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Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 07/07/2019
Sermon on Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, by David H. Brooks
One of the (many) things we church people tend to forget—or conveniently ignore – is that Jesus enters into the world with a specific purpose or goal. Jesus has a mission, and he bears a message. As a part of his mission and as a function of his message, Jesus attracts to himself disciples—students, people who associate with him to learn how to live rightly, wisely, Godly. Which means that the church, as a gathering of disciples, is a place where those who are associated with Jesus continue their training in learning to live as Jesus lives—rightly, wisely, Godly.
But, as already noted, we tend to forget or ignore that. We are tempted to treat our relationship with God after the fashion of pagans, where we try to wrest from the divine some type of blessing or favor in exchange for some payment or sacrifice. It’s a zero-sum game, where both parties get a little, lose a little, but we come to the exchange expecting our agendas, purposes and goals to be honored. “I have a ship laden with goods that needs to get to port. O Lord, see to it that my ship arrives, and, in exchange, accept this sacrifice.” Perhaps the example is a bit crude, but do we not recognize the attitude, if not the act itself? To bring it home: we might expect to suffer somewhat—otherwise, why call it a sacrifice—but the suffering and loss are not the point, and indeed, we have also become like our pagan ancestors in seeing suffering as pointless unless our mission is fulfilled. We do not see our lives in the church as a process of unlearning what the world tells and teaches us, we do not see that we need continual instruction in living rightly, wisely, Godly. We do not see that our lives, including our suffering, are means by which God is glorified. The agony of the Church in the West over the last half-century has at its heart our misunderstanding of where suffering arises, why it matters and how we are to bear with each other in suffering. We see that others will not suffer, either for the Lord or alongside us, and begin to suspect that we are being played for fools. The endless use of justice as the battle cry of the Church in these latter days is simply the result that none of us have any use for suffering unless we find our purpose, our fulfillment.
Please understand, the story of the 72 disciples/students is about people who go at the initiative of another, who bear the message of another, who follow the instructions of another, who are fulfilling another’s purpose. Not their own. Of course, this is not just any old “another;” this is the Lord Jesus, who sends his messengers where he himself intends to go. There is a delightful, awful promise in those words! Jesus himself intends to visit, to be present and, as always, cause the rising and falling of many. But for the 72, this is the lesson, this is the class. Leave behind all that you think is necessary for the trip. Do not depend on your own skills, or wits or resources to get by. Be prepared for
rejection and suffering. Your identity cannot be front and center; the message must be. “Know that the Kingdom of God has come near!”
There are always ramifications and consequences in obeying Jesus, from taking up the challenge of being one of his students, of bearing his message. We heard from the previous chapter of Luke how Jesus warns that the ways of living that spring forth from his message and mission will create opposition, and those who associate with him should also expect opposition, resistance and even danger. This life with Jesus is a cross-shaped life, with no clear expectation that God will prevent or rescue a follower of Jesus from danger and death. Christians of old understood that their very deaths were caught up in this grand mission of Jesus and therefore served a holy purpose—they modeled themselves after the Lord, who, even while praying that the cup of suffering would pass him by, nonetheless ended his prayer by affirming the rightness of the Father’s will.
This is why Jesus regularly tells his followers some version of be not afraid. Our story today finishes with Jesus declaring that Satan has fallen and that nothing will bring his followers real hurt. He teaches them to rejoice over their names being secure in heaven, rather than being secure in the power they possess. Again, we must unlearn, for the world wishes to teach us that are plenty of things of which we should be afraid. Always remember that the last thing we should carry around with us is fear! Let us also do what we are meant to do—practice the habits and disciplines of the Kingdom, give witness to the hope that is in us—and live rightly, wisely, Godly. Amen.