June 14, 2026 - Matthew 9:35-10:8 - Proper 6

When I sat down with the dean of the graduate school toward the end of my master’s program as I was applying for the doctoral program, he told me 75% of students never actually finish the degree. It wasn’t because of the courses, the additional language proficiency requirements, or the exams that were based on the daunting reading list they gave you. Any of those could and would flunk you out of the program if you didn’t perform well. No, the real problem was the dissertation. A big part of the dissertation problem is pure perseverance. The school wants you to finish and is willing to help you achieve that goal, but the professors aren’t your mother. They aren’t your husband or wife. They aren’t going to hold your hand and drag you through the process. They aren’t going to shock you with a cattle prod if your progress is too slow. They’ll encourage you, but they won’t force you. Ultimately, the only way the project will be completed is if you want to make it happen and you make it a priority in your life to get it done.

That would probably be bad enough for most people, but that isn’t the only issue. There’s also the problem of how to actually get it done. In any field you go into, the dissertation requires fresh research. You need to look into an area that others haven’t touched and produce something new to add to your field. That can be pretty tough in an field like Christian theology. It’s not as if anyone’s writing new books of the Bible to comment on, at least not legitimate ones. So, go figure out something new to contribute to theology and write a couple of hundred pages of new and substantive thoughts on the matter.

Just figuring out what to write is already a rather daunting task. You have to find a very narrow focus in which to speak. You have to find some new connection to make. It’s not impossible, but without someone to help you, you’d have a really tough time knowing what’s already out there and where your voice might come into play. Then there’s the problem of actually doing the work. Once you figure out what to work on, how do you approach this task? There’s a lot of reading to do. But, just reading books isn’t going to get you there. At some point you have to actually sit down and start writing. What do you talk about? How do you present it? What arguments are you going to try and make? How do you organize it all so that it makes sense?

There’s so much to do and so many ways to approach the task that it can be paralyzing. Thankfully, you don’t take on the task entirely on your own. You have an advisor. You have someone who has been through the process before and knows what kinds of things the dissertation committee will be looking for when the go to read through it. Your advisor won’t write things for you, but he’ll give you feedback and suggestions on how to fix things so you don’t get yourself stuck or end up having to redo a bunch of work. When those two problems are put together, it’s no surprise most people never finish the program.

Now that we’re in the Pentecost season, we turn our attention to the time of the church. It’s still the life of Christ, but the focus is a bit different. We aren’t so much concerned about individual events in Jesus’ life as we are about what he has to say to us about life in this world. Jesus doesn’t go around just lecturing on sin and forgiveness. As important as those topics are, they aren’t the sum total of our lives. We experience joy and sadness, peace and chaos, delight and grief. Jesus, as a man, experiences all of these things too, not just for his sake, but for our sake. We can be confident as we approach him that he knows what these things mean.

While we still look forward to Christ’s return, there is much God has to say about our life in the world today. We are not called to life of leisure or monastic isolation, ignoring the world around us and the needs of the people in our lives. We are called to be active, engaging the world, its needs, its problems. We are called to bring the love of God to the world.

Jesus does quite a bit of this during his ministry. He’s healing people, comforting people, tending to their physical and spiritual needs. But, he isn’t the only one at work here. Salvation is something only he can accomplish and he does that work entirely on his own. After that, there’s quite a bit we are called to do. God’s people, people saved through the blood of Christ, actually need to live like people who have been redeemed.

God has given numerous examples of this throughout history, but now he gives another. For a short time, the Twelve will be setting aside their disciple hats and will put on their apostle hat. The word “Christian” means “little Christ” and the Twelve will living that out. They will be little Christs for a while. All of the things Jesus has done thus far, they will also be doing. They will preach God’s word. They will heal people and cast out demons. They will even raise the dead. They will imitate everything they’ve seen Christ do, at least to the best of their ability.

That doesn’t mean everything will go smoothly, anymore than it does for Jesus himself. They will run into obstacles. They will encounter people who want to throw them out, who want to get rid of them however they can. They will find people who have no interest in upsetting the status quo and who will react violently to anyone who tries to do so. These are all things Jesus faced and those who follow him will do the same.

Still, in terms of dealing with massive problems, Jesus is uniquely equipped. Being both God and man, there really isn’t anything he can’t do. Here he gives authority to the Twelve to do all of the same kinds of things he does. They won’t be able to directly save anyone, but short of that, the possibilities are endless.

That’s great for them. I’m sure it’s an amazing experience. They get to see the power of God firsthand through the various miracles they perform. That doesn’t really stop them from being sinners. I’m sure they still have their doubts from time to time. All of these miracles aren’t even enough to bring Judas to faith. He still sees all of this and decides he can do better on his own.

Our job is no different. Jesus commands his followers as he ascends into heaven, telling them to make disciples of all nations. The order still stands. The job still needs doing. The order is given to every Christian everywhere. He points to every single one of us and says, “Go and make disciples.” Now, we know his command isn’t so much that we are supposed to drop everything and travel to some distant part of the world to make disciples. “As you go about your life, make disciples,” might be a better way to understand what Jesus is getting at. Still, the requirement is to make disciples. Except that you aren’t healing the sick, cleansing lepers, or casting out demons. I would bet quite a lot of money none of you are bringing back the dead. So how are you going about this particular problem?

As a pastor, it’s something I hear with some regularity. “I just don’t know how to do it. It’s too big a problem for me to handle. I’m not equipped to deal with it. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

To say it’s a big problem would be a severe understatement. There are non-Christian people in every community in the country and around the world. Even here in the Bible Belt, where Christian faith is still generally assumed, you still find Muslim gathering places, Buddhist temples, and more right here in Fort Smith. That doesn’t even account for the many people who are atheist or agnostic, those who have never been Christian or those who were at one time and fell away for one reason or another.

How is someone to deal with this massive problem? “Make disciples of all nations,” Jesus tells you. How? How can I possibly accomplish that? If you fail to complete your dissertation, you’ll never get your Ph.D., but aside from that, the consequences of failure there are pretty minor. Very few jobs actually require a Ph.D. In contrast, the consequences for failing to make disciples are pretty severe. Salvation and eternal life are at stake here. If someone isn’t counted as a disciple, that person isn’t saved and faces an eternity of isolation in darkness and silence. That’s a terrifying thought. I wouldn’t want that for anyone. How am I to fix that problem? How are you going to do it?

The overwhelming nature of the problem quickly leads to paralysis, to excuses. “I don’t know how to deal with the problem, so I just won’t. I leave it to people who are better qualified than I am. They can figure it out. I don’t need to worry about it. As long as someone is doing it, that’s all that really matters. I’ll just keep on with my own business and hope that’s enough.”

There’s no provision for passing the job off to someone else. Each person has the same job and no one even does their own job very well. There’s no way any of us can take on another entire load of work. We convince ourselves that it doesn’t really matter or, if it does, someone will just do it all for us and so it’s all out of our hands.

But it does matter. The love of Christ is the only thing in this world that has any lasting value. The blood of Christ is the only thing that pays for sins and grants you eternal life. Without Jesus, you have nothing. The same is true for every single person alive. That means there’s a job to do and you are responsible for your part of it.

The defeatist, apathetic, and lazy attitudes we succumb to happen, in part, because we misunderstand the Pentecost season. Jest because we aren’t celebrating some major milestone in Christ’s life or in the story of salvation doesn’t mean the focus has changed entirely. Everything Jesus does is still ultimately about saving his people from sin, death, and Satan. Even things like healing or casting out demons are there, in large part, to demonstrate that he truly has power over such things and that we should trust in his power to save.

We need those reminders ourselves. We need to remember what God has done for us and for the world. We need to remember why Jesus came into the world. That’s one of the reasons we have the seasons of Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter. They help us see how God’s plan unfolded in time and how the salvation Christ won came to us. We hear again how God’s forgiveness is there in spite of our many failures and how he still loves us.

Before the Twelve could be sent out to share God’s love, they first had to receive it themselves. We are no different. We are here because we have received God’s love and his grace. He continues to give it to us, so much that we are overflowing with it. Our own salvation is not in doubt.

The Pentecost season is a reminder of our salvation, but it is also a reminder of how God works. As Jesus prepares to leave this earthly life, he tells them that he is with them always, to the end of the age. What’s more, they will have the Holy Spirit, who will guide them and strengthen them for the work that needs to be done.

We need these reminders too. That’s why we have the Pentecost season. Jesus dies to forgive you for your defeatist attitude, for your apathy, for your unwillingness to share the love and grace of God with others, grace that you don’t deserve any more than they do.

God’s love and grace are always there because God is always here with you. But, just like bringing salvation wasn’t all that Jesus did, the same holds true for you. He is here to lead you in the way you should go. He is there to give you an example to follow, to teach you what loving others looks like and what it means to proclaim the coming kingdom of God. You don’t have to figure this all out entirely on your own. Jesus has done it and continues to do it. Learn from his example. See him in action on behalf of others. See what he has done for you.

The Holy Spirit is at work within you too. The one who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth uses your voice to tell others the good news of what Christ has done. That’s why you don’t have to worry about what words to use. They aren’t your words to begin with. The good news has already been written. All that’s left for you to do is share it. Not everyone will listen to you. You may be tempted to leave the job to others because you don’t want to be the cause of someone rejecting God. But that isn’t your burden to bear. Many rejected Jesus himself, despite seeing his wondrous works. It’s sad and it grieves us, just like it grieves God, but the job still must be done. Someone may reject God after hearing the good news, but without that good news, their rejection is a foregone conclusion.

Give as you have been given. Love as you have been loved. Forgive as you have been forgiven. The Last Day has not yet come. There is still time. Pray that God gives you opportunities to proclaim his love and grace to those who need it, so that you and those around you will be blessed to see God’s love in action.