Against the Stream
Lk. 10:1-11[1]
Most of you know
that I try to exercise as much as possible. Besides maintaining my physical
health, it helps me keep my head on straight—or at least as straight as
possible! I’ve recently added a new activity to my “repertoire”: swimming. I’ve
spent a lot of my life in the water, so you’d think that would be a natural
choice. But increased age and weight have made it more difficult for me to swim
laps in recent years. The problem is that in order to keep afloat, I have to
swim at a pace that I can’t sustain for long. What’s made the difference for me
is that I’ve finally decided to try out some of the training gear that helps
with that. Without it, just swimming in a pool feels to me like swimming
against the stream.
I realize that
water sports may not be as common here as they are on the Gulf Coast, where I
spent much of my life. If you’ve ever spent any time in the water, you know
that with most kinds of water sports, going against the current, or into the
wind, or against the tide, or into the waves, can be challenging, to say the
least. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you very likely won’t make much
headway. And in some situations, you can get yourself into trouble quickly. The
currents in the ocean can drag an adult far from shore and send even the safest
water craft out to sea. As with many endeavors like this, just getting into the
water can carry with it certain dangers.
In our Gospel
lesson for today, Jesus warns those who would stand for the Kingdom of God of
the dangers it can involve. In this context, he is sending 70 of his followers
“on ahead of him” to prepare the way for him. But there is something different
about this journey: he has “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Lk. 9:51). And as
he’s already warned the twelve, the end of that journey will be his death. That
impinges on the mission of the 70 as well. The situation has changed. Instead
of being welcomed with joy and amazement, now Jesus is beginning to face
opposition and even danger. And he sends out “laborers into [the] harvest” (Lk.
10:2) with the warning that they will also face opposition.
The instructions
Jesus gives them may seem strange at first. They’re not to take a purse, a bag,
or even sandals (Lk. 10:4)! It would seem that the situation was urgent, and
Jesus wanted them to go about the work of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and
doing its work without any distractions. On the other hand, some of his
instructions reflect the practices of wandering teachers in that day. Jesus
clearly wanted his messengers to be different from those who were viewed with
suspicion because they took advantage of the situation by taking support from
as many “houses” as possible. He wanted their mission of peace to be consistent
with the Kingdom of God.
At the same time,
however, Jesus warns them that not everyone will welcome them. Not everyone
will accept the “peace” of God’s Kingdom that they have come to offer.
Throughout the Gospels, it is clear that some welcome the good news Jesus
brings, while others adamantly reject it. When that happens, the message of
salvation offered freely to all becomes a warning of judgment to those who
refuse God’s Kingdom. And so Jesus instructs his messengers to enact a ceremony
that might seem strange to us: wiping even the dust of a place off their feet
as a warning to them. Doubtless, this warning would not have made them any more
welcome to people who had already rejected their offer of peace!
In light of the
cross, those who align themselves with Jesus and with his message and mission
of promoting the Kingdom of God will face danger, just as he did. Jesus himself
warned, “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves” (Lk. 10:3).
And even though they apparently did not risk their lives on this occasion, the
call to follow Jesus and to carry out the mission of the Kingdom of God would
lead many of them into danger. And some of them would lose their lives for the
sake of the Gospel. They were “swimming upstream” in a time and a place where
that put them in great danger.
A lot of this may
sound strange to those of us who still hold the belief that our country is a
“Christian nation.” Or at least that we have a constitutional right to practice
our faith according to the dictates of our conscience. I think many of us just
expect others to be courteous at the very least. As a result, we may be
surprised when we follow Jesus and we find ourselves faced with opposition and
even hostility from the culture in which we live. The sad truth is that many
people in our culture have given themselves to kingdoms other than the kingdom
of God: Wall Street, or Hollywood, or Washington, or Madison Avenue. These
other kingdoms have convinced people to find their worth as human beings
through wealth, beauty, power, or possessions. The Kingdom of God contradicts
those claims, and if we live by the values of the Kingdom, we are always going
to be swimming against the stream!
Perhaps, like
Jesus’ original disciples, we should not be surprised when some respond to the
message of the Kingdom of God with hostility. After all, we are contradicting
the principles that they believe define their worth as human beings. While
those other “kingdoms” may promise happiness, only following Jesus in living
out the Kingdom of God can bring true fulfillment. Despite all opposition, we
who have embraced the call to follow Jesus and have made the commitment to
practice the values and to proclaim the message of the Kingdom may find
ourselves feeling discouraged. When it feels like our efforts to be faithful to
God’s Kingdom have us swimming against the stream, we can take heart that God
will continue to bring his Kingdom among us, and through us to those we
encounter.
[1]
©2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 7/7/2019 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
No comments:
Post a Comment