Matthew 9:35-38 * September 23, 2007 * Home Mission Festival * Rev. Carl Ziemer

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ 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.”

I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ who serve our Lord and you at our synod’s administration building in Milwaukee. I am honored to have this opportunity to proclaim God’s word and to report on the many activities carried on in your name by WELS Special Ministries.

When you take a walk, are you more inclined to look down on the path beneath your feet or to glance around and enjoy the colorful trees, the bright flowers and the blue sky? When you drove here today, did your eyes focus only on the dotted lines on the road, or did you notice some of the beautiful scenery along the way? It’s only natural for people to focus on the task at hand, but isn’t it a shame if that's all we do? As important as life’s many small details may be, it is also important for us to see the big picture.

In earlier verses St. Matthew had focused on specific details in Jesus’ life and ministry. He had reported on the message Jesus had proclaimed, on the miracles he had performed, on places he had visited and on people he had met. Then, when he recounted what Jesus had said in our text, it’s almost as if he was stopping us in our tracks and urging us to lift our eyes off the path so as to see the big picture. St. Matthew wants us to understand what Jesus did in his life and ministry and why. He also wanted every believer to hear the Savior’s invitation to join him in working in his harvest field. So, my friends, let’s lift our eyes from the all the tasks and activities of our day-to-day lives and this congregation’s routine ministry, and try to see the big picture of how Jesus and we fit into the big picture of God’s kingdom. On this mission festival, let’s focus on working in the Lord’s harvest field. As we do, let’s pray: Lord, open my eyes to see what you see. And yes, kindle in my heart the fire of your love

I.

Most people seem to be quite busy these days, and pastors and church members are no exception. But as busy as we may be doing the Lord’s work, so was Jesus. St. Matthew reports that: ³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. To summarize, Jesus spent his time preaching, teaching, and caring for people.

How full his days must have been! While most of us can tell a story or two about our experiences as Christians striving to serve our Lord every day and in every way, just think of the stories that Jesus could tell, stories far more numerous than the few included in the gospel accounts!

As we might expect, nearly all of his stories would involve people. As he traveled throughout the Holy Land, Jesus encountered people in a wide variety of circumstances and conditions. He spoke with common peasants and with ruling authorities, with those who were unlearned as well as with the highly educated. Jesus met people of every age, from little children in arms, to healthy, working adults, to seniors bent over with age. He ministered to mothers and fathers, to tradesmen, soldiers and tax collectors, to those who enjoyed the blessing of great wealth and to those who suffered the shortages of abject poverty. He approached the hale and hearty but also and especially welcomed the handicapped, the sick and the suffering.

Though Jesus ministered to people in a wide variety of earthly situations, they all had this in common. All were sinners who fell short of meeting the holy demands of God’s law. Though some seemed to be more righteous than others, if they were to escape hell and experience heaven, they needed a Savior. And Jesus was that Savior.

His congregation included people who appeared honest and hardworking, but it included cheats and swindlers as well. On the one hand Jesus counseled happily married couples, but on the other, he dealt with self-centered husbands who were looking for no-fuss ways to rid themselves of their wives. He encountered people who struggled to live chaste and decent lives as well as those who had given themselves over to adultery and every other sexual aberration. Jesus dealt with respected community leaders who tried to cover up their moral corruption like whitewash on a sepulcher. He listened to self-righteous people boast and to humble believers confess. Yes, Jesus saw it all; not only with his human eyes, but also with the eyes of God that were able to penetrate even the innermost thoughts of the mind and attitudes of the heart.

Have things changed all that much in the world some 2000 years later? Hardly! People still sin and people still need a Savior. Jesus encountered people in every imaginable situation and condition of mind, body and soul. Day after day he dealt with them, preaching, teaching, and caring.

And what did Jesus see when they came to him? St. Matthew reports that: ³⁶…he saw the crowds ... harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus not only saw crowds of miserable, undeserving sinners wherever he went, he saw people who were “harassed and helpless”. The Greek words mean troubled (skinned), thrown off or dejected. Jesus likened the crowds of sinners to sheep without a shepherd, lost and wandering, easily victimized by predators. In plain language, in those crowds Jesus saw individual sheep, each and every one of them needing a shepherd, individual sinners, all in dire need of a Savior.

My fellow believers, what do you see when you gaze at the people in the pews of this church? What do you see when you walk down the main street of your hometown? What do you see when you survey the masses of this world’s humanity? Do you only see crowds of people with problems, selfish people, angry people, people bent on sinning whenever given the opportunity? Or do you see precious souls, souls dearly loved by our Savior, souls heading for eternal destruction unless someone redirects them to Jesus? And yes, this is true of people with special needs as well as it is of those who are ordinary.

I’m here today to talk to you about special ministries. Your synod’s Commission on Special Ministries encourages and assists WELS members like you and WELS congregations like this one to intentionally serve people with special needs by preaching and teaching God’s words and by caring for their individual needs.

How is your work in the Lord’s harvest field going in general? Do you think you see that working in the Lord’s Harvest field means including people with special needs in your preaching, teaching and caring ministry?

Let’s do a bit of ministry evaluation. Do you know which of your members spiritual needs are not being adequately addressed through your regular ministry channels here at St. John’s? Do you know which ones can’t read their Bibles, Mediations, hymns from the hymnal because they are visually impaired or blind? Do you know which members are only able to hear every other word spoken by your pastor at best and leave the worship service wishing they could have heard him? Do you know if any of your members are in jail or prison who is visiting them in the name of Jesus? Do you know how many one-time-regular churchgoers now seldom go because of they have grown old and feeble? Do you know who brightens their day with a smile and who represents Christ love from this congregation? Do you know how this congregation is ministering to those families that include someone with Down’s syndrome, developmental disabilities, Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia?

But let’s lift our eyes to see the even bigger picture that includes all of Wauwatosa. How are you and this congregation doing when it comes to ministering to the people in this community?

Ah, there’s always room for improvement, isn’t there? Jesus knows, doesn’t he? On this your mission festival, I dare to say that people with special needs are included in the Savior’s big picture of his kingdom in your community! As children of our heavenly Father and workers in his harvest field, join me in praying, Lord, open my eyes to see what you see!

II.

Perhaps by this time you’re wondering “How?” How can I possibly keep my eyes open to see crowds of sinners as my Savior sees them? Matthew’s words also answer this question. ³⁶ “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them...” Were it not for his compassion for lost souls, the Son of God would never have left his throne on high for the dusty roads of Israel. Were it not for his compassion for lost souls, Jesus would not have spent himself ministering to sinners such as you and me.

The Savior invited his disciples and us to share in his compassion. Listen: Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” See what I see, Jesus was saying. The people you see each and every day are like grain that is ripe and ready for harvest and the time for harvesting is now. Jesus was about to lay down his life, for you and me, as well as for sinners of every stripe! He succeeded in his mission; he won our salvation. Now he invites us all to share the joy of working in his harvest field, preaching and teaching and caring for people so that they might enjoy the blessings of his eternal kingdom. Indeed, he encourages us to pray for more pastors, teachers, missionaries and ordinary believers to labor in his world-wide harvest field.

Why would we want to be involved? Well, it’s simple. Christ’s love constrains us! We are privileged to love others as God has loved us and like him, to show it! The Lord has called us all to work in his harvest field! So that we might follow up on our good intentions, surely, we will want to pray, “Lord, kindle in my heart the fire of your love!

There is much more that I could say. Filled with God’s love for souls, we also have the perfect tools for harvesting souls, the sharp sickle of God’s law that cuts down and the comforting Gospel that lifts up and gathers in. Each believer in his or her own way has abundant opportunity to reach out to souls, leading them out of sin’s brambles into the lush pasture of God’s word. But above all, remember who you are, a child of God redeemed by the blood of your Savior. Live that way. Though we all must focus on the details of each day, let’s not lose sight of the big picture. Pray that our Lord would open our eyes to see what he sees. Pray that he would kindle in your heart the fire of his love! Amen.