We’re On A Mission From God
Daily Scripture Readings
Monday Matthew 8:28-34
Tuesday Matthew 9:1-8
Wednesday Matthew 9: 9-13
Thursday Matthew 9:14-17
Friday Matthew 9:18-26
Saturday Matthew 9: 27-34
Sunday Matthew 9:35-38
Opening Prayer
Gracious God,
We thank you that you are a sending, commissioning God. Send us out into all the warp and woof of life on mission for and with you. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Devotional Thoughts:
This week’s readings are packed full of some of the incredible moments of Jesus’ ministry: healing the blind, mute, demon possessed, raising a dead girl back to life and healing a woman with a horrible, long standing issue of bleeding. He even calls Matthew, the tax collector, to come and be one of his 12 disciples in the middle of all that! Then he wraps up the chapter with verses 37b-38 “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
It’s easy to read that and think, “Well, Jesus, that’s easy for you to say–you’re Jesus! You make the miraculous look easy. What part can I have in this ‘harvest’?” It’s a fair question, and I think God has hidden a response within this passage itself.
Two striking elements of this passage are the calling of Matthew and the healing of the women with bleeding. In both cases Jesus encounters persons who were considered “unclean”. You can almost hear the Pharisee’s scoff as they ask the disciples in 9:11. In Jewish culture, eating with “unclean” people, and certainly touching (or being touched by) someone “unclean” would make that person unclean too. However, that’s not what happens with Jesus. When the woman touches the edge of his cloak, he doesn’t become dirty–she becomes clean. Across this gospel, we see Jesus living out a transforming faith that looks (and works) less like a white tuxedo to try to keep clean and more like bleach (something with transforming power).
God looks at us the same way. I think that’s part of the reason behind why he calls Matthew, the same guy who is credited with writing this Gospel. He’s not concerned with the depth of brokenness or what the world/culture might define as worthy. Instead he’s asking for followers. He’s receiving those who are willing to seek him out. His mission is a transformative one, and each of the people who choose to follow and seek him are forever changed.
Christ invites us all to experience that sort of transformation, and to then, with Him, take part in that transforming work in all the world.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”