Views from the Valley

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Scripture

Matthew 9:35-10:8

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd. Then he 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.”

         Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

        These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.”

The Sermon

Take a look around. It’s quite a world we live in. We see people scurrying all over the place; we see idle people; we see people with great means and all sorts of creature comforts; we see people struggling, having to walk to the store to get their beer because they probably don’t have a driver’s license. In your world on a routine basis, what do you see?

       In our gospel reading, we see Jesus as he takes a look around his world. He sees his people – the Jews, the children of Abraham, and the myriad people who live around them, and he has compassion on them. As Matthew says, they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He is moved by them. He knows that under the guidance of many of the Jewish leaders, and as people living under Roman rule, they have not been treated well. He aches to help release them from that bondage and make their lives better. And as we know, he does many things in that effort.

       As we take a look around, we see that times are tough for many people in our world, too. We ourselves complain a lot, but the truth is we have it really quite good. Think of those whose lives are a challenge for many reasons. We work with them in the community, and for some of us, our hearts go out. It’s a mixed thing – we often are of the opinion that if people could only just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps they could do better. I wonder if that’s what some of Jesus’ cohorts thought? But Jesus’ compassion isn’t conditional. It isn’t based on what he thinks they ought to have done in their lives or what they ought to be doing to make a better world for themselves. He looks out and sees a great harvest. What’s the harvest? People ripe and ready and waiting for something new and different. Hope. Healing. Joy. Empowerment. A knowledge that God is on their side.

       How about us? What’s the nature of our compassion? We know it’s not quite as simple as, “see a person in need, give them what they need, and all is well.” We know there are ways to help people help themselves. That’s a solid way to handle things. Who knows what was available to the needy of Jesus’ day? We certainly hear of the beggars on the streets and the roadsides. There may have been places for them to go to rest, to eat.

       And when we have that compassion, what do we do with it? We extend our sympathy, we help them directly sometimes, and other times we give to organizations that are specially trained to give out such care. Sometimes find it appropriate to invite them to be part of our church or our community groups. We are not uncaring people.

       We also realize that a large part of Jesus’ ministry involved sharing the news of God’s love. Times are different now in the church – that news has been proclaimed and interpreted in many ways. If anyone wants to know about our faith, they don’t have to look far. Christianity is not new. But the news may still be new to some whose lives never really included anything related to the church. That news is that God loves them, that God/the realm of heaven is nearer than they can ever imagine; that they are not alone.

       Another piece of Jesus’ story is that he made sure his followers knew that this harvest wasn’t just for him to take care of. Just because he had a powerful personality and amazing ability to teach and minister to others didn’t mean he was supposed to do everything alone. What would be the point? And so, he looked at his followers and said, “The harvest is plentiful! But the laborers are few! Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

       After all, you can’t really harvest a crop, most of the time, without help. We have some pretty amazing machinery that can do the work of multiple people, but we still need help. In Jesus’ day, the harvest involved many people. So he started with his disciples. Imagine what it was like to be them: with the ability to do works of healing and deliverance and change lives in such radical ways. It would be surreal. It would seem like a dream.

       We really don’t hear a lot about what the disciples actually did on their harvest journey. Unlike Jesus, we find other places in the gospels where they had a lot of questions, just like you and me. Who was this man Jesus, and the God that he claimed to get power from? Even in the midst of all of this, they still had very real doubts and uncertainties about what they were being asked to do.

       And, well, so are we. We are still called to gather in the harvest. We are still called to BE workers and to pray for more workers. We take a look around and we SEE what that harvest might be. In some ways, it’s very much like what Jesus saw. In other ways, it’s not, although at its very basis, it still involves people seeking a life in which, regardless of circumstances, there is a sense of security and peace. A knowledge that someone or something greater than they are is at work in the world, loves them, and upon whom they can depend.

       And so, as people of this fellowship, we have a calling, right here in the gospel of Matthew. We are called to look around and see the needs. They are many. We’ve probably been a part of meeting many of those needs even when we were unaware of it.

       But the question is this: do people know in whose name we reach out in compassion and caring? Maybe our Christian love and compassion is so much a part of us that we forget who we represent – which is really a kind of cool. But the people Jesus and his disciples ministered to surely had to have had some knowledge – well, especially since there were miracles involved – of who it is that had come into their lives and helped them to realize that there was more in life than living in subjection to cruel, selfish authorities.

       It’s good also to remember that Jesus’ disciples and followers were not loners. Whether they hung out with him every day and traveled with him, or were supporters and hosts to Jesus in his travels, they were a community. They worked and prayed and served together.

       These were the workers, and in their work they brought in more workers – because they told people who it was who gave them authority to do what they did. It was Jesus. And because of that, we know about him, and we know him today.

       That is important. We don’t have to be preachy about it. But we can certainly be bold to express our connection to this church and our reliance on God in our daily lives. We can make a difference, just like Jesus and his disciples did, to the point where it literally changed a big part of the world.

       So look around you. Will you open your eyes to see the “harassed and helpless” people, like sheep without a shepherd? Would we know them? Let’s point our lives, and our friends, family, and neighbors, toward the Good Shepherd of the sheep: Jesus, who will never lead us astray and will comfort us with his rod and staff. Let us be the laborers, able to discern which of the planted crops are ready for or in need of harvest.

       And let us most of all cast our hearts and minds on God, who through the Holy Spirit will guide us and introduce us to possibilities galore in which we may minister to the lost sheep of our community and our world. Amen.

****

Questions for Reflection

Here are some questions to reflect on as you consider this message and the words of Jesus.

Take a look around you, wherever you live, work, play.

Do you see people who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd?

Who are they?

Where are they?

What do they need?

Is there anything you can do to fulfill Jesus’ command to his disciples; i.e., what can you to do to be of assistance to these sheep without a shepherd?

How can you incorporate that into your life in the Charlotte Valley Presbyterian Church, or any church you attend?

How can you incorporate that into your life in the world?

Is it something different from what you’re doing now?

What’s the first step you might take? What’s keeping you from taking it?