But the millions of down-trodden slaves in our land being the greatest sufferers, the most oppressed class, I have felt bound to plead their cause, in season and out of season, to endeavor to put my soul in their souls’ stead, and to aid, all in my power, in every right effort for their immediate emancipation. This duty was impressed upon me at the time I consecrated myself to that gospel which anoints “to preach deliverance to the captive,” “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” —Lucretia Mott

Questions: In what ways do you think God has hidden things from the wise and revealed them to infants? How does this relate to Jesus’ yoke being light? Are there ways in which the messiahship of Jesus presented in Matthew challenges your view of who Jesus was and is? What might God be saying to you through the difference between your expectations and the Jesus you meet in Matthew and in your heart?

Many sermons have been preached on Matthew 10. After sixty-seven years of church, I think I’ve heard them all. I’ve heard sermons about Jesus’ disciples. I’ve heard explanations of the difference between sheep and wolves and serpents and doves—although none prepared me for marriage to a reptile lover with twenty-seven snakes and lizards. I’ve heard Quakers try to preach pacifism from Jesus’ words about not bringing peace, “but a sword.” What I haven’t heard much is the gospel, and yet there it is in black and white: As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

That’s the gospel. It’s not a formula to be believed, it’s a kingdom in which to live. It’s the good news that’s good for everyone: God’s reign is here and now. Be embraced by it.

I used to shy away from preaching the present kingdom until an amazing phone call set me straight. A dear friend who sometimes calls herself the “Queen of Chicagoland” phoned me one Sunday. She asked how a group of disabled people came to be part of my meeting. I explained that they’d not been welcome in other churches. She said, “That’s ridiculous. The church welcomes everyone.”

I replied, “I hate to break it to you, but that’s not the way it is.”

She answered. “It is in my kingdom!”

I held my phone away from my face and stared at it, realizing I was speaking to Jesus. I ventured, “Well, I hate to break this to you, but not everyone knows they’re living in your kingdom.”

And she floored me with, “Well, what are you going to do about that?”

Recognizing that my phone might be reaching farther than Chicagoland, I said, “I guess I should let people know they’re living in your kingdom.”

That unusual phone call changed my life, and it has steered the way I share the gospel for the last eight years. The kingdom of heaven has come near.

–Phil Baisley in “Friendly Perspective” from Matthew: The Life of Jesus