Deliverance and renewal in Christ

 Exodus 19:2-6a ‘You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

Romans 5:6-11 ‘If we were reconciled by the death of the Son, much more shall we be saved by his life.’

Matthew 9:36-10:8 ‘Jesus called to him his twelve disciples and sent them out.’

 

Today’s first reading and Gospel both speak of a movement.

The movement is from a desert place to the promise of refreshment and life.

In Exodus that’s a physical deliverance, and in the Gospel that is a spiritual deliverance.

It’s the movement of life before we know Jesus Christ to life in Christ.

It’s the movement of salvation which St Paul says:

we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

God’s pattern is one of deliverance and renewal: deliverance from the power of darkness and renewal through life in His presence.

When we are in the wilderness, or in thrall to things that are spiritually corrosive or dangerous, then God will bear us on eagles’ wings and bring us to himself.

It is in this pattern that he delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

It is in this pattern that he sees the crowds who are harassed and helpless, ‘like sheep without a shepherd.’

Sheep without a shepherd lack direction, they don’t know where to find good pasture, they fall into ditches and cannot get out, they are vulnerable to predators.

That is the human condition without the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

In Exodus the people who were extracted from Egypt were formed into a people, into a nation, whose first allegiance is to the Lord.

They are told that they will be a treasured possession, and they will be formed into ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

This priestly people will offer prayer and spiritual sacrifice to the Lord: this echoes the words of the first letter of St Peter addressed to the Church:

…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. (1 Peter 2.9)

Jesus knows that the human condition needs men and women acting in His Name to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation to aid the movement from darkness into his marvellous light.

The Apostles are the first men called to that task.

The tools they are given are the tools that are needed to get to the heart of things, tools that are powerful.

Society has various tools that can help people feel better but never ultimately lead them to salvation.

Politics is a tool for society, but it is ultimately about the ‘art of the possible’ and that does not give us meaning.

Health and wellbeing is a tool to boost people but even the fittest people can be harassed and helpless.

Work is a tool for purpose, but not everyone has it and many people are in work that does not fulfil them.

So Jesus gives the Apostles tools and power that no one else can give.

This is authority over unclean spirits, the power to heal disease and every affliction.

How often do I hear people say they are harassed and helpless, although they usually use phrases like, ‘I am just so tired’, ‘I’m running on empty’, ‘I’m tired in a way sleep can’t fix’.

Jesus sees that need, knows that need, and respond to that need in the only way that will restore, refresh and renew.

That movement is from darkness to light, slavery to freedom, life without Christ to life in Christ.

The Apostles will do that by being the Church; and we will do that by being a holy people built on the witness of those men and the power given to them.

Look around Waddon: what do you see?

I see lives in need of Christ.

And here, in this church, I see people who Christ can use to save and to heal, I see labourers being called to the harvest.

What are the tools we’ll use in this mission?

Those tools include, but are more than, social action; include, but are more than, local and national politics; include, but are more than, health and wellbeing.

Ultimately the power comes when we take up and embrace the commission of Jesus Christ first given to the Apostles:

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.

Fed by Christ’s word and sacraments, committing our lives to the Good Lord, who wills our good and not our harm, who gives us a future with hope, is the way we move from death to life in all its abundance.

Lord, give us this bread always!