Given By Rev. Madison Shockley November 12, 2017

Jesus is known to have traveled the countryside healing, teaching and preaching the good news about the coming of the reign of God. This last aspect is often written off as something that happens after you die. Jesus’s message was more present oriented though. The realm of God was not something in the future but in the here and now.  It was a new way of living available for everyone who believed. All were equal and deserved healing no matter their social standing. The reading today talks about the fact that so many people were in need of his healing touch that Jesus needed help. This is why he commissioned the disciples to go out and do the same work. Having compassion for your fellow human beings is the heart of Christianity. Today, we seem to have too little compassion. If you are undocumented, poor, uneducated, lack adequate health care, or are homeless, too bad. Today’s crowds would be people like migrant workers, people of the Me Too Movement, people seeking health care, and people of the Black Lives Matters Movement. Jesus offers another vision of life. Jesus needs us now to be just like the disciples. He calls us all to be the resistance. Society may turn on you. Don’t give up or lose hope! The next generation is counting on us.