When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were
harassed and helpless, like 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.” (Matthew
9:36-38)
Last Sunday my wife and I went for a walk in our neighborhood in the
late afternoon and ran into two of our neighbors who just happen to be ELCA
Lutherans. I’ll call them “Dick and Alice.” They know I’m a pastor, so they
sometimes like to share church news with me. Dick said he’d been told that
there might be as many as 1,000 ELCA congregations which are currently without
a pastor, and there are only a few hundred recent seminary graduates to fill
these vacancies. I’ve been hunting around the internet to see if I can find
some more accurate figures on the pastor shortage, but there aren’t any stats
on the ELCA website (or, at least, I don’t know where to look for them) and the
online articles I found on the subject are out of date. But Dick’s a pretty
smart guy, and the information I did find seems to bare out his basic point: we
have a ton more congregations than we have clergy to lead them.
As Jesus says in our Gospel reading for Pentecost 3, Year A (Matthew
9:35 – 10:23), “the laborers are few.” Being one of those laborers myself, the
question which vexes me at the moment is how can I make this appointed reading
meaningful to the shrinking handful of folks who’ll be in church this Sunday? I
mean, these people aren’t about to leap up from their pews and sign up for
seminary classes. Most of them are retired, so their leaping days are pretty
much over. Other than being laborers in the harvest, I see them more as the
sheep who are “harassed and helpless.”
My Greek sources are a little confusing here, but the word which our
Bible translates as “harassed” could derive from a word meaning “to flay” or
“lay open.” If you imagine yourself “flayed,” you’d be very vulnerable,
wounded, and cut open like your skin had been ripped off. The word translated
as “helpless” literally means “thrown down” like somebody knocked you to the
ground. Suffice it to say, Jesus saw that folks were getting really beat up and
could really use some help. Maybe you’ve felt that way yourself. I think lots
of us are feeling “harassed and helpless” what with gun violence (and Philly is
getting really bad!), the high cost of darn near everything, climate change,
aging, our families—the list goes on.
So Jesus sounds the call
for volunteers. Up to this point in the Gospel story he’s been the only one
curing the sick and casting out the demons, but he figures it’s time to call up
some reserve troops. He deputizes his disciples—a motley assortment of working
stiffs, none of whom have seminary degrees—and sends them out to do some work.
You’ll notice he doesn’t send them out to save souls for Heaven. Instead, he
sends them out to address the needs the people have in the moment and to tell
them that the Kingdom of Heaven is already
near them.
I have a hunch that if
the Church is to survive in 21st Century America the message won’t
be about saving souls but about expressing love and compassion for all souls. The Church which I see
emerging is going to be about mission, not about doctrine. It will be about
seeking out the “harassed and helpless” and bringing love and healing to them
in whatever capacity we’re able to do it.
The Church which is
inspired by this Gospel reading will have to rely on lay people and volunteers.
I wonder if all of those un-pastored Lutheran congregations remain un-pastored
because they can’t afford to pay a living wage to a seminary trained cleric. If
so, we’ll have to expect that, in the future, those who are sent out will be
willing to do so without a full-time paycheck. They’ll have to be like the
disciples who went into the mission field without gold, silver, or copper or a
bag for their money. And they’ll have to go out on faith.
Maybe the new Church will
do without owning buildings. They may settle in borrowed spaces or peoples’
homes just like the disciples did. There won’t be an emphasis on utility bills
or lawn care. The emerging Church will focus on healing the neighborhood and
the world, loving God and loving neighbors.
And, of course, like
those first disciples, the disciples of today will get into trouble. They will
cause controversy and say things which will aggravate people who just wish
these Christians would stick to talking about the hereafter and not mention the
problems of the here and now. Maybe some of them will end up in jail as
Christians have in the past.
So what can I say to
those of us who are harassed and helpless? There is still hope. The Kingdom of
Heaven has come near, and whenever we donate to Feast of Justice for the hungry
or Caring for Friends for the elderly, or Family Promise for the homeless we
are bringing that kingdom just a little bit closer. We may be harassed, but we
are not helpless, because we can still be here for each other and we can still
pray “thy kingdom come” for the new work God’s people are and will be doing.
The laborers may be few,
but God can do a lot with them.
Thanks for reading. Let
me know what you think.
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