us is not only through proclamation, but by putting things to rights. His personal liberation, his conversion from tax-gatherer to disciple & then on to Apostle shows not only that he could change, but that we can, too!

Where the realm of heaven is closing in, breaking out, whatever, we find meaningful healing of one kind or another, & a new freedom not to be ourselves, but to be God’s! As MT’s Jesus journeys, villagers & townies, farmers & fisher-folk, pillars of society & those living on the wrong side of the tracks, all benefit. At times Jesus seems to hesitate, & cause His followers to hesitate, about the extent of their ministry. When the chips are down, though, for Jesus outsiders count as much as the most solid of insiders. A point not to be lost on us. And those to whom we minister & preach. The margins & the marginalised matter to God, & should therefore matter to us. 

Jesus' Good News is of a Rule other than by priests, politicians, professionals. It's more about love than duty; about service more than servitude. Being compassionate, literally ‘moved in our guts’, till we’re aching can bring great healing to healer as well as healed. Moreover, Gospel without a healing component is ‘small g gospel’ indeed! 

Gathering the harvest is a matter of bringing to fruition what every stalk, head, grain in every field has within it. When we’re moved as above, we’ll answer our own call to discipleship with a godly hand rather than a swinging scythe!

 Our names mayn't be on MT's list, but are we on Jesus' current ‘database’?  Remember those games of hide & seek when whoever was 'he' or 'she' took us by surprise? God's Rule jumps us unsuspectingly because God's always, "Coming! Ready or not!" Do we who teach others recognise that at the heart of Gospel?

¹ The Complete Gospels, Polebridge