Monday, July 8, 2013

Going out 2 by 2 Luke 10:1-20 and Galatians 6:7-16

This week, we're continuing on our journey with Luke, and we've got this wonderful story of the disciples going out two by two that we get to play with.
you may remember last week we talked about freedom and allegiance, in the context of Jesus' call to let the dead bury their own dead, and claim that the son of man has no place to lay his head. These radical claims invited people to look to a new value system, beyond the ordinary, everyday dynamics of life, and to become a new creation in the kingdom of God.

As a consequence
This week, Luke tells us what happened when people made this kind of radical commitment, and said yes when Jesus called “Follow Me”. After collecting his disciples, those who were willing to make a deep commitment, Jesus sent them out in the highways and byways to proclaim that the Kingdom of God had come near. We talk most about the 12 disciples, the inner core that Jesus used to organize things, in intentional parallel to the 12 tribes of Israel, but the hierarchy wasn't that strict-James and John and Peter seem to have been an inner core beyond the 12, and here we see Jesus with a larger group-35 teams of two, traveling from place to place proclaiming the good news.
These faithful 70 were the advanced guard, the ground team, preparing these places for Jesus to come through, so that his ministry might have the most impact in the short time that he had remaining.


What caught me: the details
As I thought about this text, and envisioned these disciples going out two by two into the world, I found myself getting caught up in the details of the text. It's interesting, in Galatians we have sort of the most generic big picture instructions-be good to one another, particularly your brothers and sisters in the church. Which is good advice, but it's always nice to be able to dive into the particulars, which is what we have in Luke. Now, I know it's easy to over read details of Biblical texts, drawing meaning where there was none intended. But this story of the disciples is just filled with interesting asides-
Cosmic Significance
as a first example, I notice that this ministry is bathed in cosmic significance-this ministry matters not just to Galilee, or the kingdom of Israel, but to the whole of creation.

I saw Satan fall from heaven, like a flash of lightening.
You may know of the ancient tradition that Satan, or Lucifer, or the Devil, the evil antagonist in the battle between good and evil was once an angel, one of the good guys, and lost in a climactic battle to the Archangel Michael in spectacular fashion, sometime before the beginning of human history
You see this motif in Isaiah 14, which reads “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” and in Revelation 12:7-9 “Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” Now, I don't want to get into the theology of the devil this morning, but what I do want to highlight is that Jesus is playing with the tradition here-he is suggesting that in the ministry of these disciples, the climactic battle against Satan was taking place, and that the war in heaven was parallel with the ministry on Earth. In the same way that Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God coming near, Jesus saw the world as infused with the sacred, with the holy, and promised that the actions of the disciples, for good and for ill had resonance far beyond Israel, beyond the huge Roman Empire, beyond the cosmos itself. In a similar way, the closing image, that our names are written in the book of life is a promise that our actions on earth have heavenly implications-that the faithful choices that we make resonate through this world and the next. As Paul says, in our text from Galatians, in Christ there is a new Creation. The path that we walk as disciples is not boring, not normal, not prosaic, but filled with the spirit of the divine every step of the way, and at our best, we infuse the world around us with the presence of the God.
Technique
The other detail that caught me was the dynamics of this ministry to the villages, the techniques in which Jesus instructed his disciples. It is always tricky to impose the technical methods used in the New Testament on our current reality, but I think there is something to be learned from this model of sending out people, two by two, for a specific period of time, in a way that is completely vulnerable, invites new relationship, and makes room for failure.
In Pairs
It starts with the two by two model. The disciples, while they didn't have supplies like bag or coat, and while they were being sent out like sheep among wolves, did not have to go alone. They had a companion on the road. And in a world where the singular superstar has so often become the core model for church, for business, for entertainment, I think it's worth remembering that the first model of ministry required collegiality. And it is a model that has stood the test of time-Paul usually traveled with a companion, and modern day groups like the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses continue to use it. Going out as a pair has a lot of advantages-there is accountability-you have someone to tell you when you're being an idiot. And its a chance to practice being Christian-a chance to forgive 70 times 7 the flaws and foibles of another human being. And it keeps us humble-a reminder of our interdependence-we cannot claim credit on our own for any of our accomplishments, if we are working together. And so I honor in a world that often insists on individualism, Christ gently suggested teamwork.
Temporary
But these are not lifelong partnerships-this is a temporary ministry. Its always a temptation to think of ministry as lifelong-Jesus was a homeless carpenter, doesn't that mean that we should be homeless as well? The disciples went out without bag or sandals, should we as well? The disciples went out 2 by 2 with nothing to rely on, and think about how much junk we have to pack up just to take a weekend camping trip! I notice that these disciples went out, then they came back, in the same paragraph. It's unclear how long this preparatory journey lasted, but we're not talking about forever. Weeks, probably, at the most a couple of months. That's a very different thing-short term ministry, instead of a long term commitment. A Voluntary Service Term, or a summer spent with Mennonite Disaster Service, or a short term assignment with Mennonite Central Committee. Not that our Christian calling lasts only a short time, but that the radical level of “go out with nothing” was a temporary calling.
Radical community
That temporary calling, I think allowed both radical vulnerability and intense work in a community. I notice that the disciples go out with none of the necessities, completely free from roots, wandering strangers in the country side. But then, when they get to their destination, they were supposed to go to one house in the village, enter it, and stay there until their time was done. Their very radical separation from their previous world pushed them into radical connection with new community. To settle in one house with one family is a vision of centeredness, of deep relationship, of hospitality from strangers, who become neighbors, and finally family, hopefully the first family in the new community forming in that place.
And I wonder if the ways in which we try to be fully self reliant, with personal automobiles, personal insurance, fast food with it's convenience and impersonal nature make it harder for us to become family with one another, to really be part of one another's lives, and more to be reliant on the hospitality of strangers and neighbors, since so many of our challenges and life tasks can be achieved without relationship. It sometimes requires breaking free from old patterns and comfortable places to break free from old addictions and broken habits.
Failure
But this kind of desire for intense community is quite fraught-it shouldn't be surprising that not every village has a family willing to take in homeless wanders completely unprepared for their work in the world.

So Jesus also expects failure, and does not condemn it.
Think about this image of shaking the dust off of one's feet when you are not welcomed into a community. So often we can get caught up in impossible projects, fixated on something that much be accomplished. Here, instead, there is this sense that you don't dwell on the failures, or on rejection, you don't stick around where you aren't wanted, banging your head against a brick wall, you don't force your way into people's homes, you don't call down fire from heaven to punish people for their misdeeds, you just let them know one more time that the Kingdom of God has come near, and you go on your way.

Jesus doesn't suggest that salvation is dependent on bringing people to Christ, or that our success can be measured by the number of people we convince to get on board, but rather that people who choose not to join up are agents, making their own decisions, that we are not responsible for. And I wonder, do we have places where we have been sticking around a little to long, and it might be best just to shake the dust off of our feet and find another spot to help out? Not that you should just head out whenever there is opposition, but we don't have to win every battle.
Galatians
In Galatians, Paul challenges us not to weary of doing good, and I'm all for keeping up energy, but I appreciate that Jesus seems to accept that particularly vulnerable and particularly intense ministry needs to be done as a team, for a short period of time, and sometimes it isn't going to work.

We work for the good of all, but we also learn and grow and rest in proper measure.
Conclusion
Discipleship-the journey with Christ, the journey for Christ, the path that we claim in the waters of Baptism, and at the communion table, this is a challenging journey, and the journey of the 70 into the world, these first Jesus followers, stirred by the strange words of this wandering holy man, struck by the sense of the divine within him, should challenge us and inspire us in our journeys, wherever they make take us.
So as we go out in the world, following in the footsteps of those who were willing to give up the lives they had led before, and follow this son of man wherever he might lead them, we remember these truths. We go as a community, never alone on the road. We go seeking radical new connections, but we know that failure happens, and it is OK to get knocked down, take a rest, and get back up. We go,

walking in faith, blessed with the promise, Peace and mercy be upon them that follow this rule.

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