A Tall Order
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | June 7, 2026
Click here to listen to the service
Read Matthew 9:35 – 10:8 (NIV)
Our New Testament lesson this morning comes from the Gospel of Matthew. And I must admit; it felt kind of like A TALL ORDER to craft a sermon based on this text because some of the things Jesus is calling His disciples (and us) to do can seem rather daunting. However, I thought I should give it the old college try since it is one of the Lectionary texts for today.
Now, depending on which version of the Bible you may be using, you may find the first part of our text appearing under headings that follow two seemingly different themes.
The Common English Bible uses a simple straightforward heading, in fact, it is only one word, “Compassion.” While the New King James Version uses the heading, “The Compassion of Jesus” and the Contemporary English Version utilizes the heading, “Jesus Has Pity on People.”
However, in the New International Version, which was just read for your hearing, the heading is “The Workers Are Few.” In line with that theme, the English Standard Version uses the heading, “The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few, and the New Revised Standard Version heading is, “The Harvest Is Great, the Laborers Few.”
Although these may seem like two vastly different themes that have been used as the heading for these verses… there is a synergy between the two…
These first verses of our text highlight what Jesus was doing… going from town to town, village to village… teaching, preaching, and healing. Witnessing first-hand how groups of people were wandering around like sheep that had no shepherd… people who the Gospel writer describes as helpless and harassed.
But because Jesus always has compassion for people… He recognized that there was a serious shortfall. While there are a lot of people who need to hear the Good News… there is an unfortunate shortage of folks that are ready, willing, and able to tell them about it.
And that is why the remaining verses of our text appear under headings that are somewhat similar: “Jesus Sends Out the Twelve” (NIV), “The Twelve Harvest Hands” (MSG), “The Twelve Apostles” (NKJV), “Jesus Sends out the Twelve Apostles” (ESV), “Jesus Chooses His Twelve Apostles” (CEV), “Mission of the Twelve and Commissioning of the Twelve” (CEB), and my favorite, “The Twelve Disciples; Instructions for Serving” (AMP).
I think this last one is my favorite because it cuts straight to the heart of the matter… whether we call them disciples or apostles… the twelve were all called to serve. And as quiet as it’s kept… so were we.
As the commentary in the Life Application Study Bible explains:
The fact of the matter is that we have all been called to serve… and our serving should come as our response to God for all God has done. “I will serve thee because I love thee” …and let me just say, there is plenty of work to be done… there are plenty of ways for us to serve. Although, if we are being honest… sometimes, the idea of serving can feel like A TALL ORDER… especially when we look at what Jesus said the disciples were supposed to do.Jesus called his 12 disciples. He didn’t draft them, force them, or ask them to volunteer; he chose them to serve him in a special way. Christ calls us today. He doesn’t twist our arms and make us do something we don’t want to do. We can choose to join him or remain behind (LASB, 2005, p. 1552).
Listen to verses 5 – 8 from Chapter 10 again… however, this time I will be reading from the Message Paraphrase which says:
Jesus was telling the disciples, you don’t have to go to far off places… filled with strangers… you can start spreading the Good News right here at home… to the folks in the neighborhood who are lost and confused.Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge:
“Don’t begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don’t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.”
I do believe that one of the things that fills folks with a sense of fear and trepidation about Jesus’ Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations…” (see Matthew 28:19 – 20), is a feeling of dread at the thought of becoming a missionary in some foreign country… but not everyone is called to leave everything behind and head to the four corners of the earth.
Trust me when I tell you, there is no shortage of folks right here close to home… and often IN our homes… that need to hear about Jesus just as much as those people who are on the other side of the world… and who better to tell them than us?
But Pastor Heidi, I don’t have the skill or the talent to do that… I don’t know the right words to say… I am not cut out to do all that “witnessing” stuff.
Well… believe it or not, neither were the disciples.
The Life Lesson that accompanies Matthew 10 in The Inspirational Bible includes this quote from Max Lucado’s book, “The Applause of Heaven”:
And our text for the morning indicates that Jesus gave the disciples some rather extraordinary instructions to follow and some extraordinary things that He wanted them to do. Jesus told them, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.”We need to remember that the disciples were common men given a compelling task. Before they were the stained-glassed saints in the windows of cathedrals, they were somebody’s next door neighbors trying to make a living and raise a family. They were not cut from theological cloth or raised on supernatural milk. But they were an ounce more devoted than they were afraid and, as a result, did some extraordinary things… (The Inspirational Bible, 1995, p. 1099)
Talk about A TALL ORDER!
However, if we had time this morning, we could explore the stories of Peter actually healing a lame beggar (see Acts 3:1 – 10) and raising a woman named Tabitha from the dead (see Acts 9:39 – 41).
We could also look at Mark 6 (12 – 13), which tells us that, “[The disciples] went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”
Jesus did indeed give His disciples A TALL ORDER that they were expected to comply with…
Unfortunately, they were not always successful. For example, the Scriptures tell us about a time when the disciples were not able to heal a boy who suffered from seizures and who often fell into the water and the fire (see Matthew 17:15 – 16)
…something that seemingly frustrated Jesus to the point that He told them, “You unbelieving and perverse generation… how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” (Matthew 17:17).
And that is when Jesus drove the demon out of the boy Himself.
But there is good news for us even in this…
Jesus did not simply condemn the disciples for not being able to drive out the demon and leave it at that… No, Jesus used this as a teachable moment, so to speak… an opportunity to encourage the disciples (and us) to grow in our faith… and to understand that whatever we try to do in our own power is likely to fail… but when we trust in God and operate in God’s power… the impossible suddenly becomes possible.
And that is really good news for us today… because just as much as Jesus’ call to the disciples was A TALL ORDER back then… it is still A TALL ORDER for us today.
Jesus commanded the disciples, and by extension us, to love God with all of who we are… body, mind, soul and strength… and to also love our neighbors as ourselves (see Matthew 22:36 – 40; Mark 12:28 – 31).
Loving God is usually the easy part… loving our neighbors… not so much.
Especially when some of our neighbors seem to go out of their way to be unlovable… to create heartache and strife for others who do not think, act, look, or vote like them… and to make life difficult for those who have the fewest resources to work with.
Loving folks like that can feel pretty impossible at times.
But have no fear… because if we keep reading in Matthew 17 (20b), we find these words of Jesus, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
And with everything that is going on around us right now… it can easily feel like we are carrying the impossibly heavy weight of the world on our shoulders… but we can give the burden to Jesus to carry… because it is just right for Him.
If we were to keep reading in Matthew’s Gospel, we would find words of encouragement for those of us who may be getting tired and feeling fatigued as we watch everything that is happening.
It is in Matthew 11:28 – 30 that we read these words of Jesus:
The load really is too heavy for us to carry… but Jesus is more than willing to carry it for us… we just have to trust Him and “let it go, let it go.”“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
When it starts to feel like A TALL ORDER just to get out of bed and face another new day… that is the perfect time to turn it over to Jesus.
When we think we don’t have the strength to press forward through the muck and mire… that is when we should remember what the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians:
There are times when it really does feel like A TALL ORDER to try and do all that God has commanded us to do… especially that whole “love your neighbor as yourself” thing…But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9 – 10).
But just remember what Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27).
So, the next time things start to feel overwhelming, let me give you these words of encouragement:
Instead of bargaining… believe… we don’t have to try and coerce God to act… we just need to trust that God can and will bless us even in the middle of a mess.
Instead of doubting… dare to dream… envision the day when God’s promises will come true and you will find yourself on the other side of the struggle.
Instead of fear… press forward in faith… remember that courage is not the absence of fear but choosing to act even in the face of fear… trusting that the Lord will be with you through it all.
And while all of that may sound like A TALL ORDER… it can all be done when we make the choice to follow Jesus.
Just like He called the disciples to follow Him… Jesus calls us to follow Him as well. The choice is ours.
And if you have a desire to follow Jesus, then I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus #344 Back
