Galatians 6.1-16, Luke 10.1-20 [1]
Third Sunday after Trinity, 7th July 2019
Eldroth, Keasden
Christ’s disciples walked in a world of acceptance or rejection. Every day they experienced being either embraced or expelled. Jesus sent out seventy of them to the Gentile towns of Judea as he had previously sent out twelve to the towns of Galilee in Israel, to heal the sick and proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God. He told them to expect welcome in some places, and opposition in others, but promised them peace whatever they found; he told them to accept whatever came their way and to leave him to deal with the consequences; he pronounced woe on the Galilean towns who sent his disciples packing, even greater woe than on the Gentile towns who had previously done the same.
Every day these disciples offered peace to every home they visited; they spoke in Jesus’ name, and they understood that if they were not listened to, then it was Jesus, not them, who was rejected. They came back home to him rejoicing, and he embraced them.
So, what of Christ’s disciples today, you and me, baptised into a lifetime’s journey with our Lord? Christ calls us as he called the twelve and the seventy, to walk with him in the world, to be the human beat of his heavenly heart every place that we go. This may come as a little surprise to us. We are not wanderers in a strange place, like they were; we are more rooted people who know our place and its people well; we move slowly through our neighbourhood, our regular contact with our neighbours means that our relationships with them have deepened over time.
But, in the eyes of Jesus we are his disciples too. And the confidence he had in the twelve and the seventy-two, he has in us, our small congregations - to bring peace, healing and the message of the Kingdom of Heaven to others. In a world where all people experience acceptance or rejection, where everyone knows what it is to be embraced or expelled, we - the followers of Jesus - are the bearers of good news.
How do you feel about us, bearing the message of the Kingdom of Heaven? If you feel daunted by that then you’re not alone; for in our uncertain age, where everything seems open to question and people are very quick to judge and condemn others, it’s understandable how Christians can feel nervous about explaining, proclaiming and expressing our faith.
You may long to feel more confident in knowing and telling the Christian story, to grasp more fully the meaning of the cross so as to be able to helpfully explain it to others, to know more fully what it means for us to be citizens and heralds of the Kingdom of Heaven in the here and now. If that is you, then you might find today’s gospel passage a helpful starting point.
For one thing, it tells us that in this work of telling the Christian story, we are not to do it alone. Notice how Jesus sent the disciples out as a group. We are not called in isolation. We are called as a people together and there’s great strength in that. As Paul wrote to the Galatians: ‘Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’ Support each other, care for each other, and that in itself is a great witness to others in our otherwise brutal, competitive world.
For another thing, we learn from Jesus’ instructions not to linger in those places where our witness to Christ has been rejected; it’s something we’re liable to do especially if we’ve been trying for years to help maybe a partner or a close friend or a grandchild see the value in the faith we have - but to no avail. There is a time to try; and there is a time to give up trying and just trust God to do the work. Thankfully, we’re not the messiahs - Jesus is; se we give this over to him.
On the other hand, if we work together to share the good news of Jesus with others, he tells us to expect that some people will receive it well - when you say, “Peace to this house!” and the people there receive that peace. Do we worry that the message of Jesus is so strange, so misunderstood, so unfashionable, that no one would ever accept it? No, for people are longing and searching and yearning for peace in this troubled world - when they hear of One who came to bring peace some will embrace this so thankfully - and if you’re the ones to bear this good news, then you share the joy they find.
When the seventy returned to Jesus and told him of all the great things they had been able to do in his name, he said an astonishing thing: ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning,’ he said. [2] What on earth could this mean? Commentators suggest that in this moment Jesus is flashing forward in time to describe what his eyes see from the cross, at that pivotal moment of his death. ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning.’ It is so intense an image, like a scene from a film, that it is likely to stick in our mind’s eye once we’ve pictured it for the first time.
Jesus, crucified by brutal enemies, whilst hanging there utterly engaged in a cosmic battle between the powers, at the very moment of his death ‘sees Satan fall from heaven like lightning’, and in a flash the world is changed substantially, for ever. By the actions of God in the resurrection, the old world of brutal competition gives way to a greater power - of love, forgiveness, peace.
When Jesus saw the disciples come back from their mission, when he heard their stories about all the good they had done and saw in their eyes the joy they felt in sharing in the work of his kingdom, that was a resurrection moment; a moment in which he exclaimed that by the actions of his disciples, the Godly power of love, forgiveness, peace had broken into the broken world.
The astonishing truth here is that whenever we open ourselves out to share the good news of Jesus with others, we releasing the power of the cross; whenever we tell someone why we have faith and what it means to us, in that moment Satan falls from heaven like lightning; whenever we act faithfully in the service of Christ then God’s great resurrection power comes to light.
Does this scare you or excite you? That each time we do and say a good thing here on earth, this causes a shift towards good in the heavenly powers? Let’s take it as an encouragement - that what we sow, we will reap - on earth and also in heaven. Let’s go out sowing good together this week.
Notes
[1] The lectionary has Luke 10.1-11,16-20 to omit Jesus’ ‘Woes’ on Chorazin and Bethsaida… Why? I have corrected this.
[2] My previous sermon on Luke 10.1-11, 16-20, Christ’s disciples walk in a world of acceptance or rejection, Whitegate, 2013, owes a great deal to the concluding chapter of Rene Girard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, p.182-193, and to Paul Nuechterlein’s notes on the Luke passage in his Girardian Lectionary, Proper 9C.
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