Pentecost + 2 - June 22, 2014
These are kind of intimidating words we get from Jesus in Matthew’s gospel today. Not exactly the warm and fuzzy, hippie, buddy-Jesus we sometimes look for or expect here. Jesus is talking to the 12 apostles, which means “sent ones” – and that’s what Jesus is doing in this part of the story. He’s picked his 12 closest followers and he’s sending them on a mission, to announce and then demonstrate the good news that the kingdom of heaven has come near. Jesus gives them authority – to cast out unclean spirits and cure every disease and sickness, to cleanse the lepers and raise the dead. Exciting, heady stuff – I mean, imagine being entrusted with such work, to be about the business of showing what God’s kingdom looks like when it breaks into our world.
That’s where this whole story starts, if you go back to the beginning of chapter ten. But then comes a whole long set of warnings. “I am sending you out like sheep into a pack of wolves,” Jesus says. “Those closest to you will betray you, you’ll be persecuted by the authorities,” he tells them. The threat of death looms darkly over them. “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword, to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” This work that Jesus sends his disciples out to do will not come without a deep personal cost, requiring a deep personal commitment to the One who is sending them. But that’s only fitting, after all, because these are the things the world will do to Jesus, and disciples are not above their teacher. Slaves are not above their master. It only makes sense that the followers of Jesus, who go into the world to do the kinds of things that Jesus does, will be treated the way that Jesus was treated.
It’s a worrisome picture though, because none of us gets off the hook, not if we want to follow Jesus. Because we too are apostles. We are sent ones, sent to be about the light-giving work of our teacher and Lord Jesus. We too are intended to be going into the world around us, announcing the good news that the kingdom of heaven has come near, and then become living examples of God’s kingdom light breaking into dark places. We are called to welcome the stranger and offer healing to the sick, give food to the hungry and clothe the naked, to care for the orphan and the widow, in these and so many other ways to reach out to those living on the margins and draw them into the circle of God’s love and concern expressed and lived out in our lives.
Here at Ascension, just like the disciples, we are answering that call – as individuals and as a congregation, we are doing amazing things to live out the gospel. Go into West Hall and look on the far wall at the collection bins, where you all bring food and hygiene products, diapers and cleaning supplies, clothing and reading materials and so much more for places like the Waukesha Food Pantry and the Hope Center and our prison ministry. There’s a mission of healing to El Salvador coming this summer, currently gathering simple things like bandages and toothbrushes and arts & crafts supplies; things that seem so basic to us but that make such a difference for the people who will receive them. There’s a group of people who gather once a month to take and serve lunch at Cross Lutheran, one of our partner congregations in Milwaukee. We have a whole care ministries team that offers ways for people to experience health and wholeness, from our pastoral assistants who visit and pray with and bring communion to people in the hospital or who are homebound, to our meal ministry for people going through a death or a birth or chronic illness, to Yoga classes this past year and Zumba classes this summer, and health screenings this August. We have people like Jo (Buth) who work with the refugee settlement ministry.
It’s inspiring and encouraging to think of the many ways that so many are involved in changing and improving the lives of others. But none of this comes without a price. We really can’t begin to compare our experience with that of the early disciples. They really did put their lives on the line to carry out the work Jesus sent them to do; we know that most of these original 12 were martyred for their faith; and most of us will never face anything remotely like that, though there are places in the world where people do put their lives at risk by professing their faith in Jesus. But to follow the way of Jesus and become a servant of others does cost us something. It takes time and money and energy and emotional investment and resources to make a difference – and sometimes we’re not willing to make even that much of a sacrifice. We are a busy people living in a busy world and sometimes we feel we are just barely managing to keep our own heads above water, barely keeping our own lives on track.
But the call of Jesus in this gospel is to do just that. To move past that selfishness that lives in all of us (me too!); to stop living our lives simply looking out for ourselves and what we think will make us happy, what we think will satisfy us, and to begin living like Jesus, following his example – to give, to serve, to welcome, to look out for others before we look out for number one, to hold nothing back because we know we have been given everything. If we try to find our lives the world’s way, ultimately we’ll lose them – but if we’re willing to lose our life for Jesus’ sake, he promises us that that’s when we find real life, true life, the life that really matters. The sacrifice may be great, but the rewards are even greater. So go ahead and give it a try. Dive in to do something that will make a difference in our world. Jesus promises a life that is beyond your wildest dreams.
Amen.
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