The Kingdom of God Has Come Near
Isaiah 66:10-14c; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 or 10:1-9
This is no way to gain a following, Jesus. This is no locker room pep-talk, no inspirational speech for sending out followers into a plentiful harvest. Sheep in the midst of wolves! Who wants to play that role?
And that is not all the bad news for these first Christian missionaries. They are commanded to go empty-handed, without even the most basic provisions necessary for the road. No purse, no bag, no sandals. Sheep in the midst of wolves. Jesus was acutely aware of how perilous the work of the gospel would be, and yet he allowed them to take no precautions as he sent them out.
As the seventy-two disappear two-by-two into the dusty roads before them, Luke tells us that they are empowered to share in the work of Jesus. No longer safe on the sidelines, these followers are now sent out, to share peace and fellowship, to cure the sick, to proclaim the kingdom of God. In short, they were called to live out and practice the faith that they had professed. And it is in the doing that the seventy are transformed from bystanders to active participants in the work of God.
Go empty-handed, Jesus commands them, something that in our modern world, we have a difficult time relating to. When we travel, whether that be on a vacation, business trip, or family visit, we like to be prepared. We carry extra clothing, equipment and other necessities because we don’t appreciate being uncomfortable. One of the latest trends in automobile travel is to have a DVD player installed in the family van in order to entertain the children. I read recently that 60% of the people who fly carry a lap-top computer. Ipod, ipad, iphone (i – yi- yi – yi – yi!) Now you can go anywhere and never have to be fearful of being in touch, knowing what the stock market is doing, or not having music to listen to. Traveling has literally become the art of taking everything on the road. We now have all the comforts of home with us on the road. We just don’t like to be without.
But these disciples are to carry with them no money or swords to display power, no food or supplies, no sandals for their feet. They must leave all of these comforts and necessities at home. The seventy-two are armed with only a message: the kingdom of God has come near. They are to speak these words to those who offer them hospitality and to those who do not. They are to be ambassadors for Christ; they are to live into God's vision for the world. They are to practice peace, do justice, live out the faith. After seeing what they had seen, after witnessing so much pain and so many miraculous moments, these followers were sent out to be doers of the word, to be kingdom carriers.
We might be tempted to disagree with Jesus in so strongly asserting that the kingdom has come near. All you and I have to do is open the morning newspaper and scan the headlines to come to the conclusion that we do not live in such a kingdom. Wars rage on with little sign of stopping. Poverty and hunger claim the lives of so many while others live in comfort with more than enough. Many are unsafe even in their own homes, while others enjoy the security of gates and fences. These are not the signs of the kingdom that we would expect. In fact, if the kingdom itself knocked on our door with no sandals, no food, and no money-we might be tempted to ask it to leave us alone and lock the door tight.
If the kingdom has indeed come near, what are the signs of its coming? Many Christians in our own time have begun to speak of the kingdom of God as a metaphorical and idyllic symbol of life as it will never be. But let's look again at the instructions Jesus gives to the seventy-two missionaries: they are to enter a town, and where welcomed they are to stay-that's Christian hospitality. They are to eat what is given to them-that's table fellowship. Then they are to cure the sick-that's compassion and care. Finally, they are to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near. Could it be that in the faithful and loving ministry of the disciples the kingdom of God in fact comes near?
Have you felt the presence of the kingdom in your own life? Have you had those experiences when the thin veneer of ordinary human existence is broken and the glory of God shines through? There is something about the Christian faith that must be lived in order to be understood. There are some gospel truths that only make sense in the homeless shelter, or on the steps of the capitol, or at a hospital bed, or in any one of the great number of places in the world where people cry out for mercy, for bread, for justice, for compassion. Perhaps this is why Jesus sends his followers into the mission field carrying only the message that the kingdom has come. It was all they needed.
We can use our theology as a bludgeon with which to beat others who cannot muster the faith we have. We can shout louder, speak longer, or preach harder than anyone else. We can be absolutely sure of our right answers. We can stay in our comfort zones, safely hovering above any real engagement with the issues of faith that call out to us and challenge us. But if we do, if we refuse to get our hands dirty and our hearts changed-than we risk missing the kingdom of God that has already come near in Jesus Christ. We risk missing the terrifying and empowering journey that requires nothing but faith in God to sustain us, and trust in fellow travelers to support us.
Did you notice in today’s gospel that Jesus didn’t just send out the Apostles to proclaim the message of the Kingdom? No, he didn’t just send out the twelve, but six times that number, because the responsibility of spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God was not something reserved only to the Apostles, but to all Jesus’ disciples. And so it is today. The Awesome responsibility and obligation is not something that is solely the work of our bishops, priests, and deacons, but something that must be undertaken by all those who are baptized. Jesus is sending US out into a complex and hostile world, like sheep in the midst of wolves. The good news is, the message is quite simple: the Kingdom of God has come near. But the challenge that Jesus gave to the seventy-two, the challenge he gives to us, is not merely to proclaim the messages, but to BE the message. The Kingdom of God has come near THROUGH US!
