Sermon for July 7, 2019Pentecost 4C Proper 9 – RCL
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.'
"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."
The readings
today have a theme of healing – healing by unlikely people. One theme that stuck out to me was ‘who do we
consider to be people of God?’ In the
reading from Second Kings there are assumptions made about who had the power to
cure the soldier’s leprosy. Not only who
but how! It was assumed by the king of
Samaria first, that there ought to be someone in his kingdom that could heal
his commander, and second, if the power exists in Israel then it must rest with
the king.
I think we
all too often have similar thoughts – in today’s hyper nationalistic world the
assumption is that the power to do the right thing, the power to heal, must
rest in our location. As our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry reminded the clergy last we we are not talking
about red vs blue states, or the US vs Russia.
I am talking about the rise of nationalistic talk all over the world
lately. The rise of leaders who talk
about the importance of keeping their nations pure ,so that by some spoken or
unspoken purity code, all will be well with their people.
The other
assumption is that Naaman expects that he will only be healed by a physical
interaction with the prophet. He wanted the prophet to come out and wave his hands over him! He can’t
imagine that God could work in any other way.
That God works through unexpected people in ways that we can’t begin to
predict. For Naaman it is a servant – one
who probably was risking a lot to talk to the commander – that told him about
the prophet and also a servant that challenged him to try the “simple” way of
washing in the river to be healed.
If we look
around us I bet we will see the same kinds of things going on. There are the same assumptions about who is
in, who has power, and who we should turn to to “heal” what is ailing us and
our world. And yet I see people with no power – at least in the eyes of
society, working to help people, working to help provide healing. I have seen people who do not have a home
reach out to others to provide healing.
I see it in the ministry that happens in our parking lot and in the
church and parish hall during the week.
A place where people look out for each other, a place where we feed
people, a place where we invite those who feel society has separated into “the
other” into places of healing. Invited
into places of sanctuary.
Look around it is happening all around us...
Sister Libby –
when she retired from Loaves and Fishes was not content to sit around so she
started Mercy Peddlers – to go out and visit folk where they are. Their website says that the mission of: “ Mercy
Pedalers are bicyclers and tricyclers reaching out to men and women
experiencing homelessness on the streets. It is a ministry of presence and
action based on the “Works of Mercy” and emphasizing “Welcoming the Stranger”.”[1] A group of people making a difference by
proclaiming the kingdom of god – not necessarily with words but with
actions.
Today’s
gospel lesson is one that gives me hope.
Hope because Jesus does not send one person out to proclaim God’s
kingdom. Jesus does not send one person
out to heal people and cast out demons.
Jesus sends out 70 – and he sends them in pairs. Seventy people can seem like a lot of people
being sent out – especially when we otherwise tend to hear about the twelve
apostles in the Gospel lessons. David Lose, a preacher I follow, pointed out
that 70 can either seem like a lot or too few.
He pointed out that 70 is about the size these days of the average
mainline congregation – a size where many people are worrying that they are in
decline and dying – but Jesus found that number was a good size to proclaim the
reign of God.
The Gospel
lesson provides a lot that we could use in our ministry. It instructs us that ministry is frequently
best done in community. Not that a one
on one encounter can’t provide healing and proclaim God’s near presence – but
that it certainly helps us all to have someone to work with. Because sometimes – despite our best efforts
our works, our being, will be rejected by those we are trying to help. That our work in proclaiming God’s healing
presence will be rejected by those we think of with secular power. And especially during those times it is good
to have someone else with us – someone we can talk to; someone with whom we can
examine our actions and see if we need to change our approach – or someone to
simply offer us an understanding ear to hear our stories.
Another
helpful thing in today’s reading is the promise that Jesus instructs the 70 to
declare to people. Jesus instructs the
70 to declare that “The kingdom of God has come near to you”. Most of the time when I read this passage I
hear the part about offering peace to the households and staying where that
peace is received. The part about
sticking around and not searching for the best lodgings in town but to stay
with the first house that welcomes you.
And conversely if you are not welcomed to shake the dust off your
sandals as you leave the town. An act
that could be seen as condemning those who did not provide welcome.
A story that
sets up in our minds that some were included, and some were excluded. There are those that welcomed Jesus’ advance
party, those preparing the towns for Jesus to came through on his way to
Jerusalem, and those that rejected the advance party. Those who obviously are going to be welcomed
by God and those who will not be welcomed because they rejected God’s advance
team made through some unlikely people –
people who were following an itinerate Rabbi – people that were likely not from
the best of society. Considering all the complaints we read in the Gospels
about Jesus eating with the outcasts and sinners the 70 probably where not
considered socially the best of that society.
But this week
another part of this story jumped out to me – And that is the promise that
Jesus instructed the 70 to proclaim to those they encounter. The promise that the Reign of God had come
near. Look at it again. That promise is not to be offered only to
those who accepted the peace that flowed through these unlikely proclaimers of
God’s peace and healing. It was to be
proclaimed to those who reject it as well.
When I have read this in the past I heard – in my minds ear – differing
ways of the promise being offered.
To the group
that accepted the peace – to the group that allowed the healing of God to come
into their towns I heard in my mind a sincere promise. And I admit I always add to the promise – I
hear “Rejoice! You have accepted God and
you have felt his healing presence! The
reign of God has indeed come near to this place.”
Conversely To the group that did not
welcome the 70. To the towns where they
are shaking the dust off their feet I usually hear something else! I hear in my mind “You fools! You have rejected God. You have rejected the nearness of the reign
of God. Pity be to you! You have
rejected the nearness of God” A warning
rather than a promise.
But what if
we don’t interject our own responses into the promise. What if we read it truly as a promise to both
those who accept and those who rejected the 70.
A promise that in both cases the Kingdom of God has come near. That God’s presence is near – indeed is
here. And we are not responsible for
being the gatekeepers of God’s love. We
are called – like the 70 to go out and offer God’s peace, God’s Love to a world
that may or may not accept it – that doesn’t make it any less near!
David Lose
said, “the phrase “the kingdom of God has come near” is, ultimately a promise.
Yes, it may call us to account. Yes, it may invite us to look more critically
at how we treat others. But ultimately, it is the promise that, in God’s
kingdom, identity is not something earned or asserted or fought over or claimed
and gained at someone else’s loss. Rather, identity is something conferred as a
gift, as we discover that we are – each of us and each person we encounter – God’s
beloved children.
In God’s
kingdom, it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you have done. It doesn’t
matter what nationality or race or gender or occupation or sexuality or age you
are. It doesn’t matter where you were born or what economic status or influence
you may have (or not have). These designations may be important to us, even at
times useful on a day to day basis. But they just don’t matter all that much to
God. So while all these descriptors and any others we can think of may describe us accurately, even at times helpfully or importantly to us,
yet they do not define us. What defines us is how
God sees us, as we discover who we are by remembering whose we
are: God’s beloved child. And that, … is always good news.”[2]
Our call as
followers of Jesus has not changed much in over 2000 years. And if we really look around at today’s
followers of Jesus we will still see a mix of people that some in society would
accept as leaders and others would draw a line and consider outcasts. All of Jesus followers are called to offer
God’s shalom, God’s healing to a world greatly in need of healing. We are not called to draw lines that separate
people from God’s love. To separate
those who we see as worthy. We are
called to keep drawing the circle bigger.
To offer our world an example of healing, To offer it even if it is rejected. And to hear the promise that even in
rejections God’s healing, loving presence has come near – indeed has come here.
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