There’s hopefully a moment in our lives, sometimes early, sometimes late, when we realise that God didn’t wait for us to be sorted out before loving us. He didn’t wait for us to be holy, or confident, or prayerful, or even particularly interested. He loved us while we were still… whatever we were.
That’s the message of the part of Paul’s letter to the Romans that we heard (5:1-8): “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It’s one of the most amazing sentences in the Bible. It tells us that God’s love is not a reward for good behaviour; it’s the starting point for a new life.
That passage from Romans tells us what God has done for us, and then the reading from the gospel of Matthew (9:35-10:8) tells us what God now invites us to do with Him.
Matthew paints a great picture of Jesus moving through towns and villages, teaching, healing, encouraging, sometimes challenging. But perhaps the most incredible line says, “He saw the crowds, and had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus doesn’t just see people; He sees into people. He sees the tiredness behind the smile, the fear behind the bravado, the wounds behind the anger and the longing behind the cynicism.
And He doesn’t respond with irritation or judgement. Instead, he responds with compassion. That word compassion isn’t soft as it’s sometimes portrayed. It isn’t pity. It’s a deep, sometimes painful and difficult movement of love.
And then in the reading Jesus turns to the disciples and says something surprising: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.”
In other words: “There is so much need. So much hunger. So much searching. And I want you to be part of the answer.”
And then Jesus does something else which is perhaps surprising – He sends the disciples out.
They haven’t passed an exam or completed a training course. They haven’t mastered the theology. They haven’t even fully understood who Jesus is. But Jesus sends them anyway. And that’s because mission has never been about being impressive. It’s about being willing.
Jesus gives them authority, not over people, but over the things that crush people - sickness, fear, evil, despair. He sends them to announce that God’s kingdom is near, and to demonstrate it through acts of healing, mercy, and generosity.
And then He says something that echoes the reading from Romans: “You received without payment; give without payment.”
We don’t need to earn God’s love before sharing it or be perfect before being useful. We don’t need to have all the answers before offering hope, we simply give what we’ve already been given.
Paul’s words in Romans are the perfect example of God’s grace, “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Peace with God… we can take those words too lightly, but this isn’t a temporary pass, this is peace…. Peace beyond understanding…
And Paul goes further: “We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…”
This isn’t a call to pretend everything is fine. It’s a reminder that God is at work even in the things we would never choose. Hope isn’t naïve optimism, it’s the stubborn belief that God is still writing the story.
And then comes the heart of it all: “God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Not “after we improved” or “once we believed” or “when we finally got our act together.”
But while we were still… Still doubting, wandering, resisting, broken…. God’s love doesn’t wait for us to be lovable.
So, the readings from Romans and Matthew fit together perfectly – they have a pattern which says, God loves us before we are ready, sends us before we feel ready.
We are loved into mission and forgiven into service and welcomed into purpose.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Sort yourselves out, then follow me.” He says, “Follow me, and you’ll discover who you really are.”
And that’s why the disciples’ mission is so simple: Heal. Bless. Announce peace. Lift burdens. Bring hope. Share good news. Be good news.
Not because they are spiritual superheroes, but because they know what it feels like to be found, forgiven, and loved.
One of the most striking things about Matthew’s Gospel is that Jesus’ compassion becomes the disciples’ calling. Jesus saw the crowds and he felt compassion. He sent his followers… And that is the pattern that continues today.
When we see people who are “harassed and helpless” as the Bible puts it, overwhelmed by life, anxious about the future, carrying invisible burdens, we are not called to judge them or fix them. We are called to love them with the same love we have received.
That might be listening without rushing to give advice, offering prayer without pressure, showing kindness without expecting anything back. It might be being present when someone feels alone or speaking hope when someone feels stuck.
It’s important, I think to plan what we’re doing as churches, to think about where God may be leading us and to work out how he is sending us out in service, but what is most important of all is letting the compassion of Christ flow through ordinary people, people like you and me, into ordinary lives.
You received without payment; give without payment – that is the line from Matthew’s gospel that really ties everything together. We don’t give out of guilt or just a sense of duty or share faith out of fear – we give because we have received.
We forgive because we have been forgiven and we welcome because we have been welcomed… We love because we have been loved.
And when we do those things, something remarkable happens. People begin to see Jesus, not in arguments or explanations, but in lives shaped by grace. And we’re called to know that happens today.
We hear stories of decline in churches, and people look anxious about the future of the church, but God’s message and love and grace is unchangeable – and we are called to have confidence in that message of love and grace. We are called to know that the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few – but that we are called and privileged and strengthened to be amongst those labourers…
If you sometimes feel far from God, or unsure about faith, or hesitant about church, Romans offers a gentle but life-changing truth, God has already taken the first step and has already opened the door. He has already made peace. We don’t need to earn His love. We are simply to receive it.
And if you’re someone who has been following Jesus for years, Matthew offers a reminder that you are sent. Sent, not because you’re perfect, but because God delights in using ordinary people to share extraordinary grace.
The harvest is still plentiful. The world is still hungry for hope and Jesus still sends out His people with compassion.
And that message is hopefully an encouraging one, but it’s more than that – it’s a personal one for you and me….
Jesus’ peace is already reaching towards the places where we feel stretched or uncertain, and His compassion is already moving us towards the people who need a glimpse of hope. We don’t have to be impressive or even ready…, only willing.
God who loved us first now walks beside us, inviting us into a story of peace for today and tomorrow and the future…. May you know His peace, notice His nudges as we are sent out, and discover that even the smallest act of love can become part of His harvest. AMEN
Comments