I had the privilege and joy of being with God’s people gathered as St. Luke’s Lutheran Church and Grace Lutheran Church together in Omaha on Sunday June 11, 2023. Thank you Pastor Damon Laaker for the invitation and to the whole congregation for the warm welcome. The sermon is based on the appointed readings for the Second Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 10A), especially Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26, and Hosea 5:15-6:6. In being with the congregations gathered for worship and fellowship, I was also invited to join a joint meeting afterwards to hear how their discernment is going regarding becoming one congregation and to engage in conversation and questions they have about what might be the next most faithful steps in their discernment and process. What a faithful and intentional combination of congregations they are, and I am so grateful for their ministry, hopes, and dreams about what God might be inviting next. What follows is the majority of the manuscript I preached from.

Grace and peace from God in Christ, who is with you, for you, and who loves you. Amen.

This week we officially begin the great green growing season of the church. We’re in the time after Pentecost, some might even call it ‘ordinary time’ now. However, it’s anything but ordinary. Just two weeks after we celebrated Pentecost and the Spirit’s descending like fire and a dove, here we are hearing stories about what God is up to with, for, and through us. We hear stories of disciples coming to believe. And most of all, we hear stories of that which God in Christ does- showing that God is with God’s people, and God’s mercy, power, and love are real.

Go and Love
Before we dig into God’s Word for us this day, let’s recall where we were last week. Last week we found ourselves at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. We heard the familiar commissioning from Jesus. Where he says to the eleven disciples with him, and by extension all disciples and followers of the way ever since, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[1] That’s the Great Commission. It’s a challenge and a promise. A challenge and call to live out our vocations as beloved and baptized Children of God. A promise too, that we are not alone in living this call out. That we go together with and for all God’s beloved, and that we go with our God who is with us every step of the way.

This story was at the heart of the Nebraska Synod’s Assembly last week. I’m going to share more in just a bit. But for now, I want to invite you to consider what the Rev. Christopher Otten told the assembly. He said, “We are called to Go and… and most of all we are called to Go and Love.” To go and love. To be bearers of Christ’s mercy and love in the world. Mercy and love which are at the heart of today’s story we just heard read.

Digging into God’s Word for Us
In today’s story, much earlier in the gospel than we found ourselves last week, we find Jesus showing welcome and calling those who larger society might avoid, to come and see that the Lord is good, and to follow. Jesus is meeting God’s people where they are at, just as they are. Just as Jesus does for each of us. In this story too, we hear about Jesus curing those who were thought to be uncurable. But we know better. And to top it all off, we hear another resurrection story. Where Jesus brings life out of death, where the dead receive new life through God in Christ’s work and promises.

The gospel story for this week is really made up of two small stories. First, we hear about Jesus walking along and finding Matthew, calling him to “Follow me.”[2] Jesus found him sitting at the tax booth, but then Jesus didn’t just find him, he went to dinner with him and “many tax collectors and sinners.” [3]Jesus met these people where they were at. He joined them around the table, and presumably broke bread, shared good news, and listened to these people and the stories they had, the deep hopes and hurts that were on their hearts. He showed up. Because that’s what God does. When questioned about it, about why Jesus would eat with tax collectors and sinners by the Pharisees, Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”[4]

Jesus is making a claim about what God is up to here. He’s making a claim about what his purpose and calling and ministry is too. It’s one of mercy. Of showing up. Of being with those and for those who have often been marginalized or excluded. Showing welcome. Showing love. Finding people where they are at, and showing them that the Good News is real. In some ways he may be fulfilling the words of the prophet Hosea in his response. As we heard in our first lesson Hosea quoted God saying, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”[5] God’s love is not something that can be earned by anything we do or don’t do. It’s not something we deserve because of any sacrifice we might make. No. God’s love is pure gift and grace, grounded in God’s abundant and abiding love and mercy. One in which Jesus is inviting us to embody too, towards one another. To show mercy and love to our neighbors. Not judgment. Not exclusion. No conditions for participation. Just acceptance and welcome. Grounded in God’s deep love.

God Brings Healing and Life out of Death
Jesus goes on to teach some more here. But the story in our gospel lesson for today, skips four verses to our next story. A person of authority, a leader in the synagogue comes and finds Jesus. He shows great faith. He tells him, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.”[6] It’s not entirely clear how this synagogue leader knows who Jesus is and what Jesus can do, but he does. So he doesn’t follow the accepted norms of other leaders of the faith. He kneels beside Jesus. He begs for his daughter, just as any loving parent would do anything to help their child in need. Believe me, I think we can all relate to this if we’re honest. I know I can, as the dad of two young daughters. If they are in need, I will do whatever I can to help. And I’m certain that’s what this dad in this story is doing. But even so, he also shows a great faith and hope in Jesus. And Jesus meets him where he is at. He hears the man who says, “but come,” and he does. “Jesus got up and followed him.”[7]

But wait. There’s more. While on the way, another person in need comes near. A woman who had been suffering for twelve years, comes and finds Jesus on his way. She touches just the fringe of his cloak believing that, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”[8] This is another person with deep faith, trust and hope in God in Christ. Jesus took notice. He saw her. God was present with her. And the Good News was again proclaimed. “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”[9] She was healed. Right then and there. I can only imagine that the synagogue leader who came to Jesus might have witnessed this too, and it likely even filled him with more hope and assurance. These people who were coming to Jesus and whom Jesus found, were fast becoming disciples and followers of the way themselves.

But the story is not done. Jesus’ walk following the leader continues to his home. When they arrive, the crowd and mourners are gathered. When Jesus tells them what is about to happen saying, “Go away, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping,” he is laughed at.[10] This isn’t the first time Jesus will be laughed at, and knowing the story of the cross to come, we know this isn’t the last time either. But Jesus is not moved. The crowd was moved out of the house, and Jesus then did what Jesus does. He brought life out of death. “He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.”[11] This is another resurrection story. It’s not as stinky we could hope as when Jesus would later raise Lazarus. But it’s just as powerful. Because there is trust, faith, and witness to God’s life-giving, life-changing, and life-saving love here. And such a story cannot be contained. That’s how the story ends for this week as we hear, “And the report of this spread throughout that district.”[12] The Good News of God cannot be contained. It spreads. And that is the on-going work too that we are each a part of here and now as Children of God, and disciples and stewards of God’s love today.

Go and…
There’s a theme in these stories from the Gospel of Matthew. Putting these smaller stories together, hints at Jesus’ message. Not only is it time to follow. It’s time to go. He’ll make that abundantly clear at the end of the book as we heard last week with the Great Commission. But in light of today’s stories, I’m thinking about what this all might mean for us here and now? We are called to “Go and…” To go and love as Jesus loves. To go and meet our neighbors wherever they might be just as Jesus does, and to walk with them. That’s at the heart of our focus as the whole Nebraska Synod for the year ahead. We are committing to one another, all 235 congregations, to “Go and…” Each month from now through next May, will have a different particular focus. For this month of June, we are leaning into “Go and pray.”

To go and pray together. To pray that God might show us the way, towards what God might be inviting next. To pray for all of God’s beloved children, that they might be seen and known, like how Jesus saw Matthew and the tax collectors and sinners and met them where they were at. To pray that we might be equipped and empowered to share God’s love. To pray for healing, like the healing of those individuals whom Jesus met on his walk in the stories we read today.

To pray for daily bread and that God’s will might be done. To pray, and then to go. Knowing that we are all called to gather together as God’s people as we do each week for worship, and then are each sent out, called to “go and…” as signs of Jesus’ love and presence in the world.

What Might Be Next?
St. Luke’s and Grace, what might be next? God is surely active and up to something in, with, through, and for you. I can see it. I can sense it. And you can too. It’s why you’re asking big questions and wondering about what God might be inviting. It’s no doubt why you are discerning about whom God has called you to be as one emerging congregation together. Yes, there are things to figure out and discern about location, buildings, properties, and needs. And these are good and right conversations. But they aren’t the only question nor are they the main deciding factor. No. If we hear as Jesus seems to be showing in these stories today that it is time to go as God’s people- to bear love and be the church. Then the bigger question to which these questions follow, is what mission and ministry is God calling forth now? What is God up to? What is God inviting? What are the needs of God’s people here in South Omaha?

These aren’t new questions. They certainly aren’t new questions for you. You have welcomed so many communities as part of your congregations. You have welcomed a Moban worshiping community from the South Sudan. You have welcomed many others as a part of your congregations and buildings. You are partners with Iglesia San Andres Luterana. And you always show up for your neighboring congregations and ministers in Omaha and the Nebraska Synod. Because you live out Christ’s call and example to welcome and meet God’s people where they are at.

Whatever discernment and decisions might await, they are questions and answers that follow the bigger questions: Who are you? Who are your neighbors? Who is God calling you to be now and next? We are all called to “Go and…” To meet those the world might otherwise ignore. To be present with those who might feel excluded, yet very much are in need of God’s life-giving promises and Good News. To show up and serve with our neighbors. All the while bearing the truth and promise that God’s love is real. That God is with God’s beloved. And that God is for God’s beloved.

I don’t know what you will discern next. But I am excited and grateful to walk with you. I am grateful for the way you lean in and follow as disciples of Jesus and serve and share as stewards of God’s love. And I take great comfort in knowing that at the heart of this week’s stories, are reminders that even amid the hardest questions and most exciting possibilities, Jesus walks with us. He meets us where we are at. And is there. Always. It’s not all up to us. And we are not alone.

Because of this, we can, and we do “Go and…” So, let’s go! Let’s go and pray. Let’s see what God is up to. Let’s serve as Jesus calls us. And most of all, let’s share the love of God in Christ we all know is true and real. Thanks be to God. Amen.

---

References and Citations:
[1] Matthew 28:19-20, NRSV.
[2] Matthew 9:9, NRSV.
[3] Matthew 9:10, NRSV.
[4] Matthew 9:12-13, NRSV.
[5] Hosea 6:6, NRSV.
[6] Matthew 9:18, NRSV.
[7] Matthew 9:19, NRSV.
[8] Matthew 9:21, NRSV.
[9] Matthew 9:22, NRSV.
[10] Matthew 9:24, NRSV.
[11] Matthew 9:25, NRSV.
[12] Matthew 9:26, NRSV.