3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Anke and I both attended the annual DE-MD Synod Assembly last weekend, along with several members of Calvary. I always enjoy going. It’s a time to reconnect with folks I have seen for a while. It’s an opportunity to do a little networking. The worship is usually pretty good and the preaching is always excellent.
One of the people who went with us had a conversation with Anke a few days later. They said that for some time now, they’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything that’s happening in the world. The corrosive politics, the war in Iran, the economy… They said they felt like they were an ant, and I giant boot was overhead, just waiting to fall on them. But then they attended Synod Assembly. And they saw what the church is doing. We heard from the people who run college campus ministries in Delaware and Maryland, and how many more young people are participating compared to just last year. We heard about the work be done by Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Disaster Response. We heard about the number of new mission starts in our Synod and how the congregations of this Synod continue to grow in their support of the Synod and the ministry of the wider church. And we worshipped together. There’s something incredibly powerful in being able to worship together with a few hundred people. To receive Holy Communion as one body. And to sing with such volume that you have no trouble hearing it over the organ.
It all serves as a very real and concrete reminder that we are not alone in this world. We are part of something that is bigger than we are. We are part of something that transcends the world with all of its blessings and with all of its problems. We are part of the body of Christ, which transcends the bounds of time and space to unite us all into one mystical body. So that even when we may feel lonely and overwhelmed by what the world has to offer, we are never truly alone.
This past weekend I was talking to Marty Singley, and he was telling me about a scene from the tv series “The Chosen” which, it turns out, is based upon our gospel reading for this morning. I didn’t even know it at the time, because I had not yet looked at the readings for today. It’s really very well done and with humor, because the various disciples’ responses are very real and very human. At one point one the disciples says,
“How will we know what to say? I’ve only heard the one sermon.” (Referencing the sermon on the mount). To which another disciple responds, “You heard the best sermon.” And then he looks at Jesus and says, “I mean don’t get me wrong. They’re all so good.” At another point one of the other disciples says, “Could you please go back to the part about healing the sick and casting out demons?”
As I said, what I love about the scene is how realistic and oh-so human the response of the disciples is. It’s really clear that what Jesus is asking of them is unsettling. Their anxiety is palpable. They’re clearly feeling rather ant-like at that moment, their looming mission trip hanging over them like a giant boot, about to drop. And throughout it all, the character of Jesus continually encourages them and calmly answers their questions.
“How will we know what to say?” “You already know what to say because you have been listening to me.”
“Other people have extra clothes and bags for money, why can’t we?” “Because I want people to be able to tell you apart from those others.” “How are we going to heal people and cast out demons?” “I will give you the power that you need to do those things.”
The scene makes several points, but I think one of the main one’s is one that’s instructive for us. The disciples will never be truly alone. First, because they will be going out in pairs, two-by-two. But secondly, because Jesus will be with them. Not physically, as he is in the scene from the tv series, but figuratively. They will carry with them his words. They will carry with them the power that he grants them. And the same is true for us.
Yes, the world can be an overwhelming place. And as our synod assembly reminded one person, we are neither alone, nor are we helpless. We have the presence of Christ with us, through the Holy Spirit, and we have the tools that Christ has given us.
What Paul frames for us conceptually when he calls us to “be conformed to the image of Christ” or to “have the mind of Christ”, Matthew shows us in a very practical way. It means realizing that we are apprenticed to Christ. Look at the job description Jesus gives to the disciples: "cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." That could be Jesus’ own resume. Jesus not only sends them out with power to validate the kingdom's nearness but to announce it by using the very same words as their teacher: "The kingdom of heaven has come near"
In Matthew, Jesus' followers include the original audience as well as us. We are expected to resemble him in word and deed. To be sent by Jesus is, in some sense, to be sent as Jesus. Not that we need to begin developing a savior complex. But Matthew boldly reminds us that master and apprentice, while clearly distinct in their roles, inevitably bear a resemblance to one another. As Jesus makes clear a bit later: "it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master" (10:25).
In that same bold spirit, Matthew makes clear the urgency of the disciples’ work. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” I grew up in farm country, and when it’s time to harvest you don’t waste a minute. And if you’re short-handed, you’re in real trouble!
In baptism, each of us received the gift Holy Spirit as a result of God’s grace, and through no merit of our own. And, like the disciples, we have the words of Jesus. Each of those gifts, on their own, are already something powerful. But bring those two gifts together, and they have the power to change everything. They have the power to do so through us! Through the power of the Holy Spirit, inspired by the word of God, we are drawn into relationship with God. A relationship that knows no limits in terms of its depth or breadth, except for the limits that we ourselves place upon that relationship.
But wait, there’s more! Because it doesn’t stop there. Yes, we have the words of Jesus that we carry with us in our hearts. And if we’re ever not quite sure, we still have our bibles that we can refer to, in order to remind and refresh ourselves on the things that Jesus said and did. We also have the gift of Holy Communion. Talking about the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Spirit in our lives is all well and good, but for some of us it can be a little too esoteric and abstract. Holy Communion reminds us in a very physical and tangible way of Jesus’ promise to dwell within us. When we receive the elements of communion, we are not simply receiving bread and wine or juice. We are receiving the true body and true blood of Christ. So that Christ is quite literally within us. And as our body digests it, it literally becomes a part of us. Christ abiding within us. Holy Communion, the gift of the Spirit, the words of Jesus; these are the tools of the apprentice.
Today is a special day. Today, three young people will be marking an important milestone in their faith journeys. Today, three young people will for the first time begin their participation in one of those communal practices of the church. They will, for the first time, receive the gift of Holy Communion. In receiving Holy Communion for the first time in their lives, they will be drawn more deeply into their relationship with Jesus and with each and every one of us as their siblings in Christ. They will be drawn more deeply into the abundant life that God has in store for each of us. They may not quite be ready to be sent out, two-by-two, to heal the sick and cast out demons, shaking the dust off their feet from the towns that refuse to accept them. But their training has already begun. And in receiving their first communion today, they are learning what it means to receive bread for the journey.
Jesus calls us all to the same journey with a bold sense of urgency. There’s not one place in this world that couldn’t benefit from the healing and liberation that are found where the kingdom happens. Not in the world, not in this country, not in this community, this congregation, not even in our own lives.
But we are not helpless. God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit. A gift with a purpose. God has given us the power to live transformed and transformative lives. When we make a conscious effort to immerse ourselves in the communal practices of the church and seek to grow as a people dedicated to God and each other. We will experience the liberation and healing produced when the kingdom of heaven happens. When we embrace that way of being and living, we become apprentices of Christ, doing the work of Christ: Curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, casting out demons. And in doing so, we change this community, this country, and indeed, the world.
The young people receiving their first communion today are taking the next step in that journey, the next step in their apprenticeship. And in doing so their lives begin to look a bit more like the life of Jesus.
AMEN