Matthew 9:35-10:20: REALLY Trusting the Lord

Lectionary Cycle Year A: Fifth Sunday After Pentecost:
Matthew 9:35-10:20 (Read it on Bible Gateway)
REALLY Trusting in the Lord
We've all heard the phrase, to trust in the Lord, and as Christians, it's no doubt always held out as a goal to aspire to. But just how much should we trust in the Lord? What goes beyond the bounds of practicality, or common sense? Well, it would seem according to this Scripture, words of our Lord himself that that trust can and should be absolute.

No matter how many times I read this passage, I always come to focus on how Christ essentially told his Disciples to go out into the world to pursue the ministry he was entrusting to them, and to do so, intentionally, without making any plans to provide for themselves, beyond trusting in God and those they were ministering to. They were instructed to not take spare sandals, or cloak, to stay in people's homes and to rely on others for shelter, food, clothing, and other necessities.

Now, we might want to dodge this and say, "well yeah, but that was the Disciples!" Be careful though, because when we start down that road, it becomes easy to just start dismissing whole chunks of teaching. That was only for the people of that time! That was only for people who are too invested in their wealth! That was only for...well, fill in the blank. The point being that if Jesus taught this to the Disciples, and it was significant enough to be recorded in the Gospel, then it was done so for a purpose and the only purpose imaginable, would be to ensure that the message would be passed on to all those other believers who would come after...namely us.

Besides, this absolute trust is certainly not limited to the Disciples, but it seems to apply to anyone and everyone God called throughout Scripture. The Patriarchs, like Noah, Abraham, and Jacob, the Prophets like Isaiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, Judges and Kings, such as Samuel and David, all were called upon to invest this absolute trust in God. Sometimes that meant leaving behind everything they knew, sometimes it meant pursuing goals or holding onto possibilities that would seem logically impossible, or striving for things unreachable. Sometimes it meant living their life in a way and direction they may never have imagined, but turned out to be the path which fit them most.

One of the struggles we of the faith face in our modern world is modern thinking. In the old days, and here I mean the really old days, even before my time, people often equated faith with the spectacular. Believing in God meant believing in prophecies and miracles. Following God meant following on paths unimaginable otherwise. This was partly due to a fundamental lack of understanding of the natural world, coupled with often chaotic and unstructured societies that helped push people to hold onto something that would provide stability.

Yet today, if we're honest with ourselves, despite the trials and challenges we may face, most of us have amazingly stable lives. We have friends, families, homes, jobs, skills, experience, a car, ways and means to make do. For the most part, if you're reading this, you don't live under a fear that if it doesn't rain soon you might not have food for the next six months. We might worry about being mugged, but most of us, at least in the United States, don't worry about swarms of invading warriors spilling over the hill just beyond and ransacking us. As a result, we've learned not only to depend on these perks of society and our place in the world, but to plan effectively using the resources we have and, in general, feel those plans have a pretty stable base, even to the point of being annoyed when our plans fall through.

Even more, we've, all of us to a degree, been tempted and lured by modern principles of thought, using logic, reasoning, etc. In other words, most of us wouldn't question the need to lay groundwork and make plans. We might even scoff at those who don't. Were we to run into one of those early Disciples in our own day to day life, or worse, if one of them showed up on our doorstep wanting to stay in our house, we might think them a bit...off. So, you left home, you've traveled all over, you have no paying job, no baggage, no insurance, no money, and all you do is minister to people?

Now, again, I'm not advocating living anarchy, I am a firm believer in the practical as well. But the challenge to all of us here can be reaching for that goal of absolute trust where we look to see where God is calling us and realizing that we may not need to know all the details, the explanations, the resources, the options and the opportunities laid out on that path, merely that that path has been laid out for us by God, that being enough.

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