Marching Orders

Luke 10:1-11

It’s amazing how many times I miss something that is right before me. Ironically, this is true most often when it is something I look at repeatedly or routinely. It is especially true with scripture passages—they are familiar, well-read, and—BAM—something leaps right off the page I never really saw before.

The story of the Mission of the Seventy is a treasure trove of overlooked tidbits, all of them profound for our work as a community of faith.

First, the community does not sit still. Jesus does not command the followers to come and sit; he sends them. “Go!” is the repeated call to the community of faith. As we look through the gospels and the letters of the New Testament, we see this command repeated. Jesus did not take up residence within the Temple. He roamed the countryside. He went to the world. He did not wait for the world to come to him. The disciples only became apostles when they left the Upper Room and entered the streets, according to Luke as he told their story in Acts. We find them moving everywhere. Poor Philip even became an apostle on the run as he chased down a moving chariot to share the Gospel (Acts 8). Paul never stayed anywhere long except the periods when he was in jail. 

So why do we fix the church in place? We have created an entire culture of church based on the dynamic of awaiting guests. We issue the invitation to come to church. Shouldn’t the dynamic be reversed? The church should go to those we seek. 

Second, it is always a community—no solo flights. Jesus sent the seventy in pairs. No one should be expected to bear the burden of service, proclamation, and compassion alone. The work of Christ is shared work—always. We support one another. We care for one another. We flesh out one another’s gifts. We face fears together, not alone. We face the struggle with each other, not on our own. Jesus always kept his followers together. When isolated, they get into trouble—witness Judas—he acts alone and ends up a traitor; witness Peter—he gets isolated and ends up denying Jesus. Take that in.

So why do we make faith a matter of individual piety? Why do we overemphasize the personal reward? Why do we imply that faith is lonely walk wherein we try to meet some unreal moral standard? We are a community—USE IT!! We live in a time and place that is increasingly credulous about all things religious, in part because we so emphasize individual gain, somehow simply making it one more aspect of our culture’s worship of acquisition. Faith is the practice of compassion. Compassion means relationships. Compassion requires self-giving to make all things well. It is as we come together we find our strength, hope, and healing. 

Third, it is about peace. Note what Jesus says—the seventy are to share their peace. Where it is received they are to stay; where it isn’t they are to leave. Their peace will remain with them, regardless. They have each other. It only gets deeper and fuller as it is shared. The community broadens as we erase divisions between ourselves. Proclamation is not about judgment of those beneath us or beneath our contempt. It is an offer of peace. It begins with acceptance of the other. It reaches fulfillment when the community becomes a communion—a gathering so bound together, even souls are twined together. That does not come by issuing judgments on others, condemnations of those who are different, or rejection of those who do not meet some humanly created standards—instead, it comes through radical welcome of one another.

Where I live, the church has a terrible reputation for being a gathering of the judgmental, the pious bigots who hypocritically reject anyone who is not like them. That is so unlike Christ, and it is so far from the truth of the communities of Jesus where I work and live. The strongest churches I spend time with are those committed to welcoming others without condition or prerequisite. They simply offer their peace to anyone walking through the door. If it is accepted, the community celebrates. If not, the community continues in the peace it has. That is the home of the Christ.

But remember it is a home on the move. 

To reach the level of communion, we realize that welcome is actually an outward move. We do not wait for someone to come to us; we show our welcome by meeting them where they are, as they are, and for who they are—-the children of God.