July 7, 2019
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Now that I have done it twice, returning to college after being out of classes for some time can evoke a tiny bit of anxiety. I began seminary a decade after getting my undergrad degree, and last fall I began a spiritual direction certificate program at Loyola University Chicago. This anxiety really can happen at any grade level, kindergarten, entering middle school, or starting as a freshman in high school. Once you get into class, it can get better as you get to know people and then you get the syllabus.
The syllabus is great because it has everything you will need in it for the year and what the expectations of the teacher or professor are. One of the first things that I usually turn to in the syllabus is the assignments that are due over the course of the semester. This past spring semester I looked at the syllabus for one of my classes and read that one of the assignments included group work. UGH!!!!!
Now, I like people and I like working with people. However, this was an online course. How were we going to do group work? Also, there is that part of me that feeds into our cultural urges to be individuals and rewards those that are strong enough to do things on their own. There is little foundation in this, but individuality as become a large part of our society.
When we turn towards the gospel lesson, Jesus sends the seventy disciples out ahead of him in pairs! Jesus repeatedly ensures that the disciples are not on their own and reminds them that not one of them is greater than another. We too are sent, supported by Christ, and called to work alongside each other for the kingdom of God.
As the disciples traveled with Jesus they were consistently challenged by his teachings and he stretched them to think beyond themselves. They argued among themselves about who was greater and if they could sit at the right and the left hand of Jesus. To me, it sounds like the individualism that we are concerned about today existed two thousand years ago. Throughout history, wars have started and continue to erupt when leaders and countries think that they are better than others.
The seventy disciples sent out ahead of Jesus were given the task to start healing and proclaiming the word of the Lord so that the communities were ready when Jesus arrived. Jesus knew that they would not be totally successful in their mission and when they came back with great stories of the demons listening to them and people being healed, Jesus was quick to rebuke. For it was not them personally doing any of this work. It was God working through them. How easy this can be to forget. Imagine the inflated egos that some of them may have had when they returned with such great news for Jesus and he popped their bubble.
How easy it is for praise to be quickly taken in a negative direction. If allowed, it can result in the same inflated egos. Once their ego has been inflated, some people will do whatever they can to maintain it, including misleading others and going to the extremes of corruption. I am sure that we can all think of instances when this has happened in the corporate world as well as in our own government and especially other governments around the world.
It is easy to get wrapped up in our own way of doing things and want little help from others. Especially if we know the way we are doing it is the right way! It becomes easy for us to turn others away because things will get done the way we want them to get done, whether it is right or not. This happens in many areas, like school, to the operation of our cities, corporations, and government. Believe it or not, it can even happen in the church!
From the very beginning of creation, this was not God’s intention. We were created in the image of God to be in relationship with one another. Less than a month ago we celebrated Holy Trinity Sunday and lifted up the relationship of the Trinity and how Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work with one another to guide and lead us in our lives. We are not created to back bite and try to one-up one another. We are not created to take advantage of others. We are not created for our own personal successes that lead to inflated egos.
We are created to be in relationship and to live into community. We are created to support our siblings and to share the same love with them that Jesus shared with us. Do you think those seventy disciples that were sent out, did so reluctantly because they had to go out in groups? I personally doubt it, because I am sure there would have been a clarification from Jesus why they had to go out in twos if they had questioned him. It was their boastfulness that got them in trouble when they returned.
They are there to support one another and be reminded that they do not have to go alone. This is a great reminder for us as we try to go our own way with little support from others. We all know that things come together much better in relationship and in community with one another. However, we are pulled away from this when we think we know better. In Jesus we have a reminder that we are not alone, and we do not have to proceed on our own. No matter what it is we face we are encouraged to surround ourselves with others.
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend a benefit dinner for Ded Rranxburgaj and his family at Central United Methodist Church in Detroit. Due to an eruption of war in Albania in 2001, Ded and his family moved to the United States and applied for asylum. They followed all the rules and a couple of years ago Ded was threatened with deportation. His wife Flora, who has MS, has a medical exception, and their two sons are not in danger. As a community Central United Methodist has provided them sanctuary for roughly eighteen months as Ded awaits a court ruling. They could not have done this all on their own and if it were not for the church community, this family would have been split apart. This is community supporting one another and imitating Christ.
Jesus entered this world in a time when the Jewish population was tolerated in the Roman Empire, but he suffered at the very hands of that empire. When we come to the table and take communion we eat and drink the very being of Christ. May this loving welcome that Christ invites us to be open to all of God’s creation and may we carry that love out to those that are living amid injustice.
Jesus repeatedly ensures that the disciples are not on their own and reminds them that not one of them is greater than another. We too are sent, supported by Christ, and called to work alongside each other in the kingdom of God.
Let us pray. Sending God, you have sent us out into the world to share the love and grace of Jesus Christ. May we bring peace and comfort to those that are sick and in need of healing, and may we bring your word to those places that we see injustice. Amen.
a mysterious way 