11 04 A Simple Plan Luke 10

As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own, that, hearing, we may also obey your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As we have recently gone through a time of discernment, and as we figure out how to take that data and use it to show the world the love of God, I thought about this passage in Luke. Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the gospel of Luke. Listen. Luke 10.1-20.

After this 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.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. “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 Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

This was certainly to be no walk in the park. It wasn’t a day hike on family vacation. It wasn’t even a challenging elective that you sign up for at youth camp. This would involve real people, going into the real world, with a real message, about a Kingdom that the disciples dearly hoped was just as real.

I imagine that there were some nervous disciples that morning. Perhaps Jesus gave them his best, “Win one for the Gipper,” speech. His disciples, seventy of them in fact, were being sent with the mission of preparing the way. They were to be witnesses and evangelists. In summary, they were to speak a word about God.

It’s the sort of practice that makes any group of disciples nervous. And you can understand why. To go out there… in the world… and represent Christ. To be a witness… out there of all places. There’s lots of trouble in the world. Lots of hurt. Lots of pain. What resources do you really have against such foes? As the apostle Paul wrote, “there are powers and principalities at work”. Corruption and injustice. Division and greed. Systems of oppression… cultures of death. Ultimately, there is lots of darkness in the world. There are many shadows… the kind you can see… and the kind you tolerate because you’ve gotten used to dim lighting.

Their teacher had given them detailed directions. What to carry with them. What to leave at home. What to say. What not to say. How to say hello. How to eat. And how to leave when leaving must be done.

The disciples paired up. Kind of a Noah’s Ark theme. Only this time, they weren’t going into the safe confines of the Ark. They were going into the real world, they were going into the darkness, they were going into the midst of floodwaters. Since you should always swim with a buddy, they went in pairs. Actually, there is good theology in that. The disciples were going out into the dark dark world, but they were not going alone. Today, as disciples we are asked to go into the dark world, but we never go alone, you get your family with you.

Can you see them, back then, walking along the road? Before the road forked, perhaps, the groups might have been walking together, and talking it out. Maybe they were practicing or discussing exactly what they would say, what words they would use, how they would start, or how they would finish. Adding some insights here and there. Even all the details need some clarification. That’s a phenomenon known by preachers and teachers. No matter how specifically you say something… no matter how well you spell it out… inevitably and invariably someone will come up to you later and say, “I loved how you talked about ….” And you’re thinking, “I didn’t say anything remotely related to that.” And on your good days you chalk that up to work of the Spirit.

You know, I think it was at that exact point that differing manners of going about and doing exactly what Jesus said to do started. All churches, all Christians, have a way of spreading the gospel, because that is our task. Our news is so good we simply cannot, nor should not, keep it to ourselves. And the origins of the ways that people go about doing that may have started right here, on that road.

There’s the group that says something along the lines of this; “Fed to wolves my hide. Let’s sharpen our tongues, crack our knuckles, and roll up our sleeves, for it’s a cut throat world out there. Either hunt or be hunted. After all, this mission will fail if it is handled by lambs. Lambs get eaten by wolves.” People like this are convinced that the only way to succeed is to turn the tables, become the wolves. I mean, you can really get somewhere in life if you take notes from the wolves. A well-timed snarl… an ambush on the weakest among the prey. These are the means of progress and prosperity. If a little force is called for, then so be it.

We have all seen the wolves in action, maybe even been the wolves a time or two. And when Christians take on the roll of the wolves when spreading the Word, the Darkness laughs.

There is a different response. Instead of acting aggressive with a show of force, the gospel can be sold. The more glitter the better. In fact, the more bling that the message bringer wears, it seems to be the better. The theory here is that it’s a new game. You can’t arm wrestle people to the ground anymore. This is a fast-paced world full of split-second decisions. Everybody has something to sell. If you don’t have a hook, no one will listen. You have to drum up a crowd…crank out a show…put stars in their eyes…

Now, before you think about how foreign that is, I’d like you to look at this watch. I don’t wear it everyday. I have two other watches, one for business casual Matt, and one for shorts and sandals Matt. But this is my dress up watch, because on Sunday, or the other times when I wear a tie, it is important to me that I look good. All the way down to the watch.

And its not just looks. The whole church does it, right? Let’s make sure we are friendly and have ushers and greeters. Let’s pull up some pews and pull out the chancel area, chancel is just the fancy church title for the stage, to help it look & function better. Let’s get some chandeliers, and some nice chairs. And trust me, I agree with every one of those decisions. I think it looks great in here, and I think it should. But let’s not distance ourselves too much from the folks who peddle Christianity, who accent the glittery parts.

So, many Christians have seen the wolves, and seen the peddlers, and reacted by thinking that it sounds too much like warfare and confrontation. Too much is being made of this in conflict. People have long said, since those pairs went out on the road is my guess, “Look we’re going out to see people we don’t know. They just want to be left alone. There’s no reason to stir the pot… cause a fuss. The world isn’t in such bad shape… and if it is, who are we to say so. We’re just people. Ordinary people. I think the best thing for us to do is go somewhere… hide out really…be inconspicuous… be as polite as possible… keep our mouths shut… and play it safe.”

Like the others, when Christians take on the roll of just playing it safe and being quiet, the darkness laughs.

There has been another way. I think that of the groups that went out that day with the instructions from Jesus, some of them probably thought differently than the wolves, the peddlers, or the safe crowd. “It actually seems pretty simple. Not simple as in easy… but simple as in… you know, not complicated. We travel light. We speak peace. We sit down and eat. We try to be a healing presence. We tell people that the Kingdom of God is right in front of their noses.”

“What if they don’t want you there?” wonder the well-mannered third group.

The laughter comes again, but this time, it is the other disciples laughing. It is a ridiculous strategy. Not really a strategy at all. More like an exercise in futility.

In his recent book, Testimony, Tom Long wonders about an age-old question: Why is it so uncomfortable for ordinary Christians to talk about God and faith when we are not at church. On the one hand, we believe that we can’t tell the whole truth without talking about God. On the other hand, much of our language about God in the world feels so forced… lacking an authentic quality.

Or it has been done like the peddlers… selling the gospel with glossy promises and trendy displays.

You can see why we might be tempted to take the advice of the polite and well-mannered disciples… staying out of the way and avoiding conflict.

So what’s a disciple to do? We’ve got this task… this calling… to be the presence of Christ in the world. But plenty of obstacles stand in the path. It takes a firm sense of trust to go and live this. It takes a good measure of hope. It takes prayers and discernment. Perhaps more than anything else, it takes courage.

When I drive to Columbia Theological Seminary, on 285, I see billboards for a local Christian radio station. Now the sign doesn’t say that they play Christian music, but there’s a logo of a big fish… so you kind of get the point. The sign shows a picture of a family… typical American family. Beautiful people, really. And I know they aren’t selling Christianity, but a radio station, so in the end I forgive them for my misgivings.

The caption reads, “Safe for the whole family.” It’s the perfect family. And at first my thought was, “Where is my family on this? Where is the overweight, overworked, overstressed out, wishing he had more patience parent, struggling just to get his kids to stay at the dinner table? Where is the African American? Where is the disfunctional family? Look at the stereotype pushed right at us?”

That was my first reaction. And again, they aren’t really evangelizing here, they are selling a radio station.

But lately, I’ve noticed the words. “Safe.” Safe. You know, the gospel is many, many things. It is good and gracious. It is renewing and redemptive. It is a beautiful and wonderful mystery full of meaning.

But one thing the gospel is not is “safe”. And it would be difficult to argue otherwise. Oh, I wish it were safe. I wish it allowed me to remain safe. But instead I find the gospel to be incredibly risky… even dangerous. It calls us to speak when we don’t want to speak. To forgive when we would rather retaliate. To deny when all we really want is consumption.

And yet somehow, the disciples of Jesus went anyway. With such a simple plan. Speak peace. Eat with others. Bring healing. Say that the Kingdom of God is near.

Back then, when Jesus sent them out, I believe that a good number of the disciple teams did just that. It’s a plan we’ve been trying to follow all these centuries later, though it is a plan we have been known to mess up a good deal too. They spoke peace. And amazingly, it was a word that people longed to hear. It was a truth they longed to embrace. Peace. A deeper peace. Not brought by government sanctions or financial stability or national security. Not the Pax Romana… such a small “pax”, really. But the peace of Christ.

They sat down to tables… common tables. They shared meals with their hosts. Became companions. That’s really what the word means. There’s a sacred quality to food. It’s more than fried chicken, deviled eggs, and pasta salad at the casserole supper. Food breaks down barriers. Binds neighbors. Communicates the fellowship of God.

They brought healing. Often physical… for the body. But the kind of healing where everything – body and soul and creation and community – fall into sync. Where relationships are made whole. People are put on the path of restoration.

They told everyone that the Kingdom of God was close. Told them whether they welcomed them or rejected them. The Kingdom of God is close. So close that they might stub their toe on it. So close that they might laugh with delight if they could only see it. So close that they might stumble over it and fall headlong into a hilarious love affair of heaven and earth.

iThis sermon and title owe much to Chris Thacker, a fellow student in the Doctoral Program at CTS, and who shared the Barbara Brown Taylor class, “Embodied Word” with me in the summer of 2007.