University Presbyterian Church - Chapel Hill, NC

Travel Light

Matthew 9:35-10:8

University Presbyterian Church

June 15, 2008

The airline industry encourages us to travel light. For several years, we have been spared heavy water containers and oversize shampoo bottles in our carry-on luggage, which makes it much easier for us as we haul our bags through long airport hallways. Now, American Airlines is helping us to go further in this process of traveling light. As of today, travelers who purchase American Airline tickets will need to pay an extra $15 to check their first bag of luggage. There have long been charges for the second or third piece of luggage, but American has made news by instituting a policy of charging for the first bag. Isn’t this incentive for traveling light?

In our scripture reading for today from Matthew, we read that Jesus encourages his disciples to travel light. He sends them out with the instructions to travel without luggage of any kind.

The context for this passage comes at the end of the previous chapter. Matthew is structured into five major discourses or sections. The first section is the teaching known as the Sermon on the Mount. This teaching ends with comment that Jesus had traveled some distance teaching and healing, and then declares “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt 9:36) Despite all his travel, his work, his teaching, he saw that the people were still in need and he had compassion on them. This compassion seems to provide the transition to the next section, the “missionary discourse.” Out of compassion, Jesus sends his disciples out into the world to do his work and to share his love.

Go. A simple two-letter word, but one that commands. Go proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. This is the ministry he has been doing and will continue to do, and he sends the disciples out to do the very same things.

The people to whom the disciples are to go are “the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt 10:6). In other words, they are to go to their own people, their neighbors, and friends. Jesus’ ministry did not start as a new religion, but rather as a continuation and reformation of Judaism and so it makes sense that the ministry of the twelve should begin right in their own backyard. These are the people for whom Jesus had compassion. At this point Jesus tells his disciples that they are not to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans, but rather to the “lost sheep of Israel,” the vulnerable ones without a shepherd. Later in Matthew we see that the gospel writer affirms a much larger vision; after his resurrection Jesus tells his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19), but that is later, not now. At this point, Jesus sends his disciples to the local folk.

Their mission was to share the compassion of Christ in word and deed. Of course, it is ours as well.

Jesus gives instructions to his disciples before they set out. It is a packing list.

First, Jesus sends out the twelve explicitly telling them what not to take. They are not to take material possessions – no money, no bag, no spare clothing, nor even a staff. They are to travel humbly and simply, clearly dependent on the hospitality of others. They will be vulnerable, with no physical supplies to sustain them in an emergency.

This instruction counters one of the first excuses any disciple of Christ might voice. I can’t go, I don’t have the supplies. How could I possibly go to share Christ’s compassion with others? In our own day, we see the needs of our communities crowding in upon us and know we do not have the resources to respond and so it seems to make sense to say, no, I can’t go.

Yet, this is exactly how Jesus wants the disciples to go – to go without being dependent on material possession and resources. Instead, they are to travel with the conviction of the kingdom of God. One commentator writes, “Only disciples overwhelmed by a sense of the riches contained in the message they bring (the good news of the kingdom) could be ready to sit so lightly to concerns about food, clothing, and lodging, to take the risk of hospitality in such a high degree.”[1] Their mission is not to be dependent on material supplies and resources, but dependent on Christ.

A second of Jesus’ traveling instructions comes by way of its absence. Jesus sends the disciples forth without training, degrees, or credentials. Professor Beverly Gaventa wrote an article about this passage, pointing out the lack of qualifications of the first disciples. She writes,

We learn little at all about this inner circle beyond their names, and in a few cases the identity of a brother or father, or perhaps also a geographical notation. The two exceptions render the question of qualifications sharply amusing: Matthew is identified as a tax collector and Judas as "the one who betrayed him."… Certainly nothing in these descriptions indicates how Judas or Matthew qualifies to become an apostle.

No one else qualifies either. The earlier scenes in which Jesus calls the fishermen (4:18-22) and then Matthew (9:9) provide not the slightest hint that these men have special skills. In fact, nothing in any of these passages reveals what led Jesus to choose this group over any other group.[2]

This disciples are sent forth without a collection of degrees and certifications, but what they have instead is authority from Christ. They are not just given permission to go, but sent by Jesus himself. If one of our own excuses in responding to Christ is that we don’t have the resoucres, isn’t another our lack of training or expertise?

Prof. Gaventa continues in her article, “On one level … only the unqualified should present themselves for the church's ministry. No one can be qualified. Everyone who serves does so as the Twelve did, by Jesus' authorization given them by Jesus.[3] The disciples go without qualitifications, but with authority.

Finally, another piece of his traveling instructions is that the disciples are to go without fear. As the missionary discourse continues beyond what I read this morning, Jesus warns his disciples that their work will not always be easy. They are going like sheep into the midst of wolves. (Matt 10:16). In this larger context, the writing is structured so that the section urging them not to be afraid is central.[4] The affirmations stand in sharp contrast to the vulnerability of the disciples and the hostility around them. These warnings reflect the difficult experiences of the early church, but hear the affirmation in its midst. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matt 10:29-31) This message, do not be afraid, is integral to the missionary discourse.

As I anticipated a recent mission trip to El Paso, I confess that I struggled with fear when the trip was upon me. As you may know, the violence in Juarez, Mexico, right across the river from El Paso, is horrendous. While the plans to cross the border had already been eliminated, a variety of fears still tried to take hold. What comforted me was a portion of our denomination’s Brief Statement of Faith which gracefully came to mind as I was driving to the airport: “In a broken and fearful world, the Spirit gives us courage.”[5] The trip was safe and valuable for all the participants.

While the missionary discourse speaks of sending the disciples forward without fear, we know from the outset that they are sent because of our Lord’s compassion. They are to go without fear, but with compassion.

On the mission trip to El Paso, the students and I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Mendoza. She runs a medical clinic in Juarez and came to talk to us of her work. Though our meeting with her was brief, we recognized that we were in the presence of a godly woman. She was raised as one of many siblings in poor rural Mexico and worked her way into and through medical school defying the odds. At some point in her career, she witnessed children and families living in and off of the garbage dumps in Juarez and from that time on dedicated herself to their care. She started simply by tending to the lacerations caused when people sort through the garbage looking for materials to sell to recyclers. Her work then expanded to providing prenatal care, blankets, educational scholarships, and even housing. As she described her work, in a quiet, humble, and yet passionate way, we were astounded. We wondered how she could do all that she did. Part of the answer is through her husband’s salary which allows her to donate her time. Part of the answer is innumerable partnerships which she has established over time, but the real answer I think came when she referenced this text from Matthew? She asked us, “Doesn’t Jesus call us to travel light?”

What we learned from her is sometimes you just go. Not far, necessarily, just the first step and let that lead to the second. In many ways it is freeing not to be dependent on resources, credentials, or own emotions, and empowering that Jesus grants us conviction, authority, and compassion. We have what we need to be agents of our Lord’s compassion in our world today.

I don’t know the ways God may be calling you to go and I am not suggesting we each start medical clinics, but I do know that sometimes God nudges me from time to time and my guess is that God may be nudging you in a particular way, sending you to show Christ’s compassion in word and deed. My only recommendation today is that we prayerfully try a first step.

Perhaps a portion of a prayer by Archbishop Romero will be helpful as we consider ways to show the love of Christ. He wrote

We cannot do everything

and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something,

and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,

An opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.[6]

Jesus sends us forth, traveling light, because God’s grace is abundant.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.