“Word-Keeping Compassionate Shepherd”
June 14, 2026
Rev. Dr. Rita Townsend
Good morning United Presbyterian Church of West Orange here in the sanctuary and to the greater congregation in all the places of the earth. Thank you Rev. Rebecca Migliore, Pastor-in-Charge, and the teams that put this Service together for this third Sunday after Pentecost 2026. Glory to God for His presence with us today.
Let Us Pray
Dear heavenly Father, Blessed be your Name. As we approach your throne of grace to hear from You, forgive our sins through the blood of the Lamb of God and redeem us from those things that have kept us in bondage to sin. Holy Spirit, draw us to our Savior and Lord. Give us ears to hear what You are saying to us. Anoint our heads with fresh oil for this Service, through Jesus our Lord and for His sake, Amen.
Scripture readings for today are from Gen 21:1-7; and Matthew 9:35-10:8.
A Word-Keeping Compassionate Shepherd is my theme – who can find? I was struck by the near repetition of the LORD God’s saying to Sarah in the first part of Gen 21:1 that “The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. What had He said and promised? In Gen 18:1, the LORD appeared to Abraham while Abraham was sitting in the doorway of his tent by the oaks of Mamre. It was a hot day. Again, I was struck by the contrast of the “oaks of Mamre” and sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. Pardon me, but these little clues tell us something about the locale where Abraham was.
Church, the oaks of Mamre can be found in Gen 13:14-18. In the Gen 13:14 -18 passage, Lot had chosen what he thought was land like the Garden of Eden near Sodom, leaving Abram with what was left when they had separated for lad enough to feed their flocks.
But the LORD had appeared to Abram to show Abram that all the land he was seeing from north to south and east to west, the LORD would give him, which is by the oaks of Mamre, in Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abram was already in Canaan. There, Abram had built an altar to the LORD. In other words, it was holy ground, the land by the oaks of Mamre. The LORD had spoken there to Abram about the land of his inheritance and his generations.
Shifting between Gen 18:1-15 and Gen 21:1, Abram sitting by the oaks of Mamre was on hallowed ground, ripe for a theophany! In the heat of the day, Abram looked up, saw three men approach him; he ran to meet them, offered hospitality, instructed his wife, Sarah, to make cakes, selected a calf from the herd and showed a young man to prepare it with haste! Abraham brought out milk and curds – I would think would become cheese. Scriptures say Abraham stood by them under the tree while they ate.
Interestingly, the first words out of the three men’s mouths were to ask Abraham where his wife Sarah was!! They knew her by name. According to Gen 17:15, The LORD had already changed her name from Sarai to Sarah during a visitation with Abraham, when Abraham was approaching 100 years old. It was the LORD’s instruction to name Sarah’s son by Abraham, Isaac (Gen 17:19)! Abraham had laughed to himself when he’d heard the LORD’s word to him that he and Sarah would have a child.
So now it makes sense why Abraham would sit “by the oaks of Mamre, at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day” (Gen 21:1)! He was expecting the LORD to keep his word! Perhaps Abraham sat daily looking and waiting for the LORD to visit him! Have you ever waited or looked expectantly for the LORD to visit you? Have you ever waited for the LORD to keep His word or promise to you for you, your family member, or that thing you prayed the LORD would do for you?
Abraham had not given up on the LORD’s promise to him – he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. After all, they had a relationship and a covenant between them (Gen 15:6-17).
Remember Abraham first encountered the LORD when Abraham was 75 years old and his name was Abram in Gen 12.
Twenty-four years later, on a sunny day at the oaks of Mamre, the LORD appeared to Abraham. I like to think this explains Abraham’s hurried run about to prepare food, drink, and washing of the feet, and the bowing down to the ground to fulfill hospitality! 0ne of the three men issued a promise to return in due season. Sarah would have a son. An impossibility to a woman 89 years old, so she laughed then denied laughing on questioning. I think anyone of us today would have a similar response like, “Yea, right”! Sarah was technically too old to bear, having exceeded child-bearing age. Abraham might have been a little old as well. Sarah wondered about pleasure @ (KJV, Gen 18:12 / fruitful (NRSVUE, 2021) in their old age!
Nevertheless, about a year later, Gen 21:1 tells us the LORD dealt with Sarah as He had said, and as He had promised. Church, As for God, His way is perfect: His word is flawless, He shields all who take refuge in Him (PS 18:30). For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. (PS 33:4). Sarah bore Abraham a son named Isaac, for Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me” (Gen 21:6). And Isaac was the son of the LORD God’s promise to Abraham. God is a word-keeping, promise-keeping God. When He says He’ll do something, He’ll do it. If He’s promised to heal you, He will. If He’ll help you find something, you will find it. Hallelujah!
Let’s look at our New Testament Scripture from Matt 9:35-10:8. The passage opens with Jesus doing the work of ministry. He is teaching, preaching in the synagogues, and observing that people were harassed and were helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd. That observation overwhelmed our Lord with compassion, leading Him, I am sure, to multiply laborers by naming 12 persons who would follow him and do the work of ministry. Interestingly, He commanded them to minister only to those lost sheep / people of Israel – not yet the gentiles or Samaritans. Why the lost sheep of Israel?
Perhaps His compassion for those who should be heirs of the covenant the LORD had made with Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob – yet they were like sheep that had no Shepherd. Or was it because He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel as He said in Matt 15:24?
So how do we reconcile Jesus, Savior of the whole world, sent only to those who should be in covenant relationship as heirs of the promise given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? John 3:16 tells us that whosoever believes in Him will not perish = be lost but will have eternal life. And what is to be said of Jesus, after His resurrection and minutes before His ascension, when He tells His disciples to go to the ends of the earth, starting at Jerusalem?
What’s the difference? At the calling and appointment of the twelve disciples Jesus gave them authority, BUT they were not yet filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). What can we conclude, sisters and brothers?
Our word-keeping, compassionate Shepherd, Jesus Christ, has called his disciples, witnesses of His life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. He has called them to do what He did: heal the sick, raise the dead; say what He said by preaching and teaching that the kingdom of heaven is near. His witnesses are authorized to minister in His name among heirs. But to be effective among non-believers and unbelievers, His witnesses need the power of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:8 (NRSVUE, 2021) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. By the Spirit of God, witnesses of Jesus Christ are anointed to preach and to teach the covenant-keeping word of God. We who have believed in him are anointed to continue the work of Christ: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, raise the dead, heal the broken-hearted, and proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. Jesus said so Himself as recorded in Luke’s gospel, Chapter 4:18-19).
As witnesses of Jesus Christ, we are to wait for the promise OF THE HOLY SPIRIT as Abraham did with the LORD God Almighty’s fulfilment of the promise of the land and a son by Sarah from his loins.
To be effective, we must believe in the promise and the one who has promised. God reckoned to Abraham that Abraham was faithful and therefore righteous. Jesus is looking for His disciples, His witnesses to be likewise: wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit to come upon you, go in the authority in His name: preach the gospel, heal the sick, cleanse unclean spirits, cast out demons – demons of injustice, greed, selfishness, and, raise the dead!! He who promised is faithful! Yet, may we, His witnesses, never forget His people are sheep, and not cattle. They are tender, sometimes helpless, sometimes lost, sometimes afraid without a shepherd. Sometimes they are strongheaded, possibly wrong-hearted. Yet, we as witnesses even called to pastoral ministry, we must feed and lead them with compassion and prayer.
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory, and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25).
Call to Salvation:
To anyone who has not, up to this time, believed in Jesus Christ as Savior, I want to give you opportunity to receive him. To everyone who has received Jesus as Savior and Lord, I ask you to pray in the Spirit for your neighbor that they may come to eternal life in Jesus Christ.
Say this prayer after me: “Lord Jesus, I ask you to save me. Make me a new creation in you. Forgive my misdoings. Cleanse me of all unrighteousness and unbelief. Set me free through the covenant of the blood you shed on the cross. I ask you to come into my life and be my Savior and Shepherd and be the author and finisher of my life’s story. I thank you now. By sincerely praying this prayer, I believe I am born again and am now a child of God.”
Friend, welcome to the family of God. You are a new creation in Jesus Christ. Find a Church, like United Presbyterian Church, that teaches you to grow in knowledge and relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ His Son. I pray that the Holy Spirit seals you in salvation till the day of Christ’s appearing, in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
The Charge
I charge you this day,
To discover Jesus Christ your Savior and Lord;
Stand on the Word of God as you go through the trials and testing.
Know that He who promised is faithful.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and your neighbor.
Benediction
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Co 3:13). AMEN.