“Four Lessons” Sunday Sermon / Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese delivered by Rocky Campbell / Matthew 9:35-10:8-20

Sermon by Pr. Ted Giese / Mount Olive Lutheran Church / June 14th 2026 / Matthew 9:35-10:8-20 “Four Lessons”     

Written to be delivered by Rocky Campbell, elder at Mount Olive, when both Pastors Giese and Christi were away for the 2026 Lutheran Church Canada Convention in Winnipeg Manitoba.                                                                                                                                              

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” 

And He called to Him His Twelve Disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

These Twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for My sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

A great crowds of people flocked to Jesus to hear the Good News He preached and as His eyes scanned those needy people, His heart was deeply moved with compassion for them “because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” So in His compassion Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” So He sends out His Twelve closest Disciples, He does this in His name, by His authority, armed with His Word, advising them to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves,” because He knows He’s sending them “out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” He doesn’t mince words, Jesus isn’t beating around the bush or avoiding advice about the challenges they’ll face as He sends them. They’re being sent to reach the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Jesus is sending them out to proclaiming to these lost sheep, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” but they will not all warmly receive what they are about to have given to them.  

Clearly Jesus is teaching a lesson: more than one actually. 

The first lesson is that: spiritually speaking you can’t by what isn’t for sale: “You received without paying; give without pay,”[1] which is to says, “Freely you have received, freely give.” You can’t pay for the grace of God with silver or gold. Jesus Himself would not ransom you from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers with perishable things such as silver or gold but rather with His own precious blood, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.[2] This is a lesson about redemption and the nature of grace.   

The second lesson is that: the preacher who arrives with nothing; no gold or silver or copper in their ‘wallet’ or ‘bank account,’ no bag for their journey, no extra shirt on their backs or possessions, no extra food’ are men who are in need of the charity of those they come to preach to. They are entirely dependent on the ones they are sent to reach. So they need to learn how to receive what is given them. This is a lesson about contentment and trust.

The third lesson is that: the hearers need to learn to care for the practical needs of those under-shepherds that are sent to them by the Lord. If they fail to care for them these men will starve for hunger, and they will not have their basic needs met. The hearers need to both learn to listen, and receive what is given them by the Lord through these men and then in return care for them. Not because the spiritual gifts require payment but because the faithful are called to help and support their neighbour in every physical need and avoid hurting or harming them in their body; as Jesus says, “the labourer deserves his food.” Remember also what Saint Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit would later teach “The Lord has commanded that those who preach the Gospel should receive their living from the Gospel.”[3] This is a lesson about stewardship and charity.

By the simple act of sending out His Twelve Disciples Jesus goes about teaching these very things. Our society is very keen on the idea of total equality and equity, some people within the more progressive wing of our society even push for equality of outcomes over and above equality of opportunity; but here Jesus is honestly saying we are not all equal. Where we are all equally in need of rescue and redemption from sin and damnations we are not all equal in our responsibilities to each other. Each of us has different kinds of responsibilities in life, different responsibilities in our Christian life, and certainly different responsibilities in our Christian life together as a congregation. As Saint Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians chapter 12:

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?”[4]

The answer to this series of questions is ‘no,’ even still while Paul call us all to “earnestly desire the higher gifts” lived out in love, we are likewise called to serve where the Lord has placed us in the days that He has given us. If on the one hand we are members of a congregation of Christians we will have certain responsibilities of care towards the preacher, if we are an elder in the congregation we may be tasked with the day to day care of the preacher. On the other hand if we are the preacher we will have certain responsibilities of care towards the hearer. Saint Paul is clear that the preacher is to “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”[5] And that they are to “be above reproach. [That the preacher] must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.”[6] This was expected of Saint Peter and his brother Saint Andrew and Saint James the son of Zebedee and his brother Saint John; and Saint Philip and Saint Bartholomew; as well as of Saint Thomas and Saint Matthew the tax collector; and Saint James the son of Alphaeus, and Saint Thaddaeus; and Saint Simon the Zealot, and even of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. These Twelve succeeded and failed at these things in different ways some failed because they were full of themselves, others were short tempered, some were discontent or cowardly they all required forgiveness, they all needed to learn and grow in their faithfulness and discipline: none of them started at the finish line. Yet this is what was expected of them; the expectation was that they’d hold fast to their Teacher Jesus through thick and thin, always turning to Him for their forgiveness, not all succeeded in this.

Judas, for example, like the others was sent out to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cleanse lepers, and to cast out demons. Judas who, Saint John tells us, was in charge of the money bag for Jesus and the disciples[7] was likewise sent out in poverty with the command to acquire no gold or silver or copper for his belts, to take no bag for his journey, to set out without personal items. Yes, just like the rest of the Twelve Disciples Judas was sent to proclaim the Good News Gospel that in Christ Jesus ‘The kingdom of heaven was at hand.’ He, like all of them, was sent to learn how to trust in the Lord and how to receive the charity of others and yet in the end Judas fell away.  Judas was called to be disciplined, and careful ‘lest after preaching to others he should be disqualified,’ as Saint Paul would later warn.[8] Over history within the church Judas has become a clear and blunt warning to preachers. We aren’t told if Judas on this mission had in fact successfully healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed lepers, and cast out demons but it’s fair to say he did which sort of makes Judas’ eventual fait all the more tragic.

In the Gospel of Saint Luke we hear how after Jesus had sent out His Twelve closest Disciples He later sent out Seventy Two more men also appointed to do the same sort of work in Jesus’ service and when these returned they said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And Saint Luke records that Jesus said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”[9] Which is to say the most important thing you have is your justification in Christ, the most important thing you have is your redemption in the blood of Jesus, the most important thing you have is your salvation won in Him, everything else the World might count as grand or exciting or praiseworthy of rejoicing is actually secondary. Remember what Jesus teaches them in the Gospel of Saint John when He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”[10] This is a lesson for Saint Peter and the rest of the Eleven as much as it is for Judas, this is a lesson for us all.

There is a fourth lesson that: Jesus is teaching and that is for the one who hears this Gospel Reading from Saint Matthew today. The lesson is that this is not simply a recounting of what happened in the past but a call to live lives of Service in Christ Jesus today.

Jesus continues to actively teach these lessons. On the first Easter Sunday and then again forty days later on the Day of His Ascension again Jesus sends out His Disciples and Apostles. New men are added as men like Judas turn aside to follow their own path, to go to their own place.[11] And Jesus even pulls into the ranks of His under-shepherds unexpected men like the persecutor of the Church Saul of Tarsus who becomes Saint Paul.[12]  Today men are still being called by Christ through His church to serve. And yet, as Jesus says, “the Labourers are few;” dear ones this is true in every generation, so we as Christians are always called to pray for more men to hear the call and embrace what the Lord lays before them. It requires trust and faithfulness and courage and steadfastness and discipline to follow Jesus’ command to go out and preach, teach and administer the Sacraments, to risk security and leave familiar ways for the good of others, for the good of the lost and harassed Sheep of God.

And if this is not your lot, if you are not one called to that task than you too have a lesson to learn and that is to listen, to be open to be shepherded, to hear the voice of the one Jesus sends to you for the days that you have him. To care for him and his needs because you don’t know how long you will have him. And if in the daily bread that the Lord provides His people He moves this under-shepherd or that under-shepherd unto a different pasture to care for other sheep of His flock than do not begrudge those other sheep of what the Lord is providing them; but rather rejoice with them and take to heart what Jesus says and “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”  

For nearly two thousand years the Lord has been teaching these lessons, He teaches them to each generation and will continue to teach them until His return when the necessity for such men will finally go away and there will be no more need to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, or cast out demons, where there will be no more need to proclaim repentance to sinners because ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ In the new heavens and the new earth all of these things will have passed away from the sheep of Jesus’ pasture.   

Saint John, one of the Twelve that Jesus sends out in our Gospel reading today would later write in this in the Book of Revelation about what life will be like when the New Havens and the New Earth come when there is no longer need of preachers:

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

                “Therefore they are before the throne of God,

               and serve Him day and night in His temple;

               and He who sits on the throne

                       will shelter them with His presence.

                They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

               the sun shall not strike them,

               nor any scorching heat.

                For the Lamb in the midst of the throne

                       will be their Shepherd,

               and He will guide them to springs of living water,

                and God will wipe away

                       every tear from their eyes.”[13]

On That Last Day the harvest will be over, the lost will be found, they will all be gathered into the Kingdome; and they will no longer be like sheep without a shepherd. Thanks be to God. Until That Day we learn what Jesus, our Good Shepherd, teaches us; daily learning how to be faithful in these lessons. Amen. Now may …

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Matthew 10:8
[2] 1 Peter 1:18–19
[3] 1st Corinthians 9:14
[4] 1 Corinthians 12:27–30
[5] Titus 1:9
[6] Titus 1:7–8
[7] John 12:6
[8] 1 Corinthians 9:27
[9] Luke 10:17–20
[10] John 13:16
[11] Acts 1:12–26
[12] Acts 9:1-19
[13] Revelation 7:13–17

Photo Credit: Main photo provided by Mount Olive Lutheran Church, flanked by details from rawpixel.