Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 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.’ “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.”
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In the 1970’s John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd
created a pair of characters they called the Blues Brothers. Jake and Elwood Blues were musicians from
Chicago. Rhythm and Blues. They were soul men.
In 1980 they put out a film called The
Blues Brothers based on these characters.
The story begins with Elwood picking up Jake as he is released from
prison. They go back to the Catholic
orphanage where they were raised, where they first learned to play music, to
visit the sisters. They learn that the orphanage is going to be shut down
unless a $5000 property tax bill is paid.
Jake and Elwood want to help.
Later that day, in an epiphany moment during a church service, Jake
decides to put on a benefit concert to raise the money.
Well, the whole film from there on is a
sort of a silly chase scene, where Jake and Elwood are driving all around Chicagoland
tracking down the old members of the band, while they are being pursued by police
for a variety of outstanding citations.
In addition, they are being chased by a band of rednecks and a
mysterious woman assaulting them with bombs, bazookas and M16’s.
All the while, everywhere they go, Elwood
tells people, “We’re on a mission. From
God.”
They say that mission is tough, and I
believe Jake and Elwood would agree. As
they are persecuted by the law and assorted other individuals who have an ax to
grind. As they miraculously escape
gunfire and explosions. As they are
chased by about a hundred police cars, but somehow get away unscathed and leave
a multi-car pile-up in their wake. I
think they would agree. It was
tough.
And as they traveled around the area
gathering the band members together, one or two at a time, it was almost as
though they were gathering their disciples; saying, “Come, follow me.” They did come, leaving their work and their
families behind, in one memorable scene, an outraged Aretha Franklin wearing a
waitress uniform and fuzzy pink slippers, singing her heart out to her man –
You better think about what you’re trying to do to me. It didn’t matter, though, because they were
on a mission. From God.
Mission is, indeed, tough. But it is also absolutely, critically
important.
In Luke’s 9th chapter, Jesus
turned his face toward Jerusalem. “He
set his face toward Jerusalem.” These
are the words Luke uses to tell us Jesus is looking now to what’s ahead.
And what is ahead for him is a storm of
unpleasantness, to put it gently. We
know what it is, we’ve all heard the story.
Betrayal, arrest, trial, betrayal, torture, betrayal, and crucifixion. Nothing good there.
But beyond that, Jesus is looking at what
will happen after he is gone. He is like
the man who tries to teach his wife how to drive the car while he is sick with
cancer, thinking about what will happen after he is gone.
Jesus has begun to think about equipping his
friends for the mission he was leaving them.
A bit earlier he had sent out the 12 –
his inner circle – on a similar kind of mission: to heal and to proclaim the
kingdom of God. They were wildly
successful, healing and proclaiming wherever they went. When they came back, they were jazzed! Yet, surprisingly, practically in the next
moment, they hesitate when Jesus suggests they provide food for the thousands
who have gathered to hear him teach.
They feel inadequate for the task.
This is a learning curve with plenty of dips and dives in it.
Now Jesus sends out 70 other disciples to
do the same. The harvest is plentiful
but the laborers are few. It will not be
at all sufficient for only the 12 disciples to carry out the mission of the
church. All hands will be needed. And then some.
Pray, Jesus tells them. Ask the Lord to send out laborers. This is not a task that you can do on your
own. But go, as well. Pray,
then go out into the world to
proclaim that the kingdom of God is very near.
Know that the message will not always be received. But don’t let that discourage you from
continuing on with your mission. It
requires your full commitment.
Throughout the history of the church we
have thought of mission in different ways.
In the beginning, the church itself was a mission. In Matthew 28 Jesus gave his followers what
we call the great commission, sending them out to make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. These were their marching
orders.
But later, we compartmentalized mission,
making it a specialty of the church for those who were interested in going out
to exotic locations and serving and teaching the people in the name of Jesus. Mission was something that happened in far
off lands, carried out by a few who brought back to us colorful stories and ask
for our support. We all supported it
still – but from a distance.
Now we are living on a very small
planet. Now the whole world has been
given the word of God. Everywhere you
go. Not all have received it, just as
they didn’t all receive it from the original 12, where Jesus instructed them to
shake the dust off their feet and keep moving.
But even in the inhospitable nations, there are secret pockets of Jesus
followers.
Some years ago, I was on a youth retreat at
which we welcomed a man from Burma. He
was here as a part of our International Peacemaking Program, where Christians
from other parts of the world come and share with us information about the
culture and the church in their nation.
This man spoke relatively little English. But, we discovered the first night, when the
folks who were supposed to bring dinner were late, that he was a miraculous
cook. He made us a delicious and
bountiful Burmese dish out of practically nothing.
And in his halting English, this is what
he said to us. Two hundred years ago the
American Baptist missionaries came to Burma and taught us about Jesus. We were baptized and became Christians. And now we come to you.
Thanks be to God! Because, don’t we need missionaries now, in
our turn, right here in our midst? Is
not this land of ours a mission field, where the harvest is plentiful and the
laborers are few? All we need to do is step outside our doors and begin walking
around our immediate neighborhood to see that there is need of healing and
teaching and proclaiming that the kingdom of God is near.
By the way, to say “the kingdom of God is
near” is not a threat. I know it has
been used that way. But it’s not – if we
believe that the kingdom of God is love and forgiveness and peace. To hear this is good news.
It is time for the church to reclaim its
mission, because this mission is the very purpose of the church on earth. We are here to feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, shelter the homeless, heal the sick, befriend the lonely, visit the
prisoners. And all of these needs are
right here in our city. There is a need,
a hunger for the good news, right in our midst.
And Jesus sends us out.
I asked the roundtable how they felt
about being sent out, and they answered in one word: inadequate. Inadequate is what we all are, without the
Holy Spirit. But with the power of the
Spirit, we might see and hear and know how to feed the hunger. How to reap the harvest of the Lord. How to work for the kingdom.
If we seek it in prayer, we will find our
mission. If we ask and listen and pay
attention, we will know how God might use us.
If Jake and Elwood can find their mission, I believe we can too.
There is an old vacation Bible school
song that got lodged in my head and never left, as VBS songs have a habit of
doing. And at times like this, I think
of this one. It goes, “I believe God
will use me.”
I believe God will use me.
Come.
The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. Come.
