|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| 2 Kings 5:1-14 |
Psalm
66:1–8
|
Galatians
6:7–16
|
Luke
10:1–11, 16–20
|
The sending of 70 disciples, two by two out to prepare the way for Jesus is one of the more puzzling episodes in Luke. It is such a very large number in proportion to those who at the time actually could be called followers of Jesus. Last week, the prophet Elisha gave an ox roast using 12 oxen, likely symbolic that Elisha would become prophet for all the tribes of Israel. It may be that today the number 70 represented the symbolic number of non-Jewish nations in the world. Just as twelve disciples were sent to the twelve tribes of Israel, the seventy represented the preliminary preparation for the future mission to all gentiles
Luke makes special mention of Jesus’ concern for outcasts of society and for non-Jews, Luke also records Jesus’ specific call to go out to all nations, after the resurrection. At the very least, Luke, as he complied the Gospel account, was influenced by the current situation of the young church in the early years after the resurrection and by the growing consciousness of the church’s wider vision.
The task of the seventy was obviously one of a short duration. There was no provision to set up permanent residency or to establish a continuing mission. Religious life was still to be centered around the local synagogue, and the seventy were to return, report to Jesus, and then presumably go back to their own villages.
Soon after the seventy returned, it would become apparent to all that the mission of the seventy was not to have lasting success, despite the early promising enthusiasm. The more Jesus preached and the closer he got to Jerusalem, the more the opposition hardened and the fewer, Jesus’ true followers became. We tend to think of ourselves as a small gathering of Christians here on a warm summer Sunday in July, but the size of our gathering here now is probably twice as large as many gatherings Jesus preached to.
Nonetheless, the seventy disciples had experienced real joy as they announced the coming of the Gospel, and I would want to hold up that joy as something to be thankful for. People rejoiced that God had not forgotten them, that they were invited and God wanted them included in the Kingdom; sick people were healed and given a sign that God listened, as a new future, a rebirth of God’s grace was announced and received with rising hope.
Often when we are so concerned with the absence of God in the world, we neglect to acknowledge the presence of God, and to share the joy that we do find. The seventy discovered that the Gospel was able to move people, to bring them together, and something very wonderful, and very good, began to form as a real possibility in peoples’ lives.
Jesus reminded those who returned, don't concentrate on your successes by what seems to be your power to persuade. You were successful because you went out as passers of God's peace, with no expectations or agenda other than to offer to others, the Good News which you had been given. When you were filled with God's mission, rather than worrying about whether or not people would like you; when you traveled with eagerness to the next place instead of becoming angry, signs of God’s harvest popped up everywhere.
This past July 4th despite the rain people gathered for picnics, and strangers watched fireworks together and enjoyed each other’s company. There was a spirit of contentment, a spirit sadly lacking in most of society today, a contentment in being together, in being part of a nation that transcends blood ties, and religion. The Biblical tradition doesn’t ignore the nationalistic occasions of celebration. Instead it transforms them into a universal context. The Bible points to all those other things which continue to separate us from each other, and asks, what about them?
What God asks of all nations is not how large are your granaries or how wide your sphere of influence, but how do you treat the refugees, the orphans, the strangers in your land. How are they and the many refugees of innumerable internal battles and disagreements, included? Do they ever experience joy too? An unmistakable and consistent theme in the Bible is God holding people and nations responsible for their treatment of others, not the extent of their power over the earth.
The Gospel is telling us that every single one of us can be like one of those seventy and discover that special joy. People of faith, don't need to worry all the time about their influence or power of persuasion on others. People of faith are passers of Gospel peace. People of faith are expected to help make this world a better place than they found it. The church is to help equip us and nourish us for that task. That is why, outwardly successful or not, people of faith are called to repeat the paradigm of the mission of the seventy, over and over again.
I offer you these thoughts, in the name of Jesus Christ, the giver of peace that the world cannot give. Amen.
