Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Romans 4:13-25; Matt 9:9-13,18-26
‘Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”’
I’ll never forget the first time I celebrated the Eucharist by myself. I don’t mean I was the only one there, I mean the first time that I was the only clergy present.
It’s not like we didn’t have training in celebrating the Eucharist. They didn’t wait until we were ordained and graduated and then suddenly toss us into celebrating the Eucharist alone. During seminary classes we did have numerous times when we assisted the celebrant, sometimes as the Deacon. We also took turns being the celebrant during our training sessions, a couple of times as I recall.
There was also the time spent in field education. During our two-year field education stint, at which time I was teamed up with a church rector and assisted him during the Eucharist, I was a participant in the Eucharist every Sunday, though never the actual celebrant.
When I was finally called to be Priest-in-Charge at my first cure, I assisted the supply clergy celebrating Eucharist for six weeks before I was finally ordained and on my own. During that time, I even learned how the Eucharist was specifically celebrated at that parish.
You’d think that after all these years and times being around and present in the Eucharist, that finally celebrating the Eucharist as the sole clergy person would have been a piece of cake. If you thought that you would be wrong.
I very quickly learned that you can have all the training in the world, but until you are the one in charge standing and celebrating, until you are the one saying the words and performing the rites, until you are the one standing before that altar alone and before an actual congregation, all bets are off, as they say.
I remember standing there a nervous wreck, as though I had never read a Eucharistic prayer before, as though I had never prayed a Collect before, as though I had never led a congregation in praying the Lord’s Prayer before.
It’s not like the Altar book didn’t have all the words that needed to be said, right there, right on the altar. Everything was written out, organized and categorized, edited and proof-read, indexed and footnoted for me. It might just as well have been written in Greek.
The Acolytes and servers all did their jobs flawlessly, handing me things, taking things from me, being present with me, and assisting me in all the ways they assisted to make things during the service follow a natural flow. I can’t even remember who served that Sunday.
And yet I was so stressed that to this day I remember setting the table, and then clearing the table, but I don’t remember anything else in between. I couldn’t have even told you if I read the correct Eucharistic prayer or proper preface, if I sang the right version of the Sanctus, if I consecrated the host and broke the bread at the right time, or if I said the correct words when handing out the Host.
I just remember sitting there at coffee hour afterward wondering why God had called me into this harvest; why someone so inept and scatterbrained as me, someone as stressed and nervous as me, someone so well trained and yet so seemingly clueless as me was called to celebrate something as important as the Eucharist.
And so when I read the Gospel reading from Matthew for today I couldn’t help but wonder how the Twelve felt making their first missionary journey without their master present. Granted they had the company of each other when they went, and they had the actual Son of God to train them, but again until it’s actually you performing the ministry, all bets are off.
I wonder if Simon-Peter and his brother Andrew felt nervous and overwhelmed when they stepped into that first town? I wonder if James and his brother John truly believed that they had received the power to cure diseases and to cast out demons. I wonder if Philip and Bartholomew believed that the words they had been taught and the prayers they had learned would actually help to usher in the actual Kingdom of God. I wonder if Thomas and Matthew felt like they were ready to make their master proud as they went about the ministry Jesus called them to. I wonder if Thaddaeus and John son of Alphaeus felt capable and confident as they entered that critical first house in the mission field they were called to the harvest in. I wonder if Simon and Cananaean and Judas Iscariot fully believed that God had called them to the ministry they were about to pursue.
The bar for the twelve was set very high by their master. Their ministry was limited to just the Jews, not to the Gentiles living around them or to the Samaritans their biblical cousins, but the stakes were high and danger was everywhere.
In the optional verses from Matthew Jesus gives the twelve specific instructions on entering and possibly leaving the towns they minister in and the vulnerable position they are placing themselves in: “9Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. 11Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12As you enter the house, greet it. 13If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. 15Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.”
Then Jesus offers them the possible consequences of the ministry they are about to perform: “16 ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
Wow. And I was worried that I would say the wrong prayers or elevate the host at the wrong time, or that my gestures would seem odd or my speech would sound a little garbled as I celebrated the Eucharist. All I was risking was embarrassment and awkwardness. Hearing these words about the Twelve’s dangerous ministry from Matthew today gives me a new perspective about the simple ministry that I was called to in celebrating the Eucharist. No wolves to contend with. No councils to flog me. No governors or kings to pass judgement over my ministry. No betrayals. No being put to death. No being hated by all.
The Good News today is that we will probably never know true judgement and betrayals and hatred and being put to death because of our ministries. When we speak of our faith we are not risking being imprisoned or killed. When we witness to what God in Jesus Christ has done for us in our lives, we are not risking much other than embarrassment and awkwardness.
The Bad News today is that we will probably never know true judgement and betrayals and hatred and being put to death because of our ministries. When we speak of our faith we are not risking being imprisoned or killed. When we witness to what God in Jesus Christ has done for us in our lives, we are not risking much other than embarrassment and awkwardness. When we risk little we gain little.
The Good News today is that “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; The Lord of the harvest is sending us out as laborers into his harvest.”’ We are on a mission from God. We may not always see our calling clearly, we may not always see what ministry we are called to, and we may not ever see what effect our ministry will have on those we are called to serve. But we are called just the same. Jesus Christ the Lord of the Harvest himself calls us to be his Body in the world, to minister in his name, to go bravely and faithfully out into the world and preach his Good News – to all the world.
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