Compounding Grace: Getting Out Of Our Own Way

Homily from the Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 14, 2026

Rev. Jim Muratore

Gospel Text| Matthew 9:35-10:23

There is so much work to be done

This is the constant refrain that plays whether we’re talking about this country,

this city,

this congregation or our own homes.

There is so much work to be done,     

there is not enough time to tend to it all          

with the sense of urgency we possess.

Jesus looks at the crowds and has compassion for them.

In the Greek, this word for compassion literally means a "stirring in the gut."     

This comes over him because he sees how they were “harassed and helpless,”          

again more literally it says they are “torn apart.” 

And remember, Jesus is going around to all the cities and villages,     

and they are all torn apart.

Everywhere.

The religious leaders have failed the people     

by participating in the corruption of Empire,          

they have traded faithful responsibility               

for power, influence and wealth earned on the backs of the poor.

God’s people are left desperate for hope and it wrenches Jesus’ stomach.

Matthew subtly alludes to the end of Moses’ life     

when the prophet requested God to raise up a new leader in his place,          

so that Israel would not become like “sheep without a shepherd.”

God responded by appointing Joshua, to shepherd Israel into the promised land.     

And here, another Joshua,

or in Greek, Jesus,

acknowledges that Moses’s fear has come to pass.

That stirring for Jesus, however, leads not to discouragement or agita, but to action.

Recognizing the need for help,     

Jesus deputizes the twelve (another allusion to the tribes of Israel)

to aid him in the mission          

— announcing “the kingdom of God has come near”     

and demonstrating that reality          

 through physical and spiritual healing, reconciliation, exorcism,                

 more specifically restoration of the suffering to community and belonging,                      

to wellness and wholeness in the company of God’s indwelling Spirit.

A mission for every age.

Jesus is not messing around.

He gives the disciples full warning about what the mission of the gospel will bring their way.

It will bring them difficult people, persecution, division among families, even death.     

And this will ring true to Matthew’s listeners in the early church-          

Jesus is speaking of their lived experience.

There will be many who do not want the kingdom of God to come at any cost.     

Especially those who enjoy their wealth, their power, and privilege.          

There will be powerful and effective forces working against them.

No wonder the laborers are few!

And yet the harvest remains plentiful.

So Jesus appoints the twelve,     

just as the Holy Spirit calls each generation          

to look out to the crowds with compassion               

and respond not with our capabilities                    

but with the capacity that the Spirit provides us.

In fact, to make this point clearer,      

Jesus sends the twelve out with nothing but the tunic on their back,           

totally dependent on the generosity of those they encounter                

and the Spirit that empowers their words and deeds.

What amazing things God can do     

when we get out of our own way          

and allow the Spirit to work even through our trepidation, anxiety and exhaustion,     

when we answer Jesus’s call with a “yes” for the vision of the kingdom          

 that we’ve been given for the place, time and circumstances in which we live.

Let’s make it very plain.      

Last week, (she may or may not put it in these words, but this is the truth)         

Kerissa was prompted by the Holy Spirit               

to gather the kids and parents at the playground before church.

Perhaps the reasoning is to get the zoomies out,     

but there is a lot more at stake.

The Spirit is stirring us to tend to the needs of the youngest among us:     

to foster their sense of community and belonging to one another,

the body of Christ          

and to strengthen their relationships for years to come.

And by doing so,

by serving and enriching these children,     

parents and adults reinforce and deepen their own relationships with each other.

Maybe this doesn’t seem as dramatic as casting out demons and curing the sick,     

but since Covid, we have all been suffering          

from a compulsion towards isolation and dopamine depletion               

and this is but one simple act of resistance and restoration.

In these last years, our persistent overwhelming societal dysfunction    

has led us to practice vigilant self-care.

And let's be honest, we have to.

The economic stress alone is enough.

The workers-from-home have been forced back into the daily commute,     

in many cases that 9–5 workday has also been extended to 8–5.

PTO is being cut back all across the US,     

and all of the signs that pointed to a more humane work ethic during the pandemic          

have been utterly crushed by profiteers.

We are and should be protective of our time and energy.

We have been made to feel so exhausted     

by the collective psychological abuse of our current cultural moment          

that living the gospel can easily feel               

like just another demanding item on our endless checklist,                    

as opposed to the very thing that is meant to invigorate us for this life.

The exhaustion and overwhelm that we feel     

is exactly what Jesus warns about being sent among wolves.

We are fed distractions to keep us locked into our devices     

instead of laughing and swinging the kids at the playground.

Our economic anxiety keeps us from sharing life with others.      

Our exhaustion keeps us isolated from joy and silent to injustice.

But there is a profound difference     

between the world’s version of self-care and the Gospel's promise of Sabbath.

The world tells us to isolate, retreat, and protect our remaining energy from others     

just to survive another week of labor.

Jesus offers us something entirely different.

The restorative ministry of the gospel is for us as much as it calls us to do it.

When we say "there is so much work to be done,"     

we have to remember that the work of the church—the community of God—          

is life-giving, healing, and restorative by its very nature.

Gathering at a playground with our kids,     

sharing a meal, or tending to the needs of our community           

isn't more "labor" to heap onto your exhaustion.

It is the antidote to it.

The world is being fed manufactured content     

designed to leave us depressed, lethargic and envious          

of how exciting and extravagant our lives could be.

Instead, you will be fed the Bread of Compassion.     

You will see what God can do when you take nothing with you.          

Even when you leave your energy, money, and yes, digital devices behind.

This is not an invitation to burnout.     

No, this is a reminder that we are being fooled to believe that we are our own strength,          

that we are the masters of our own destiny, and that it all depends on us.

This is the heresy of capitalism.

But we have an economy of compounding grace that continues to grow and does not yield.

Let us not be tricked by the wolves of Wall Street,     

rather let us be led by the Shepherd into the plentiful harvest of God's provision,          

into community, into fellowship with our neighbors, into service to the least among us,                     

into the promised restoration of the city, better yet, the playground of God.