CELC The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 12, 2005

Matthew 9:35-10:23

Have you ever thought of a glass of milk on the weekend as a real treat? Estelle did. As she grew up in a family of six during the Great Depression, her father died young due to an accident while at work on the railroad. She was not yet ten years old.

With an older brother and two younger sisters, she and her mother struggled to survive. Dinner during the week dinner was often something like a piece of bread with gravy on it. On the weekend you would get chicken and the treat of a glass of milk. It was meager eating in their household.

As an adult Estelle had the means to eat well. Whether by a conscious decision or not, she began to keep what you and I might call a “pantry.” It was a room in the basement of her house where many canned goods, paper products, potatoes and other things were kept. There was quite an inventory of food there.

It makes one wonder if Estelle remembered those days of scarcity and compensated for them? Perhaps the fear of not having enough to eat kept Estelle filling the shelves of her pantry with food.

We often do things because of our fears. The Great Depression did create fears in some people that they spent their lifetime trying to overcome. I can remember the fear of my own mother when upon the death of my father; she thought she would die in poverty. It was only when she realized that my father’s pension would provide her the largest monthly income she had ever known that she realized all was well.

Fears, though, can make us alarmists even when the reality is quite different from our fears.

I wonder what fear will mark us as a generation? Will the devastation of 9-11 be the defining event that will leave an indelible mark on us as the Great Depression did on a previous generation? I wonder. I wonder if we have come to terms regarding what 9-11 is all about? Perhaps the horror of that day sits just below our conscious thoughts and directs many of our decisions, just as the scarcity of food in her childhood may have directed Estelle to always have plenty of inventory on hand?

Today Jesus reminds us that God will care for us. We can trust God for the providential care God promises to us. The fears of our lives do not have to control us. God is providing to us all that we need.

Today, in the gospel lesson, as Jesus goes about sending out his disciples to minister in his name, he reminds them that they will have all they will need. They are not to worry or be afraid.

It is Jesus himself that makes our futures sure and secure. On the cross he dies and then God raises him up, and brings to us a promise that there is nothing in this life that can ever defeat us, ever separate us from God, so that we need not fear. It is in the cross that we are given a faith that trusts God for our future. We need not be afraid.

It is the same Lord Jesus, the risen one, who beckons and calls us to service. He calls us to go out as did the twelve, and make that important invitation to others: “Come and see.”

Jesus calls you and me to invite those people who find their fears driving them to places they do not want to be. Jesus calls us to invite those who fear their health is in decline and they may even be drawing close to death. To those who are afraid of declining health, Jesus calls us to say, “Come and see.”

To those who fear economic collapse at every moment, or terrorism around every corner, Jesus beckons us to say, “Come and see.” Like the twelve we can invite others and bring them to our Lord who heals our doubts and despair by promising and giving us a future with him in the kingdom yet to come.

“Come and see” is the invitation and we who are transformed by the cross and made forgiven people have the delight of sharing that invitation with so many that are plagued by their fears, trapped in a world that controls them and makes them alarmists rather than faithful.

I wonder if we can be defined by this call of our Lord Jesus? Is it possible for something other than a Great Depression or the horror of 9-11 to define us? Are we able to faithfully find ourselves inviting others into a life-changing relationship of love with Jesus?

We know that with God anything is possible. So, I would have to say that certainly we can be defined by the call to service that our Lord places before us today. But, we need to let go of our fears. The grace of God makes that possible.

Estelle did that. She let go of her fear and was one of the most generous and loving people I have known. The scarcity of her childhood did not make her a person who was defined by her fear. She was defined by generosity and love.

I wonder if we can be defined by the discipleship Jesus calls us to today? Perhaps we can say, “Come and see” to those who are controlled by their fears so that they, like us, may be set free by the grace of God? Amen.

Pastor Robert F. Holley

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