Lectionary 14C
Grace Lutheran Church
Lakeland, FL
July 3, 2022
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Galatians 6:1-16
Luke 10: 1-12, 16-20
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please pray with me…
The Gospel readings for last Sunday and for this Sunday are very closely related to each other. Last Sunday we heard that Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem, a trip he was making for the last time. And he shared words and teachings with his disciples about the cost of following him. We heard some startling words – let the dead bury the dead, come and follow me. Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. And today Jesus is continuing that teaching on discipleship with some on the job training for the disciples as he sends them out two by two.
These readings are about discipleship, about following Jesus. And this discipleship can be contrasted with membership. Membership may be like being a member at a gym – you pay your dues, are notified of classes and events, you can come and use the facilities, maybe even have a locker to keep your things secure. You might be able to give a friend a guest pass so they can try out the facility and maybe they’ll join too. There’s an old American Express commercial where the announcer says – “membership has its privileges.” And it does. Membership is focused on the member, the dues, the name on the list, the club, the insider, the events and the rules and, oh, the privileges! Discipleship on the other hand means walking with our Lord, learning from him, coming to see the world and its people as he did. Focusing not on ourselves but on the other, meeting the other where she is, seeing the needs he may have. Doing God’s work with our hands. Membership has its privileges and discipleship has its responsibilities.
And today’s Gospel reading starts with Jesus appointing the seventy and then sending them out into the mission field. And these are the instructions he gave:
Go
Like a lamb among wolves
No purses allowed
No backpacks either
No extra shoes
No side trips along the way
Don’t dally
Knock on the doors of people you don’t know and hope that they’re home
Don’t try to find better accommodations
Eat what they eat and drink what they drink
What do you think about these directives? Which would have been most challenging for you? Many of these would be a challenge for me – I remember the trip to Minneapolis our family took when our youngest was in grade school. For 6 days, I brought along 7 pair of shoes. “Just in case,” you know. (Now in my defense, I must say that I was under the influence of medicine my doctor had prescribed and was not thinking clearly.) Jesus said, no purses, no backpacks, no extra sandals. No side trips? Really? But, isn’t it natural when we’re in new places that we want to take time to explore, to see the sites, find the unusual? Jesus said, “Don’t even stop to talk with others on the road.” Hmmm, that doesn’t seem very “Jesus-like” does it?
We see in Jesus’ directions and instructions a singularity of focus – Jesus appointed the 70. Jesus sent them out. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful. Get to it.” And this is your mission: “eat what is set before you, restore the sick, tell them the kingdom of God has come near.” None of these three charges, or even this whole mission experience for that matter, reflect the rugged individualism that we too often take pride in. Rather, each is done in the context of relationship – the people of God together, one with the other. No fierce independence but instead a mutual dependence, the kind that Paul meant when he wrote to the Galatians, “help one another out and don’t be a slacker. Whenever we can, do that which is good for all, especially within the community of faith.” And it is to the community of faith that Jesus issued these three charges – eat what is set before you, heal the sick, proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near. Let’s take a look at each of these.
Eat what is set before you. Jesus reminded them that there are two sides of hospitality. One side is all about making your guest feel as comfortable as possible. And we at Grace take that very seriously and we hear from those who come to us that we do this rather well, truth be told. And the other side of hospitality is all about being a gracious guest. A gracious guest enters into the host’s home warmly with comfort and openness – open to meet new people, have new experiences, and try new foods. I remember the time when my granddaughter was a toddler. Earl and I were going to go to dinner with her and her parents. Now, Ceci was a lover of mac-and-cheese and chicken nuggets and we were going to a Mexican restaurant. Her mama helped get her ready on the drive over by talking about “new food” and they repeated together with increasing excitement – “new food! New food! New food!” And when our server brought our meals, we all exclaimed, “New food!” Ahhh, the excitement – would that we have that excitement as we embark upon new things and taste new food. In this flip side of hospitality – where we are the guest rather than the host, we meet people where they are. We join into their lives and experiences. Relationships are built as companionship grows. Companionship – from the Latin for “with bread.” Sharing a meal around a table in a home. Hospitality.
Second, minister to the sick. With this second perspective on hospitality, we are more like visiting nurses than emergency rooms. As we enter into new places and new relationships, people open to us their woundedness, their hurts, maybe even their scars. We are called to be healers in the midst of this. That sounds very much like work for professionals, doesn’t it? But Jesus was talking to the many many folks who were following him and learning from him. Ordinary folks. Not medical school graduates. Touching those within their reach. Hearing their stories around the table. Bringing words and touches of healing and ministry and care.
Third, Jesus said, “Say to them, ‘the kingdom of God has come near to you.’” This charge is the most interesting. Jesus didn’t say, “Tell them about the Kingdom of God.” He said, in your becoming a companion of theirs, in your ministry among them, tell them that the kingdom has come near. This is key – those who were sent were carrying the kingdom with them. They are kingdom-bearers. WE are kingdom-bearers.
We might not have ever seen ourselves as kingdom-bearers or missionaries and Jesus’ words in this Gospel challenge us. We might ask, “What?? How do we do this?” Equipped for this because having been marked with the sign of the cross of Christ forever, we gather together as a community of faith – we gather around the font and the table. We pray for each other and encourage each other and fellowship with each other. We laugh and we cry. We learn. And as we drive out of the parking lot, we see the imaginary sign that says, “Now entering the mission field.”
Some mission fields are in distant places – my classmate Eshinee from Vancouver and her husband Rob were Bible translators in Botswana Africa. A ten year team project in which they learned the spoken language, developed an alphabet and written language, taught it to the community and translated Scripture into that language. And in the course of that mission, they ate new foods, experienced new ways, entered into the homes of new ones, and touched lives as their lives were touched. They served as kingdom-bearers. And Pastor John LeMond and Barbara, who have recently joined this community of faith, served for decades in Southeast Asia as missionaries, kingdom-bearers in distant places. We will hear more about that in times to come.
And some mission fields are as close as our neighbor’s home where we see the blinds pulled after the ambulance came last week taking wife to the hospital. The lights come on late in the evening when husband arrives home after spending the long day with her. In this mission field, we will sit and eat comfort food with him, listen to the story as it unfolds, hear his worry, speak peace into his anxiety. And in our sitting and eating and listening and hearing and speaking, we are kingdom-bearers.
And then we hear that verse about when the 70 come back from their mission, a journey that I hunch they set out on with apprehension and doubt and confusion – what? Eat THEIR food? No suitcase? Go into strangers’ homes? Lord, you might have the wrong person for this mission trip. Yet Jesus appointed them and sent them. And then, Scripture tells us that they returned with joy! Joy at realizing what they were able to do. Do you see that they were transformed and changed as a result of this journey of theirs? That is the nature of being a kingdom-bearer. As we minister and serve God’s people, we are changed and shaped. We are transformed at least as much as those whom we serve.
The thing about mission journeys, the mission field, is that it doesn’t always stay the same. The time comes when we recognize that that which has been an important mission in our past has come to a close and there are new fields ahead. Sometimes a new mission takes us to familiar territory and sometimes it takes us to new lands. Sometimes we need to gather back together again to tell our stories and share our joy and in that way prepare to be sent out again pondering together where our next missions will take us. We gather together to prepare for that which lies ahead – mission in which we will meet people where they are, bring balm to their woundedness and bring the kingdom of God very close to them.
Amen.
May it be so.
