Entrusted
Homily delivered the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9; Year C RCL)
4 July 2021; 8:00 a.m. Said, 10:00 Sung Mass
Parish Church of Trinity Ashland, Oregon
The Rev. Dr. Anthony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.
Ezekiel 2:1-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13
God, take away our hearts of stone
and give us hearts of flesh. Amen.
Today’s Gospel tells the origins of Christian ministry. Jesus sends out 12 of his associates to do ministry in his stead; they stand for the reconstituted tribes of all of Israel. In Luke, he sends out an additional 70, standing for the spirit-led elders of the Israelites who assisted Moses at Sinai. The Greek word for “send” is apostello; an apostle is a “sent one.” John Dominic Crossan rightly observes that stories of Jesus sending out these ministers, these apostles, represenst a significant organizational strategy on the part of the historical Jesus. A single decapitating sword-stroke by one of Herod’s minions had killed the John the Baptist movement, centered as it was in one voice and one location. By sending out many people with his good news of the Kingdom all around, Jesus decentralized his movement. The rulers would thus have a much harder time of killing it by simply killing its leader. By the time Jesus was crucified, dozens of such ministers were spread throughout Judea and Galilee. When stories of his death and reappearances after death finally reached them, their experience of following Jesus in telling the joy of God’s reign led them to say, like the 70 at their return in Luke chapter 10, “The blind see, the lame walk, the spirit is with us… Christ is alive!”
Despite almost continual efforts to impose order, hierarchy, and unity, from the beginning Christ’s followers have remained a diverse lot, driven by the investment that comes from having made the faith their own. Fractious and tending to break into sects (usually along cultural or linguistic lines), different groups of Christians have always tended to see themselves as the true expression of Christ’s teaching.
We have tried to resist this centrifugal force, this tendency toward sectarianism, by grounding our faith in the scripture and writings of the apostolic age. We found that such a canon—the Bible—is itself varied enough that it all by itself isn’t really sufficient as a guide to the faith. We tried to interpret it in light of the teaching and practice of the bishops who succeeded the apostles in their oversight of the local churches, and to be universal in our faith. We set up a three-fold ministry of bishops, presbyters or priests, and deacons to make this universal faith available throughout the whole church as well as in individual congregations. But bishops began to disagree with each other.
So we sought a faith that we could all agree on. That’s what the great early Councils of the Church were about. A faith comprehensive both in time and space, throughout the eras and transcending localities—this is what the Greek word katholikos, means—according to the whole: kat – holicos. That’s why when we recite the Creed from these Councils to this day, we talk of believing one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
But we have been only partly successful in achieving truly comprehensive faith, which was, according to St. Vincent of Lerins, shared by the faithful of all times and all places. So we use our reason to try to make it cohere. Thus the tripod of our faith: scripture, tradition, and reason informed by data and experience. And still we tend toward sect.
Given the schisms, divisions, and accusations of heresy that have always been a part of the big, baggy, and chaotic thing that historically is called Christianity, we might say that, Jesus in sending out missioners two by two into diverse settings, had anticipated a key idea of modern organizational behavior theory: lose control in order to gain influence. He guaranteed the Church’s immediate survival by entrusting it to believers, thus building into it centrifugal force and ensuring its diversity. In later stories, he sends the Spirit after his death to help hold the amorphous centrifuge together and ensure its long-term survival.
Anticipating the problems of diversity and challenges of ministry, Jesus counsels those he sends to proclaim the Good News. Jesus’ counsel to them is counsel to us, a guide to life in the Spirit necessary to keep us faithful to him, despite our differences.
“Teach the Happy News of God’s Being in Charge”: This is not a call to grimly use speech to beat up on other people to make them be like us. The line summing up St. Francis’ teaching says it all: we should preach the Good News at all times and in all places, and only very occasionally, when it is really necessary, to open our mouths to do so. It is happy news, not grim, threatening browbeating. The voice of God entices, suggests, and encourages, The voice of the accuser threatens, condemns, and bullies. Teach the Happy News.
“Heal the sick, the weak, the wounded, and the troubled”: Announcing the joyful news means helping people, standing with them, and easing the way for healing of body and mind.
“Go two by two”: Don’t trust your own individual belief and internal guidance, but always work and serve in larger community. Use the self-correction that comes from being part of a larger team of believers. Thomas Merton famously said that the most dangerous and spiritually deadly person is the mystic who lives in isolation, without the spiritual direction and guidance of another. Since you are going into a dangerous world, lambs among wolves, Jesus implies, know you will be discouraged and lose faith at times, and need your comrades to get you through the rough spots. And then, when they are in rough spots, it will your turn to get them through. We need each other. That is why we baptize enfants—this calling is not a calling to individual monads, but to people in families, in communities. We have the three-fold ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons, as one way of self correction and mutual encouragement. “Go two by two.”
“Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals. Stay with whoever will give you a place to stay, and together with them, eat and drink whatever they put in front of you.” Serving Jesus and proclaiming joyful news is not about self-sufficiency and independence. It is about interdependence, relying on each other. So simplify your tastes and standards. Don’t depart on this journey with everything prepared just so in extensive luggage, with your favorite foods and small comforts. You may just have to eat non-gourmet, or non-vegan, or even barely edible, stuff if that is what those you serve have to offer. This is about sharing and accepting things shared with you, not about meeting exacting standards. Simplicity is the mother of humility. Humility is the mother of listening. And listening is the mother of community.
We have medical needs, to be sure, but even here we must remember the spiritual principle of opening ourselves to dependence. It may mean learning new ways of eating, drinking, communicating, and, yes, even worshiping, even when we are old. I thank God that one of my mentors told me as I preparing for ordination that if at all possible, I had to simply love the people served, and with them their dogs and cats, no matter how allergic I was to them. Love Jesus, love his people. Love his people, love their dogs. “Take no money bag or sack, and eat what they put in front of you.”
“Don’t go from house to house, but stay where you are received. Cure their illness, declare the joy of God’s Reign, and let your peace rest with them.” Grow where you are planted. You are no longer a religious consumer. You should no more pick and chose those with whom you would grace with relationship than you should pick and choose what is put on the plate before you.
But what if the ones to whom we are sent don’t accept us? Jesus tells us how to respond to rejection: don’t dispute, curse, or worry. Just move on, shake the dust from your shoes, pull up your socks, and seek out others who surely will receive you with joy. Go on your way and don’t look back.
In all of these sayings, Jesus is calling us, too, to follow his example. He wants us to lose control to gain influence. In our labor in God’s harvest, we need to follow his guidance. Be open hearted, open minded, and open handed, willing to accept who and what God sends us. And in that, he is calling us to the true unity of his followers and the true loving service of all his children.
In the name of God, Amen.
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