06/10/2026
Wednesday's Word: Matthew 9:35-10:8-23
Sent Out in Love
Prior to a classroom project or experiment, some teachers often set up a student's understanding through instruction to help them navigate the wide variety of information to get to the root of what they need to know. While this is not always ideal, especially because so many of us learn through mistakes or exploration, teachers often assist students in this way to help guide their learning.
In our Gospel this week, before Jesus sends his disciples out to do anything, he offers sets up their thinking and guides their perspective, inviting them to see what he sees. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus looked upon the crowds and was moved with compassion. Jesus did not look at people as interruptions, problems to solve or categories to judge. Instead, Jesus sees people—beloved children of God carrying burdens, longing for care, searching for hope. The mission of Jesus begins with compassion and he invites his disciples (that includes us) to begin there too!
For many of our siblings in the LGBTQIA+ community, Pride is a celebration of resilience after seasons of rejection, silence, fear, or exclusion. It reminds us that every one of us longs for the same things: belonging, dignity, healing, and love, and each of these are made possible when we see through the lens of compassion.
When Jesus sends out the twelve disciples, he gives them a mission: “Proclaim the good news… cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” In other words: go toward places of pain and bring signs of God’s restoring love! Jesus tells them: “You received without payment; give without payment.” In other words, compassion and grace are not things we own or control. God’s compassionate love is not a scarce resource to be guarded. It is a gift meant to overflow. And the disciples are sent out carrying only what they have received: the compassion of Christ.
This week, may we generously practice this compassionate love as we see through the eyes of Christ. And may we remember the good news:
God sees.
God loves.
God sends us to do the same.
