Happy Independence Day weekend! Our worship service this Sunday is at Living Hope Lutheran Church in Saukville. This week’s sermon text for the fourth Sunday after Pentecost is Luke 10:1-11, 16-20.
Thank you to Tim Brown for his reflection on this text in the weekly ELCA World Hunger Sermon Starters email, and to Brenda Ertl for her July 1 GodPause devotional. Here’s the audio of the sermon, and the video of the entire July 3 worship service.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Some of you might know, Living Hope subscribes to a resource called Clergy Stuff, from which we get each week’s call to worship and confession, some prayers, and some graphics for the service, all connected to the readings for the week.
One thing they provide each week is a word cloud for the sermon slide. It’s not necessarily the most creative graphic, but I assume the logic is that no matter what the sermon’s topic, something in the word cloud will be relevant.
For this week’s Gospel passage, I actually really appreciate the word cloud, because there is so much for us to explore in this story from Luke 10. Let’s dig in.
Luke starts in verse 1 by saying, “After this.” After what? Well, obviously, after the events of chapter nine! We heard the end last week, where Jesus laid out some of the challenges of discipleship, calling people to follow him and leave behind all the distractions of life. Earlier—in the middle of chapter nine—was the transfiguration story, and there’s some teaching and healing in there too.
But back at the beginning of chapter nine, Jesus had sent out his 12 disciples, and listen to this:
“Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey: no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.”
That’s the beginning of chapter nine. Sounds pretty close to what we just heard in chapter ten, right? Chapter nine was the pilot program, Jesus sending out his 12 closest followers, the core group of disciples.
Here in chapter ten, the mission expands. Now there’s seventy (or seventy-two, depending on which version you read). Either way, it’s a lot more than 12. The test run was successful, and the need is still great, so the mission is expanding.
First it’s Jesus, then the 12, then 70, and now it’s all of us. Throughout his story, Luke keeps coming back to the theme of Jesus’ ministry expanding to a wider circle. More and more people get to be involved.
The harvest is plentiful, Jesus says, and the laborers are few, therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. There is plenty to do for everyone.
Ministry and evangelism, reaching out to people, are not just a job for the inner group to do, or for the pastor, or the church council, or a particular committee. That’s important for us to remember!
Notice too that Jesus sends his followers out in pairs. Jesus knows they need support, companionship. They need community.
I don’t know if this idea of pairs is a metaphor for two congregations partnering together, but I do know I’m suspicious of churches and Christians that don’t cooperate together.
Our congregations are part of a wider church because we believe we need partnership. Isolated churches and lone wolf Christians can be scary. We need accountability when we take a wrong turn; we need encouragement when the road gets tough and we meet rejection.
We’ll get a tangible example next Sunday of being church together, partners in ministry when we have Pastor Kristin from the Greater Milwaukee Synod with us for my formal installation as your pastor. That word “synod” literally means together on the way, in partnership.
And we need that partnership, because the work can be difficult. Jesus says, “I’m sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.”
I hope in our culture we don’t feel surrounded by wolves—one of the things we celebrate tomorrow is the legal freedom to gather and worship as we choose—but it’s still easy to get overwhelmed with everything going on in the world, with culture changing around us, and Christians who proclaim a very different message than our understanding of the Gospel of God’s love for everyone. There’s a lot of both competition and apathy towards our message.
The temptation, of course, is to say, “Well, if we only had more resources. If only we had a bigger building, or more neighbors, or a pastor who didn’t ramble so much, or fancier music, or a better internet connection. If we only had more offering money, or better education, or whatever. Then we could do it. Then people would listen.”
But listen to Jesus’ directions: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.” If you don’t have any supplies with you, you’re forced to rely on God to provide. You’re forced to realize the truth that your work depends on the Holy Spirit’s guidance and provision.
You’re forced to trust God will work through the hospitality of others. And no distractions: Jesus sent them to specific places, places where he himself intended to go. This is the advance team, and they can’t be stopping constantly on the way.
When you get to a house, Jesus says, greet them in peace, and if they share in peace, that’s great. If they’re receptive to the message, stay with them. Form relationships. Don’t just find a street corner and start hollering; get to know people. Don’t treat people as a project or as “other”, but as neighbors, beloved children of God.
Remain in the same house; bloom where you’re planted. Don’t get distracted by trying to find some better, more upper-class folks to stay with. Don’t look for something more glamorous, better funded, greener pastures. Do not move about from house to house – stay focused on the mission and the needs where you are.
And finally, in verses 8 and 9, we see what the mission actually is. Jesus says, “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.’”
This is our call: Form relationships, care for people, and proclaim the good news: God’s kingdom is coming. God’s kingdom is here. The things of this world are not permanent; there is a better way, there is hope for the future.
It’s an odd message to proclaim as we celebrate our nation’s independence, but the good news is we are citizens of a different kingdom; our primary allegiance is to the King of Kings. God is on the move.
We can’t always cure people or cast out demons, but we can pray, we can accompany our neighbors when they’re facing hard times, and we can offer hope. Throughout the Holy Spirit, we can be God’s feet in this broken world.
Of course, not everyone will be receptive. Some people won’t be ready to hear or repent or believe. Jesus says, don’t let rejection hold you down.
When you go somewhere and they do not welcome you or your message, shake the dust off your feet in protest against them and move on. Often, we interpret shaking the dust off and moving on as a condemnation against those who reject the message, which it partially is. But it’s also more.
Have you ever had a bunch of mud caked on to your boots? Each footstep is like lifting a weight. It doesn’t take much before you start walking differently, lifting up your feet more slowly. Shaking the dust off your feet means refusing to carry the junk from a situation into a new setting. It’s unburdening yourself, traveling light as disciples, rather than dwelling in rejection.
Jesus says to wipe the slate clean and move on to the next town for a fresh start, letting go rather than getting bogged down. And remember, Jesus himself intends to go to these places as well. Moving on is grace, not condemnation.
But even as they move on, Jesus instructs his followers to proclaim, “The Kingdom of God has come near.” I read through this passage with a couple committee groups at Christ the King, and we weren’t sure how exactly to take this, because it depends a lot on the tone.
It could be getting the last word, a final snarky comment tossed back over your shoulder as you leave, “Yet know this!” Or, it could be a genuine word of grace: God’s love does not depend on our acceptance. Thanks be to God, God’s kingdom comes even when we get in the way.
Some time later, the seventy return with joy. They were successful! And Jesus basically asks them, “What’d you expect?” God doesn’t set us up to fail. We are given everything we need for the mission to which we are called.
Jesus ends this section by saying, “Don’t get too excited about things in this world, about spirits submitting to you and healings and that sort of thing.
Instead, rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Rejoice in the promise, in the eternal hope we are given. Rejoice that the good news is for you, here, now, today.
Beloved of God, this good news, this story is trusted to us. Jesus sends us, the people of Christ the King and Living Hope, out into the world to proclaim the good news to our neighbors.
And then we return with joy to reflect on the journey, and we are sent out again.
Amen