Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
6. Sunday after Pentecost, 07/04/2010
Sermon on Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, by Prof. Dr. Dr. David Zersen
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (NRSV)
BACK TO THE BASICS
This week's online news tells the story about a Swedish theologian, Gunnar Samuelsson, from Gothenburg University, who just finished his doctoral dissertation in which he claimed that there is little evidence that Jesus actually died on a cross. He studied execution practices in the Roman world in those centuries before and after Jesus' time and concluded that the executioners had the freedom to decide how the victim was to die and they had many cruel approaches. Although the scholar who wrote the dissertation is a conservative Lutheran theologian who believes that Jesus rose from death and will return to judge the world, the media has decided to make a circus of the man's conclusions? What if he is right? What if all the crosses in the churches have to go? How will the language of theology have to change if Jesus was not actually crucified, but perhaps impaled or nailed on a tree?
Theological questions can be a pain in the rear.
It is easy to get lost playing trivial pursuit with all the issues and stories presented in the Bible. How much easier it is when we stick to the basics and ask about our relationship with God and the impact this has for our relationship with people.
In today's text, Jesus gives us the basics. In some senses, he gives these basics to all of us, because in the earliest church clergy did not go through a formal ordination process and those who claimed a relationship with Christ often took to the streets to share what they had come to experience as the truth.
However, these 70 that Jesus sent out 2 by 2 were commissioned in some way and had a relationship with the authority who commissioned them and awaited their report upon their return. In this sense, this text speaks rather pointedly to the church leaders of our own day-to those who know themselves to be "sent" by Jesus.
To them, Jesus has a word of commission, a word about salary, a word about the setting in which they work, a word about rejection and a word about reward. It's all very down to earth, and we who have a responsibility in our congregations and parishes to send out evangelists and pastors should sit up and take note.
GO
Many years ago when I was a student at the University of Goettingen and was seeking a position as a houseparent in a student village, a committee questioned my intent knowing that I was a Christian. "Was I going to try to convert fellow students or to get them into Bible studies?" the committee wanted to know?
It is one of the disconcerting things about Christianity for many non-Christians. "Why can't Christians just wait around until ‘seekers' knock on their doors?" they want to know. Jews and Muslims don't evangelize. They are born into their faith. Why should Christians?
The answer is basic to our self-understanding. Jesus said "go!" We are seeking the "lost," to use Jesus' imagery, the sick and disabled, the hurting and those afraid, the worried and those lacking confidence. Say "Shalom" to everyone. Tell them God is very near to them. Tell them they are not alone.
Churches are not places of refuge so much as they are outposts equipping people for outreach. The responsibility belongs to the Christians at the outpost who help their pastors/priests, deacons/elders, evangelists/outreach teams go out to share God's love with people.
Unfortunately, the image that many churches have is that of an administrative center with clergy and assistants who seldom leave their offices because there is so much administrative detail to take care of. Those of you who have responsibility for what takes place in the local church need to be asking whether you are helping or hindering Jesus' intent. Are people being equipped to go out and share the message of God's love? Are the clergy leading in this effort? Is your church known primarily as a resource for the community (which can also be a good thing) or is it intentional about Jesus' word "go"?
From the security or our homes and our church offices, we all too often point to the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses and teach our church members how to rebut their arguments. Should we rather be asking how we as sometimes declining mainstream churches can take Jesus' word "go" more seriously?
PAY
Interesting that Jesus brings up the subject of salary. Recently I was told by a native pastor in South Africa who had attended a Lutheran seminary in the U.S. that he observed new graduates having as their biggest concern what kind of "package" they were going to receive from their first congregation.
Of course, some of this is understandable. Typically, pastors leaving the seminary today are married and have children. They have the same concerns that all members of a local church have-how will we provide for our children, give them good opportunities and assist them with college expenses? On the other hand, they also know that congregations/parishes have sometimes been miserly. I remember an uncle who was a pastor, who raised his own chickens and sheep, who occasionally got a side of beef from a generous parishioner for the family, and who was given some Sundays off during the year to visit relatives.
Jesus tells the 70 that they are to take their meals at a home, travel without money or supplies or sandals, and be satisfied with whatever is set before them. We have come a long from such standards. There are church officials, pastors of large congregations, and TV evangelists who receive between six and seven figures because their work load is comparable to people who head smaller and larger companies. This is the new standard.
Church boards and committees that are responsible for staff compensation need to wrestle with the needs of church workers in our society as well as with the words of Jesus in this text. The standard should not be so much "what salaries in our society look like" as "what is the vision and goal of our community of believers"?
Are we intentional in our outreach? Do we seek with our staff and our membership to share God's love with people in our community? If this is not happening in personal and aggressive ways, then secular standards of remuneration are not useful. Then remuneration for staff should not take place at all.
KINGDOM OF GOD
Interesting that Jesus tells his followers to realize that in some situations the Kingdom of God has come and in others it has merely come near.
The language about kings and kingdoms may be very foreign to us in our democracy, but it is familiar to people in the Scriptures. The Kingdom of God is the arena in which God's love reigns because the sick are healed, the lepers are cleansed, the prisoners are visited, the hungry are fed and the poor have good news preached to them. Jesus felt that the organized religion of his day had failed people in this respect. Religious officials were more concerned with assuring that people followed rules and were challenged when they didn't. Into such an environment, Jesus came with assurances that God's love was real for them whether or not church officials allowed it.
How close is the Kingdom of God to your situation? If your Christian community is restrictive about who it embraces, if it is more into enforcing standards and rules, then the Kingdom of God may be near, but you are not yet within it nor is it within you.
If the preaching in your church basically tells you how to be, but does not give you the reasons or the power, then you are at a dead end and the Kingdom is waiting for you.
MOVE ON
Some years ago Speed Lees published a book called "Church Fights." There have been many of these both within churches and between churches. Of course, it's important to take a stand at times, but Lees wants to help churches learn how people with differing points of view can learn to live together. When this isn't possible, as at times happens within marriages or corporate relationships, then sometimes it's necessary to move on.
Jesus says that when you approach people in love and you say "Shalom" or "Peace be with you," as we say in a liturgical format in many of our churches, and people reject your offer of love, then you move on. Not everyone will choose to be a part of God's Kingdom, whether they be neighbor, son or daughter, mother or father, or native in a foreign country. Jesus himself experienced rejection in Chorazin and Bethsaida, and we will know it as well. It is not our fault and not our problem. It is more important that we share God's love with someone else than that we try to overpower someone who is not open to receiving it.
It can be very traumatic for a pastor to spend a life reaching out with Good News only to find little response. Members of congregations/parishes need to be supportive of their clergy and staff and help them make decisions that are right for the local church as well as for the clergy when the intent of the Kingdom's message is not being realized.
WRITTEN IN HEAVEN
Finally, when all is said and done, what do I get for what I've accomplished? It's a typical question. Don't I deserve something, Jesus? Pastors are not above such questions, nor are members of local evangelism committees.
Today's Old Testament lesson shares an interesting message in this regard. Elisha had brought about the healing of Naaman and asked nothing for it. But his servant, Gehazi, thought that at least somebody should get something out of this, so he chased after the departing Naaman and asked that something be given to provide for some of the prophets. When Elisha learned about this greed and deceit, he told Gehazi that there was no charge for giving away what had been freely received, and this lesson would now be learned the hard way as Gehazi received Namaan's disease.
Jesus reminds his followers that when good things happen as a result of their ministry to others, no reward is to be expected. After all, the love we already experience through Jesus' gift to us assures that our names are written in heaven. What more can we ask for?
Many a younger person might simply want to respond with "duh." We should have known that all along. It's pretty basic.
Theology can sometimes make things very complicated. Jesus, however, shares some very basic things with us today: Go! Love! Move on! Rejoice!
It's all very simple.