Readings:
Exodus 19:2-8a;
Psalm 100;
Romans 5:1-8;
Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)

Collect:
Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Reflection

Like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, which falls this weekend, is a complex occasion. Some people are full of gratitude for their dads, stepdads and other father figures (including single mums!) Many dads will feel pride and satisfaction in their family. But some are grieving the loss of a beloved person. Others have memories of hurt, or failure. Still others feel the burden of responsibility weighing heavily; others mourn the absence of a longed-for role as a father, or struggle with family breakdown. 

Human life is messy, demanding, complicated. It’s rarely Facebook perfect. Our gospel reading this Sunday recalls Jesus in the middle of the messiness of life, as he and his disciples travelled the countryside meeting crowds of people. He’d cast out demons, healed countless people, even brought a young girl back to life. Mental illness, grief, pain, physical infirmity. Alongside must have gone anxiety, poverty, ostracism, fear, sorrow. No wonder in the middle of all this there’s a story about him stilling a storm! Faced with all this complexity, all this need, what does Matthew’s gospel tell us about Jesus’ reaction? Two things: he had compassion for the people, and he sent his disciples out on his behalf. 

Life today is no less challenging. We face the same problems, although maybe some come in a different guise. The crowds back then, Matthew, says, ‘were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ Are we any less harassed and helpless today? Nope! Jesus’ response is the same today as it was then – above all, a heart full of compassion.

Your complicated feelings, your story, your needs are not trivial, or something to be ashamed of. The things you miss, or long for, or regret, do not mean you are cast out and rejected. Even if your messiness includes sin (and whose doesn’t?) your failure can be forgiven. Jesus, God with us, God among us, shows us a heart full of compassion. This is no stereotypical stern Victorian father figure. This is the one whom we can call ‘Home’.

As an outworking of his compassion Jesus sends his followers across the region, to spread the same message of love and forgiveness, to pray for the same healing that he himself was bringing. When someone is sent as an envoy, they are given all the authority of the one who sent them, they ‘are’ the one who sends them. So the compassionate heart of God in Christ was being sent across the region, multiplied and shared, like a single sunbeam being refracted into multiple shards of glorious light.

And yes, this applies today too. Each one of us who responds to another with love and compassion because of Jesus is another crystalline shard of light. Another breath of Jesus on the breeze. Another beat of God’s heart. 

In all our complexity, in our challenging, imperfect lives, God’s compassionate heart is open to us, pouring out love like anointing oil. May we give thanks for those who have been shards of light for us. And in turn, whatever our situation, we can choose to be a shard of the God-light for someone else.  

Sharon Grenham-Thompson