The only time I can remember being “sent out to the wolves” was when I was in the 10th grade and my father Dr. Ralph Walker was running for a position on the Richmond County Board of Education. He was a fairly new professor of political science at then Augusta College. President Christenberry thought he was a liberal, which he was, but Christenberry’s decision was not based on his politics, but on his beard!
He was not just liberal. He was kind and brilliant. He always fought for the underdogs probably because he grew up with a blue collar dad, who luckily escaped working in the steel mines of Pennsylvania. He could say things in reference to politics, both local and national, that could have been perceived as harsh, but no one ever got angry with him. That was because he was always fair. I guess that is where I get my determination that everything should be done in a fair and just manner.
My father sent out among the peoples of his district anyone who would volunteer to help with his campaign. I gathered a meager bunch of friends together and my sister gathered hers. Off we trudged knocking on doors and handing out flyers, asking for anyone who would listen for their vote.
My father won that election and many after that. He taught me so much about standing up for what I believed, for doing the “right” thing that took care of others. He helped make dramatic changes for education in this county and for that he was often criticized for making those tough but fair and equitable decisions.
I remember how much nerve it took for us to knock on doors and talk to strangers. My sister shared with me that she remembers getting many thumbs up and, a few other hand gestures that I cannot share! But the more doors we knocked on, the easier it got. When we did come across folks who were mean spirited, we would thank them and then move on.
We have all taken chances, I bet, and risked being ridiculed for what we believe. Our country whose birthday we celebrate this weekend is based on these ideals: stand up for what you believe. Support each other. Fight for the equal rights for ALL people. Be fair. Speak truth.
As I read the gospel reading from Luke for today, I was reminded of this time when I stepped out of my comfort zone to work for something bigger than my 10th grade self. I can only imagine what the 70 that Jesus sent out felt like: facing people who thought that they had lost their minds supporting a carpenter who had the nerve to say that he was the Messiah. Jesus sent them out among wolves, to lay the path forward for him to follow, not just behind them but on the way to Jerusalem and the cross.
Jesus sends them out with the following advice: Pack light, share peace, eat and drink what is provided for you, and share the good news of the kingdom of God. Sounds simple, but we know it is not.
Pack light for this is not a vacation. This is not a time to relax, lounge about, visit with friends. This is a working trip. They are being sent to prepare the way for him to get to his set destination and, to share with as many folk as he can his purpose.
Take what is offered is about trusting in God to provide what is needed. And do not offend anyone. This statement also serves as a harbinger of what is to come: since Christ came for ALL, the Hebrews needed to be more accepting in accepting food and drink that is offered and to recognize that this is a new day. All things are made clean and new with Jesus’ new covenant to love all, unconditionally. “I make all things clean,” we read just a few weeks ago.
Share peace with every household you enter. How powerful is that to have someone walk into a home and say, “Peace be on this household.” If it does not stick, then shake it off and not carry that resentment.
With these instructions of hospitality, Jesus sent out the 70. But it is what they do when they return that I want to focus on next.
They return with great joy telling Jesus of their success. We did great, Jesus! We were so awesome that even the demons submitted to us! We went out and we cast out all kinds of demons and healed a bunch of folks.
However, their celebration has nothing to do with what they were sent to do. We watch as they focus on themselves and their own works. Taking credit for what they did. Understandable, I guess. I mean who would not be excited that they were able to do such great things for the cause. Yet once again, they are missing the point.
This is not about them at all. It is about God’s grace. It is always about God’s grace. And what we do with it.
It was God who gave them the authority to do this work. It was God’s grace working through them. I gave you the authority, Jesus says, to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
And it is not about counting souls. Yep, got three new people for the cause, Jesus! Three more folks cured and now believe! Three more people in the pews who can give money and help grow the church! We know the sentiment!
Nope. Jesus tells them not to rejoice in their successes but to rejoice that they are doing what God has asked them to do in spreading the gospel and growing the church. Not getting bottoms in the pews, but in sharing the joy of knowing of a God who loves them and is with them always. As we read in Isaiah this morning, a God who nurtures like a mother nurtures her child. A God who comforts those who are fearful and helpless and a God who promises to care for those who cannot tend for themselves, those who need to be fed and comforted.
So why do so many fight hearing the good news? Why did Jesus tell the 6 dozen folks he sent out that he was sending them out among wolves? Richard Rohr, who is a Franciscan Priest, says he has the answer.
Rohr says that our culture has been trained to distrust and to judge which often leads to hate. Distrust is not a bad thing. A bit of distrust is frankly quite healthy. When it grows and is fed with illogical facts and fears, it becomes like a cancer in society.
Fr. Thomas showed a video in Adult Form a few weeks ago where Rohr said that since the beginning of time, we have always chosen as a society someone or something to hate. Cain and Abel, Jews and Gentiles, all the way to our modern societal issues of judgement and finger pointing.
I remember feeling thankful that our country pulled together after the horrific event of 9-11. Now in retrospect, we came together with a shared hate of the evil that created this travesty.
I think judgement and dislike is in our DNA. We tend to separate ourselves to be with folks who are like us. You know, the birds of a feather philosophy. We hear all of the time, “I don’t like people who…”
I have a wonderment. I was taught that word in a leadership class I took in the diocese. I wonder what the world would look like if we came together not to hate but to love. To love the differences in each other. To celebrate the different ideas from ours. To sit down and have conversations. To hear what others think without getting angry or without imposing our own views. Because if love is the answer, as Jesus says, If we too have been empowered by God, which we have been, to share the gospel and to live out our lives as children of the very God who created us, then how could there possibly be dissonance? Or hate? Or violence? Or judgement?
Jesus is telling this group of folk that he has gathered together, probably a pretty rag tag, diverse group, tells them to go out, empowered with the grace of God, and to share and teach that there is another way to live. There is another way to treat each other. There is another way to treat our enemies.
Remember, Jesus tells his followers to share this peace with households. And if the household will not accept that peace, then to move on. Shake it off. Don’t hold resentment. Don’t judge what another believes. Strive to live a life of freedom from judgement, a life filled with acceptance and forgiveness. When we live this way, then we are in the kingdom of heaven.
Remember what Jesus taught: Don’t rejoice over your power. Rejoice because your name is written in heaven. Rejoice because you live in the power of the spirit. Rejoice because we do not have to decide who is right and who is wrong. Our names are written in heaven. Culture says it is necessary to judge. God’s law says it is not. And divine law trumps human law. Every time.
Every day, I pray for God give me the grace to do just that. To not judge but to love. Because I walk imperfectly too.
May God continue to work through all of us to bring peace to a world fraught with despair and anger and fear. May God give us the grace to forgive and understand.
Because, when we die, God is not going to ask us about other people. God will not ask about the two men down the street who got married. God will not ask about the girl who had an abortion. God will not ask about the atheist that lives on the corner. God will only ask how we loved those as he calls us to do.
Amen.
Sources
Lectionary Lab Podcast. John Fairless and Delmer Chilton. The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C. July 3, 2022.
Richard Rohr podcast. Turning Ego into Love. Media.episcopalchurch.org