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  "Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues ... " 

Jesus Went - Matthew 9: 35-10: 4 - June 15, 2008 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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            "Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues ... " That seems like a pretty straightforward beginning to the story in this morning's scripture lesson, the type of descriptive detail you might skip over to get to the important stuff. But in this verse is one of the key understandings of our Christian faith. It's in those simple words, "Jesus went...."

             To appreciate that, we need to think about the long tradition of the religious pilgrimage - the idea that you pack your bag and go someplace to find God. Millions of people have traveled to Medjagorje in Eastern Europe, or to Taize in France, or to the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem to find the place where God awaits.

            There is nothing wrong with taking a religious pilgrimage; it can be a wonderful thing. But we should realize that all the divine energy of the Bible flows the other way. The Bible is about how God comes to us. It's like the prospector who spent his whole life searching for gold and died penniless. And when they dug up a grave for him in his back yard, they struck gold. We don't have to go someplace to find God; God has already gone to unimaginable lengths to find us. The gold is in our back yard.

            That's the power of those simple words, "Jesus went." Shortly before Jesus came on the scene, a great spiritual leader appeared - John the Baptist. John stood on the banks of the Jordan River, and essentially said, "This is where I'll be." And the people came from all the lands to learn from John and be baptized. But that's not how it happened with Jesus. Jesus didn't stay long in one spot. "Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues ..." That's a whole different story. We have an outgoing Savior who isn't content to sit and wait for us. Jesus didn't sit in heaven somewhere and say, "Someday my people will come to me." Jesus got off the throne and came right down into the muck and dirt to find his people. That's the kind of God we worship.

            I think it's wonderful that you all have come here this morning. There is some sense in which we are here to 'find God.' But the fact is, God has already been sitting at your kitchen table, riding in your car, working at your desk, speaking in your conversations. Grace has been with you all week, whether it's been a good week or a tough one. We have a Savior who doesn't sit back passively, but who went out to find the people.

            It's important to notice why Jesus went - what compelled him. The first thing we notice is that he was compelled by good news. He went "proclaiming the good news of the kingdom." Somehow we have lost some the force of what it means to be the bearers of good news for God. We know about other kinds of good news. We've all had the experience of having something great happen to us, or witnessing something exciting, and having as our very first reaction, "Oh, I can't wait to share this with ..." Fill in the blank. "I can't wait to get on the phone. I can't wait to get home to tell about this." And that sharing is part of what makes it good news. It isn't quite so sweet, or quite so enjoyable, if we don't have someone to share it with. God's news should be good news we can't wait to share.

            And boy, doesn't that tell everything about a church? Isn't that why we're here? All of us have visited churches, and many of them are struggling today. And this is not to unfairly criticize any of those places; churches go through ups and downs. But doesn't it seem sometimes that you can walk into a church, and within just a short time you can tell if there's good news there. And that doesn't mean that there is a particular kind of music, or it's traditional or contemporary worship, or high church or low, or big or small- none of those categories determines it. It is just something real in the people that says, "We're here because we are sharing good news. We can't wait to be here to celebrate and share this. You've got to hear what God has done now." It may very well be that the person coming in has heard nothing but bad news all week - that happens a lot in our world. But here it's different. Here is where people couldn't wait to come all week and share what God is doing! Sharing Christian joy is a powerful thing in today's bad news world.

            The opportunity to share that good news was compelling enough to move Jesus from heaven to earth - and then from his home and family to all the villages and cities - and then from his homeland to Jerusalem, and the cross of death that awaited him there. He could have played it safe all the way through - but he had unbelievable news to share - and so he went. And because he did, we have unbelievably wonderful news to share.

            The second thing that compelled him was the opportunity to heal. "Jesus went about all the cities and villages ... curing every disease and every sickness." The salvation story that brought Jesus here to earth is about his going to Jerusalem, and dying on the cross to take away our sins, and rising from the dead. That's the heart of the story. He could have done all of that without healing a single person; and, in some ways, that might have been much easier for him. But Jesus could not walk by hurting and suffering people without bringing healing. He had that power in his hands, and that knowledge compelled him to go to the cities and villages and cure diseases and heal sickness.

            The Gospel writers call that compassion. And Jesus brought the compassion of God into the lives of those who were harassed and helpless. And isn't that all of us? Aren't we all part of that crowd that Jesus saw as 'sheep without a shepherd?' Emotionally, physically, mentally, relationally, spiritually - aren't we all, at times, sheep without a shepherd, sorely in need of the healing touch Jesus wants to bring us? The great preacher and teacher William Sloan Coffin said that there are people who try to put faith down by saying that it's nothing but a crutch. To which Coffin replied, "Of course it's a crutch. What makes you think you don't limp?" All of us have experiences in life that leave us limping and in need of a healer. Jesus is that healer.

            It would be hard to imagine anything in the church more controversial or misunderstood than healing. I think that's because we have such a deep desire for healing, that we approach God with preconceived ideas in our heads of what healing should look like. Sometimes when we pray so hard for something to be cured, and it doesn't happen quite that way, we fail to see that God is sending countless healing miracles our way, but just not the way we pictured it. God's healing can come in a multitude of beautiful ways.

            One of the great preachers today, Norman Neaves, tells the story of a young man who had a defective right leg all his life. As a teenager, unable to take part in sports or dancing or other activities, and feeling bitterly self-conscious, he sank into a deep and angry depression. His father, greatly concerned, asked him to go to a cathedral where, the father had heard, there was a great pile of braces and crutches that had been left there by people who had been healed of their lameness. "I'm going to take you there," said the father, "and we'll pray together and ask the Lord Jesus to heal you so that you can put your brace on that pile also." The father's sincerity convinced the young man.

            And they went, and they saw the pile of crutches, and they knelt and prayed that the boy could leave his brace on that pile. And at one point, the boy looked up at his father, and he saw tears of pride and love on his father's face. When he stood up and walked away, his leg was still withered; and at first he was disappointed. But walking there beside his father, he was suddenly filled with the greatest joy he had ever felt. And he wrote later, "Suddenly, I felt happy and I cried out, 'Father, you're right! I've been healed! I've been healed!' Young as I was, I still knew what had happened. The Lord Jesus had not taken the brace off my leg, but he had taken the brace off my heart and mind'" When Jesus went into the cities and villages, braces fell off legs and hearts and minds and souls. And Jesus is still a healer today. Some of you came here today feeling broken and crying for healing. And while it's not visible to the naked eye, I can assure you that there is a great pile of heart-braces and soul-braces at this prayer railing - for Jesus has been a great healer in this place, and Jesus the healer is here for you.

            And that leads us to the third compulsion Jesus had to go out to the people -- authorizing his disciples. After spreading good news and healing, Jesus "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.' Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority ... " That is a key part of what is happening at this moment of Jesus' life. It's not just about Jesus speaking good news, or healing the diseased. It's about the authority that he has given you and me to be laborers in God's field.

            The thing is, Jesus still wants to go out to the cities and the villages, but now it's you and me who have to take him there. He is still compelled by the good news from God he wants to share, but it's you and me who have to proclaim it. He still wants to bring the touch of compassionate healing to those who are hurting and lost - but you and I are the ones who must bring it. And he gives us the authority and the power to do that. That's what this season of Pentecost means. We are proclaimers of the good news of Jesus. And you might say, "I'm no preacher; I'm no teacher." That's not what Jesus was asking those disciples to be. He was asking them to simply tell what God has done. They weren't articulate or specially talented - but they were faithful witnesses of what they had seen - and that's what God needs. Or you might say, "I don't have the gift of healing." But all of us can be like the father of that young boy - we can bring the hurting ones to the prayer railing; our tears of compassion can be God's healing ointment upon some hurting heart. All of us can bring the healing of love and sincere faith and prayer to any situation.

            There is a billboard I've seen a couple places that shows Jesus on the cross, and then has the words, "It's your move." I think that's where our scripture lesson for today leaves us; it doesn't say, Jesus waited. It says, Jesus went.  There is a Savior who didn't stay put - reached out to you all the way to the cross of Calvary. There is good news to share in a world that desperately needs it; there is healing to bring to people who feel helpless and harassed, like sheep without a shepherd. And there is someone calling your name, because Jesus needs you to follow his example and go - to your home, your workplace, your neighborhood -- and carry good news and healing that people are hungry to experience. For each one of us, there are particular people, particular places, where the love of Jesus will never be known, unless you bring it. The harvest is plentiful- people are longing today for true spiritual life. They're tired of the phony stuff. And you have the authority and the opportunity to bring authentic good news and healing in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and to work in the harvest for God. Not in some forceful, intrusive way - that's the beauty of it. People are so spiritually starved for something authentic to make sense of their lives, that all you have to do to make all the difference for someone is live out your faith in a humble and real way, and be ready to tell the story of how God's love touches you.

            It's your move. How will you respond to the love of Jesus?