Loading...Jay Sidebotham is a priest who counts among his gifts being an excellent ecclesiastical cartoonist. Some will know his work found on the Church Pension Group calendars for several years now. A favorite of mine is based on the Great Commission according to Matthew. Jesus spreads his arms and says:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, developing task forces and strategic plans and surveying the congregation in order to craft a succinct and memorable mission statement easily communicated on bumper stickers, web-site home pages, t-shirts, and coffee mugs.”
That’s one example of the less-than-great-commissions we spend a lot of time and energy on, and even lose sleep over.
Not the message recorded in Matthew! Nor is it the message in another great commissioning, as found in Luke, tonight’s Gospel reading for our Convention Eucharist and Benjamin’s s ordination as a deacon.
Preceding this reading, Jesus told would be followers to let the dead bury the dead. No more distractions or excuses. And then he gets even more ornery.
“So much harvesting, so few workers! What’s a Lord to do? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do!” as he turns to a group of seventy standing near him. Jesus says to them, “YOU will do this work!”
These seventy: they do not possess a Torah equivalent of Education for Ministry, have not attended a seminar or webinar on welcoming newcomers, and their life coach is Jesus. There is only requirement, one qualification for this work: Just respond to what Jesus asks. Immediately! And you will have stories to share, which they do when they return.
There is a subtle but substantial difference in Luke’s commissioning that is not found in Matthew. Not only do the disciples have a message to share: The kingdom of God has come near you today! But added to what they are taking to others, the disciples are also commanded to receive.
Go out and receive hospitality, rely on it, lean into it. “You will be lambs in the midst of wolves!” Now there’s an added bonus! Seriously? (You almost want to give thanks that bacon wasn’t readily available or they might have had to carry that past the wolves!)
Hospitality is one of those things we usually are more comfortable providing than receiving. Further, hospitality does not always take the form one might choose. Jesus tells the Church to be both sure of our message that the reign of God in Christ has come near, and also know that at times being faithful to Jesus demands that we be vulnerable, “lambs surrounded by wolves”, where we experience dependence on God through the care of others, and see our needs in the context of the resources of others. This is what servants and slaves had to do, depend on their masters. It’s what servants and slaves of Almighty God still must do.
Think about one aspect of our common life as a diocese. Some ministries are dependent upon the hospitality of all of our congregations. Our college chaplains are provided by all of us together, as well as the presence and ministry of many of our mission congregations. Programming for youth and summer camps at all saints. This interdependence unites us, at times generously providing for us, and at other times gratefully receiving from us.
What next follows in this Gospel is action, movement, journey and pilgrimage. Followers of Jesus do not just stay in one place, literally and figuratively. We have to travel, move, get on with it. True journeys, when we visit new places (like the Holy Land or South Africa), change us. A true spiritual journey changes us as well. Luke tells us to leave familiarity and venture into new places where God already is. We hit the road with little but the command of Jesus. And that’s enough.
(Notice: there is no debate, nor does even one of the seventy newly commissioned ambassadors of Jesus question the command to go. No bargaining. No promised reward such as a place of honor at the left or right of Jesus. Clearly and simply, they are given a mission they can believe in. And they move out.)
Scholar, author and priest Dwight Zschiele focuses on this gospel in his book People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity. He begins with a challenge: there is a definite change of heart we the baptized successors to the disciples have to make: we must think of our mission not exclusively as what we take to others, but we must also go out and forge relationships with neighbors and listen.
Zscheile writes in his introduction:
“In the book of Acts, the early Christian movement came to be known as “the Way.” Jesus’ followers were people of the Way. They were not so much members of an institution or adherents to a particular set of developed doctrines as they were disciples (learners, students, or apprentices) of a holistic way of life in Christ, through the power of the Spirit. This way of life brought them attention from the surrounding pagan society. They became both noted and notorious for their subversion of the idolatries of empire, for their compassion for society’s most vulnerable, for their egalitarian community life, and for their high ethical norms. Something powerfully compelling was taking place in their midst, and it pointed beyond them to God’s presence and activity. For a world riven by oppression, hierarchy, authoritarianism, inequality, disease, and despair, this way of life in Christ gave tremendous hope.” (p.5)
He then asks: “What might it mean for the Episcopal Church to live into a renewed identity as people of the Way of Jesus in our time and place?” What will it mean for this Diocese?
And Benjamin, what will it mean for you?
At the first Chrism Mass and Renewal of Ordination Vows I presided at, I told this story from Bishop Dean Wolfe of Kansas:
Not long after I was elected bishop in Kansas, I was in a small coffee shop not far from Coffeyville, Kansas. There I sat, resplendent in my dark suit, new purple shirt, and a pectoral cross given to me by my former parishioners at Saint Michael and All Angels, in Dallas, Texas.
The cross, modest by Texas standards… was probably the largest golden object in Southeastern Kansas at that time. The waitress came up to take my order and said, “My… that is SOME kind of cross!”
And I replied, “Well, thank you ma’am…” and then, trying to offer some kind of explanation I said, “You see, I’m the Episcopal Bishop of Kansas….”
She stopped, looked over her glasses, and said, “Well, La DEE da!” And then to complete my humiliation she yelled over the counter to the cook, “Hey Frank, his holiness wants his burger medium rare!”
Well, laDEEda! Ben, I know you will experience such moments, and I certainly hope so! Sometimes those moments are humorous, but they are always humility-restoring occasions. Sometimes such moments are painful, such as when our ministry has been dismissed or adjudged to be without value. But we stay faithful.
The blessing for me is that they cause me to rely on Jesus more in prayer and sacrament, and on the Lord we seek and serve in the lives of those we encounter every day.
Ben, your generation of lay and ordained leaders must continue to lead this Church to embrace Luke’s great commission to proclaim and listen, build deep relationships with Christ and every neighbor, so that our very identity as disciples and Episcopalians is changed, charged, and re-created to look more like Jesus, and the identity of his first followers. We baby boomers need to cede more and more opportunities for leadership to younger generations and enable their gifts, your gifts, to meet the priorities for Gospel mission now and in the future.
It is a great day for this diocese, and a great day for the Church.
Benjamin is about to be examined, and then by the power of Holy Spirit in a particular way will be set apart for new work. And in other very real ways, so we all are set apart again for new work, employing the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fiery tongues of Pentecost to proclaim afresh the wonderful works of God.
Old ways to refresh, new ways to be blazed. Joys to celebrate. And plenty of opportunities to be humbled, forgiven, healed, and sent forth.
My sisters and brothers: Be notorious for subverting idolatries of all kinds, both in the Church and beyond.
And Benjamin, be true to the Lord Jesus who calls you, sustains you, and who came not to be served, but to serve. Become more and more a slave to him. My brother, be true to Jesus.
