Proper 9C, July 6, 2025.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of the plentiful harvest, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Our Gospel lesson for this morning picks up right after Jesus has told four people who wanted to follow him that they couldn’t. Then Jesus has appointed 70 others to be sent out – meaning Jesus has appointed apostles. Apostle means one sent – as in an agent or ambassador. (According to Luke there were 70 apostles, not 12). The number 70 in the Bible symbolizes comprehensive universality. Jesus appointed the number of all the nations, according to the Torah. In the 10th chapter of Genesis, the ancient “verbal map” of the whole world describes a network of human relatedness, of cousins, if you will, and belonging, an ecumenical vision of belonging that is remarkably, radically inclusive. [1]  The number 70 is also reminiscent of the number of elders appointed by God to help Moses when Moses told God “I alone am not able to bear all this people because it is too heavy for me.”

We don’t know how long it took for Jesus to gather 70 people who were willing and able to go out to the whole world to help spread peace and healing. We do know they were instructed to buddy up. It’s not just a good idea to go with a partner; it’s the law. Two is the minimum number for witness and for safety and for fun. The Biblical rule is, when you’re going out to do work for the reign of God, always use the buddy system! This is true whether the work you are doing for God is in your household or extended family, or your workplace or your school or your neighborhood or your church or someplace else altogether! Two is so much more than twice one in any endeavor. And if you want to build something sustainable – the minimum number is three (but that’s a lesson for a different day).

According to Luke, Jesus had other instructions for them as well: pray for workers because there is an abundance to harvest and not enough workers. It was true then and it’s just as true now. The big ugly budget just passed by Congress is exhibit A in the case demonstrating that our mission field is expanding rapidly these days – our mission, for the people of God – is the job of gathering in and sharing the abundance of God is urgent. This is not the time to lose heart. This is the time to get out there! Pray for more help, Jesus says. (And believe me, I do!)

Perhaps the most difficult instructions for those of us who have extra stuff are to go and be vulnerable out there – be unguarded and open out there where the predators are. Don’t be defensive or defended. Don’t pack – take no luggage, no money, (certainly no weapons), and don’t get distracted along the way. As Dorothy Day once said, “The only way to live in any true security is to live so close to the bottom that when you fall you don’t have far to drop [or] much to lose.” [2]

When you enter a house, Jesus says, offer peace. If God’s peace is desired, it will rest there – if not, no worries, let it return to you. (What a beautiful instruction that is!) Biblically speaking, there is no difference between words and deeds. So declaring peace is not simply speaking a word or expressing a feeling. Rather, it is offering a tangible entity that either rests on someone or returns to the one offering. This kind of peace doesn’t disappear, it moves! [3]

The directions go on: Eat what they serve you. That instruction is given twice! This is not the same as what I used to say to my kids about eating what I’d made for them. This has to do with an argument raging among early Jesus followers as the movement spread after his death, about whether people faithful to the God of Israel could eat food which had been sacrificed to other gods. Luke’s Jesus is arguing that there are more important issues than following your own purity rules or cultural norms. Here’s what’s more important: curing those who are sick and declaring the proximity of the reign of God. And you’re going to get hungry – so don’t be so self-righteous that you won’t eat what they serve. It’s possible to look back and appreciate both sides of the bitter argument that divided the early Jesus movement. Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine, has generously written, “Had the church remained a Jewish sect, it would not have achieved its universal mission. Had Judaism given up its particularistic practices, it would have vanished from history. That the two movements eventually separated made possible the preservation of each.” [4]

In the instruction to cure those who are sick and then announce that God’s reign has come very close, the word for cure – “therapeuo” means be of divine service, restore, heal, attend to, honor, cure. The word for sick – “asthenes” means weak, powerless, feeble, without strength, unwell. Serve those who are weak – who lack strength – who lack power. Attend to them and honor them. Strengthen and restore those who are ailing. And let them know that God (Love) is very near. Say and show to those who are diseased, disheartened, and disenfranchised, that suffering is not evidence of abandonment by God. Say and show to those who are suffering, you are not forgotten. We are here to be of service to you because of Love. Toward the end of his memoir named Surrender, the Irish singer-songwriter and human rights activist Bono says that in his experience, among those who are poorest and most vulnerable, the “God” signal is strongest. And he says, God is with us if we are with and for them.

But if the people don’t welcome you, don’t lose your nerve and don’t get discouraged. The truth of the nearness of the reign of God is not contingent on welcome. Just go on to the next place. Don’t carry the dirt of rejection with you into the next conversation. Don’t be weighed down by the lack of welcome. Sure, the sin of withholding hospitality is serious, but let God worry about that – you just move on with the assurance that Love is larger than anything in its way. Rejection does nothing to invalidate the truth of God’s love. So don’t get stuck there. And don’t carry a bit of the dirt with you – wipe it off. Wiping off dirt is a gentle act, isn’t it? It’s like Paul’s direction in Galatians that “if anyone is detected in a transgression, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness,” recalling he has just urged the community to bear one another’s burdens and he listed fruits of the Spirit as love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Luke tells us that, having followed the instructions, the 70 returned with joy – with great happiness – with dancing hearts! We have no idea how long they were gone (months? years?), but when they came back, they reported that in the name of Jesus, even the gods of the foreigners (which is another interesting way to translate demons) – even the gods of the foreigners were brought under our control! And the Lord said, “Yeah, I saw the chief adversary flame right out! You guys are awesome!” Clearly there’s hyperbole at work here. “But you know what?” Jesus warns, “Don’t be exceedingly happy about the demise of other gods – that’s nothing to gloat about. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven, inscribed in the Book of Life.” Remember, heaven is not a place, but a religious euphemism for God’s realm, which is Love. In other words, “Be exceedingly happy that Love knows your name. Rejoice not in the destruction of evil, but the experience of right-relationship with The Holy One and with your neighbors.” (Just in case you’ve forgotten the Biblical definition of neighbors, the Gospel of Luke has a story immediately following this one for you next week!)

Joy, great happiness, a dancing heart, is always an indicator that we are doing Love’s work, even if it’s really hard work. If there’s no joy, we have strayed far from divine service, and our work is merely self-righteous exertion, mindless effort, or meaningless labor. If we’re working for right-relationship, serving those whom we are called to serve, and we’re not experiencing joy, it’s time to stop and review the ministry checklist. I’m a big fan of checklists. My checklist has 12 questions about spiritual well-being based on the Jesus’ Gospel instructions:

1. Are we working with a buddy?
2. Are we praying for help?
3. Are we unguarded – vulnerable – non-defensive?
4. Do we need to shed some physical or emotional baggage?
5. Do we need to loosen our grip on our money?
6. Do we have mission clarity?
7. Are we offering well-being, shalom, peace?
8. Are we taking in the nourishment that’s provided for us?
9. Are we serving those who are without power?
10. Are we demonstrating by our actions the nearness of Love?
11. Are we dusting ourselves off when we’re not welcomed and moving on?
12. Are we rejoicing that Love has inscribed our names in the Book of Life?

We must be modeling the world we want to see. We must be the kind of community that shines brightly with care and advocacy for those who are least, the lost, and the left behind, practicing the Gospel value of radical empathy. Adrienne maree brown, another human-rights activist I admire, asserts,  “Facts, guilt, and shame are limited motivators for creating change…to transform our society. We will need to make justice one of the most pleasurable experiences we can have…[replacing] shame and fear with a sense of joy and purpose.” [5]  The Gospel of Luke wants us to know something about the rejection-defying, and ultimately death-defying, love of God. The Gospel of Luke wants us to lean all the way into the fullness of joy that comes from caring for and serving others. Lean all the way into the fullness of joy that comes from working God’s abundant harvest!

← Back to sermons page