June 17-19, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Matthew 9:35-38 “LOOK!!”

 

PENTECOST 3

June 17-19, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Matthew 9:35-38

 

“LOOK!!”

1.     Look around!

2.     Look up!

3.     Look out!

 

Matthew 9:35-38 (EHV) “Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into his harvest.”

 

          What do an officer from the Southern California Humane Society, Jesus and St. Jacobi members have in common? More than you might think! According to a newspaper report a while back officer Tori Matthews of the Southern California Humane Society got an emergency call one day. A boy’s pet iguana had been chased up a tree by a neighbor’s dog. It had then fallen from the tree into a swimming pool where it sank like a brick. Officer Matthews came with net in hand, dove into the pool and seconds later emerged with the iguana’s limp body. She promptly began mouth to mouth resuscitation. As she later told the reporter, “I thought, well, you do CPR on a person and a dog, why not an iguana? Now that I look back on it,” she said, “it was a pretty disgusting animal to be kissing but the last thing I wanted to do was go back to that little boy and tell him his pet had died.”

          You see when Tori Matthews looked at that iguana she didn’t see a water logged lizard, she saw a little boy’s beloved pet. She did what she had to do to keep it from dying. That’s what Tori Matthews has in common with Jesus. You heard from Matthew’s Gospel how when Jesus looked around He didn’t see a bunch of disgusting sinners. He saw people who were loved by God and that moved Him to do what He needed to do to keep them from dying eternally in Hell. And that’s also what you and I have in common with Jesus. When we look at the people around us, we also see human beings who are loved by God.

          Now with the way our country is going that is getting harder and harder to do, isn’t it? Let’s look to Jesus for help. Jesus was in the part of Israel known as Galilee. Matthew tell us, " Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.” Jesus saw people who needed Him. That’s who He had come for and that’s who He ministered to. But what did Jesus see when He saw people?

          Even though we aren’t specifically told we know what He would have seen because nothing has really changed in this world we live in, at least when you are talking about people. Jesus would have seen people whose lives were a mess because of sin’s presence in their world and their own sinfulness. He would have seen people who abused alcohol, who sold themselves as prostitutes or to prostitutes. He would have seen people who abused their spouses and neglected their children. He would have seen people whose greed, pride and hatred spilled from their mouths and showed in their actions. He would have seen people who did these things even though they knew better.

          As the sinless Son of God, the One whom the Father has appointed to be the Judge of all people you would think His holy blood must have boiled when He looked around at those people who were living in rebellion against God. You could just imagine Jesus with his hands over the red destruction button ready to put an end to the sin with His righteous Judgement. You would think He would look around at those people and say, “If you want to live separate from God then so be it, forever, in Hell.” That is what they deserved.

          But what did Jesus see when He looked around? “When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus didn’t just see sinners. He saw sinners who needed a Savior. He didn’t just see people who were running away from God. He saw people who needed to be led to God. He didn’t see enemies of God but victims of God’s Enemy, the Devil. He didn’t see creatures that were disgusting to Him, He saw creatures dearly loved by the Father and the last thing He wanted to do was to tell His Father they were dead. Jesus had compassion on them.

          What do you see when you look around? I’m not talking about the people here. I’m talking about the people you work with, that you see on the news. What do you see when you look around? It’s not hard to see people who don’t know God or even care. It’s not hard to see disgusting people you really don’t want anything to do with. This is to be expected. This is what the Bible prophesied about our times. (2 Timothy 3:2-5 EHV)  "For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, not able to reconcile with others, slanderous, without self-control, savage, haters of what is good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, puffed up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to an outward form of godliness but denying its power."

          It’s not hard to see people like that when you look around, is it? It is hard to see them the way Jesus saw them. There is a remedy for that though. Before you look around at others, look at yourself. In the mirror. Not the mirror hanging in your bathroom. Try the mirror of God’s law. If you take a good hard honest look, you will see a person “who loves him or herself, loves money, is proud and abusive, has been disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unloving and unforgiving.” And still Jesus had compassion on us. Compassion that led Him to do not to something simple like kissing an iguana, but to something most unimaginable and least desirable—death on the cross with the full burden of everyone’s sins on Him.

          The compassion that Jesus had moved Him to action. Knowing full well what He would do for the sins of the world Jesus turned toward His disciples and said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” In other words, “I’ve paid for the sins of all people. How few there are that are willing to tell them!” Imagine being one of the 12 disciples called to be witnesses for Jesus looking at all those people. 12 disciples for an estimated world population of 300 million at the time. Kind of like 1200 souls at St. Jacobi for an estimated world population of 8 billion right now.

          What a daunting task for them and us, to tell that many people! It’s no wonder Jesus told these men to look the only place they could find help. Up. “Look up!” Jesus said to those who would be His witnesses. “Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into his harvest.” Pray. It can be intimidating  to look at all people and see them as troubled and downcast sheep rather than ugly iguanas you want gone. It can be intimidating to look at all the people who need to know Jesus save them. What a monumental task! How can we do it? It starts with prayer. We can’t do it on our own. God can. Prayer works. Pray for people to be witnesses.

          Do you think God will answer that prayer? Will He really provide the workers needed for such a great harvest? Immediately after telling the disciples to pray, do you know what Jesus did? He sent the prayers out. These 12 men were the answers to their own prayers. They were the workers they asked for. That’s why I say to you look out! Look out because you also are the answer to your own prayer for God to provide workers for His harvest. You are His witnesses. Some of you boys need to seriously think about becoming WELS pastors and some of you boys and girls need to think seriously about becoming WELS teachers. However, the privilege and responsibility for telling others that only Jesus saves is not reserved for workers called into the public ministry. It belongs to everyone who has experienced God’s grace and compassion. It belongs to everyone who received God’s grace in Baptism. It belongs to everyone who knows and appreciates what it means that God says you are forgiven for the sake of His Son Jesus. Look out when you pray for more witnesses for you are the answer.

          Brothers and sisters, I suspect that if present trends continue we will find ourselves wishing that it was iguanas that God placed before us instead of people. People are messy and getting messier. Some are following lifestyles and ways of dressing that make us sick to our stomachs rather than filled with compassion. But remember, the real enemy does not have skin on. Until you know that a person is a willing servant to the Devil it is better to view them as troubled and downcast and spiritually abused. Someone you don’t want to tell the Father he has lost. So be nice. Be respectful. If God has placed them before you, He may have picked you to be an answer to prayer. So look. Look around, look up, look out and always, always, look at Jesus. Amen.