Missionaries
Proper 9
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
The Gospel
reading we heard today is usually called the “Mission of the 70.” It’s about mission. Between last week’s reading and this
week’s we’ve seen the two sides of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
Last week Jesus
was tugging, tugging, at his disciples, then and now. Come, come with me, Jesus said, tugging at us to
follow. This week he is
nudging. Go. Go. Go on. Now. You need to take the kingdom of God to
these people. To all of these
people. Go.
We don’t know if
the 70 volunteered for this mission.
Luke doesn’t tell us. For
us as contemporary Christians, 70 is an interesting number (Lose). The median parish in the US has an
average Sunday attendance of about 75.
(Although you hear about the big megachurches, it has always been true
in this country that the vast majority of Christians worship in small
congregations. The median parish
in this country has an average Sunday attendance of 75. Counting both services, on a
non-holiday weekend, we’re a bit above that, but it’s still noteworthy.
A lot of time in
parishes, you hear things like: if
we were only bigger, then we could…
if we only had more people, more money, then we could really do
something…. 70 is all it takes. And a lot of times, of course, it only
takes one.
Individuals are
prone to the same sort of pessimistic thinking, especially when the topic is
mission. I am not equipped for
mission. I don’t have what it
takes. I don’t have the skills or
qualities to be a missionary.
Jesus is pretty
clear in today’s reading: You have
all you need. I have commissioned
you. The people who hear you, hear
me. I have sent you.
And, actually,
Jesus continues, in terms of stuff, for mission you need less, not more.
Spreading the
Kingdom of God seems to be mostly about bringing peace, God’s peace. And you have that, Jesus says over and
over again. The peace of God. “My peace I give to you. My peace I leave with you. Peace be with you. We have been given the peace of God in
abundance.
And healing
seems to come as a collateral benefit of offering peace. Healing of all sorts of wounds.
Last week I
talked about how Jesus tugs persistently and says: No, there is no time for
rest, no time for chit chat, no time for whatever you think is important. Following me to the cross is the most
important thing.
Today, as Jesus
nudges, nudges us to move outward, onward in mission, again he says: no, you
don’t need to pack anything more, no, you don’t need to take extra money or
clothes. Just go.
It’s not just
that we don’t need these things. I
thinks it’s that all of things we carry with will actually mask the peace we
are carrying.
That’s the most
important lesson from this reading for me. All of our stuff…
our things, our accomplishments, our credentials…. the things we “need”… Not only do we not need them to share
the kingdom; they get in the way.
They are like a fence around the peace of God that is within us. Our stuff hides or masks the peace of
God so others cannot see it in us.
As long as all
this stuff is more important to us than the kingdom of God, the stuff is all
that other people will see when they look at us.
So it’s about
priorities again. We don’t
necessarily have to give away all of our belongings, our renounce our
accomplishments. But we do need to
ask ourselves: What things, what
stuff is more important to us than the kingdom of God? What things do we cling to more
fiercely than the peace of God which has been given to us?
We’re here today
as people who know the love of Christ because those few 70 back then wandered
around barefoot saying, “Peace”. “The
Kingdom of God has come near to you.”
There are people
all around us who are desperate for that peace, the peace of God. We are the 70 or so who can bring it to
them. If we just don’t let all the
other stuff in our lives get in the way.
