Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 on July 6th, 2025
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
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Grace Mercy and peace to you in the name of our Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
You are probably aware that the church year is divided in two. The first half, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, tell us the story of God's love. For God's love, the world that He gave His only Son, is the story of Jesus coming into the world and His purpose, His mission. The second half of the year beginning with Pentecost, the season of Pentecost, that takes us all the way into November, December, and Advent, is the half of the year that kind of focuses on the church, how we become the body of Christ, how we extend the ministry and the labor so that God still loves the world and sends beloved sons and daughters out into it.
And we hear in the Gospel of Luke last week, and the lessons that Pastor Jason preached on, that Jesus has set His focus on Jerusalem. His ministry, His purpose will be the saving grace that culminates in the cross and resurrection. And who does He set His focus with but those that He calls on to follow Him? So last week Pastor Jason reminded us that when Jesus calls us to discipleship, that still happens today in our baptism. We are among those called to follow Him, to be part of His body.
And today we are shifting because now Jesus is giving us marching orders. What it means to be His body on earth. We call it the commission. And Jesus were told to take 70, some counts will say 72. These are people, not just the original 12 disciples, but according to Luke and hints that He gives us throughout the Gospel, this is a rag tag army of women and men, of tax collectors, maybe ladies of they'll repute. Sinners all somehow touched by Jesus to have their lives changed and so big away, they can't help but want to go out and take that good news to change other lives.
And Jesus tells the 70s today that they are to go out. Now I don't know whether they felt so prepared to go out on this mission. He didn't exactly get this bunch from the seminaries, but He's telling them, go out, take nothing with you. You don't need another pair of sandals, you don't need a purse, you need nothing, you're going to learn to be mutually dependent. Keep your focus, don't even stop on the road for long conversations, don't get deterred, keep your focus and go into the villages and take my peace. For you are not just going as the people you are, you are going in my name with my spirit, doing my work, being me, as ambassadors if you will for Jesus.
Knock on the door and say, peace be to this house. Sit down at table. Except what is put before you. I don't know if that's still a rule. When I was a kid and we ate anywhere, my mother told us, you will eat everything on your plate, you will not complain, you will not refuse. I think that rule went out the generation after I raised my kids, but it used to be there. And Jesus is saying that, receive what is giving you. So often we think we're the ones that are taking God's grace into the world. We are the ones giving you. Take what is giving you. Receive what others say. Let their stories fall on your ears. Be as enriched by them as they will be from you. Let that peace be exchanged.
Probably the biggest miracle in the commission wasn't the healing miracles or the driving demons away miracles, but the miracle that these folks, so like you and me, would be vulnerable enough to be dependent. But there's a blessing in that. I don't know how it would have been to be one of the 70s. I don't know how it would have sounded to hear Jesus say, I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. You know how the Lamb of God ended up, right? And now he's sending us out in his name, in his spirit, to do work, where frankly we may not always be appreciated or desired. We may not always be acknowledged or wanted, but it's still the work of the kingdom that we're called to do.
I don't know how those first apostles, messengers, sent out, felt. But let's take another trip back in time. Let's go back to 1415. On this very day, in Bohemia, what is now known as the Czech Republic, a priest, Jan Hus, who had in his study, in his prayer, in his reflection, come to realize that the church needed some reforming. The Christians as being sold were not proper. The scriptures that were read and Latin couldn't be heard by the common people, and understood so that they could have this relationship, God wanted to have with them through God's Word. The bread and cup in holy communion, only the bread would be shared, only the priests would share the cup, while both were prepared by Jesus to feed the masses. John Hus, Jan Hus. Hundred years before Luther raised the same questions, was called to a church council, even as Luther had been, his promise he would be protected, and before this day was over, was burned at the stake.
I send you out, like lambs among the wolves, sometimes being a Christian is a pain, literally, a pain. We don't do it to be popular. We do it because we're loved and we're called to bring that love and justice and God's truth and righteousness, even where no one wants to hear it. How do you feel about that? You came today thinking you were going to get a church service, a commission, that you were spending your hour for God not being sent out into the world, carrying God's peace as lambs among wolves. Are you feeling prepared? Do you think you know enough? Are you ready?
Don't worry if you're not. Let me take you back on this date, 35 years ago, 1990, Fort Dick's New Jersey, I am Bivwakht, going through basic training. Now, if you're doing the math thinking you're a little old for that, you're right. But back in 1990, my husband and I had taken a new call in Montgomery County, Maryland, one of the more expensive counties in these United States. We took a call in a church that was struggling and could only pay us one salary. So we decided we would take that one salary. One of us would be in the church, the other would be at home with four kids ranging in age from under 2 to 11. And then we would flip and we would do that and we would work there and the church would build up. And as it was able, give us in 10% increments up to maybe 1.5 salaries, what we needed.
In 1990, we had enough for home and provisions, groceries, things like that. But we didn't have enough to afford the piano lessons or the soccer teams or some of the things you want to be able to give to your kids. That's one my good friend Bob Chants, the pastor of the Disciples of Christ Church in Aspen Hill, and the head chaplain for the DC National Guard. Put out in a ministerial meeting that the guard needed chaplains. And would anyone feel the call to be a chaplain? Part-time ministry. Supplemental income. Chance to serve my country. My husband was already over the age limit. I was coming up fast on that limit. So on April 1st, don't let the date get away from you. I was sworn in and commissioned a first lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve National Guard.
Folks, I didn't even know how to salute. I was so ill prepared for that. People would meet me in the hall and I'd stick out a handshake. And then I had to go on Pentecost Sunday, June 10th, to basic training. Now that was at Fort Momoth, a very nice post. Because I was an officer, I had air conditioned barracks until we went to Fort Dix. Until we were bivouac, and made to go through boot camp the way of recruit wood so that we could identify. And show empathy.
I was during this week at Fort Dix that I learned a lot about this commission. Because we had to crawl under barbed wire with live ammo going above us. We were set out in a forest with a compass and told to find our way back. And then we hit the obstacle course. Now let me tell you, I was a tomboy. I was nine years old. I would have loved looking at that obstacle course. It was way cool. I couldn't wait to start. It was my turn. I lit out of the gate. I hopped through those tires. I jumped over the ditch. I kept running and I looked back and I saw this old woman at the start. Kind of slugging along and realized she was me. I was an out of body experience I was having to think I was way down there. But I made it through the tires. And I made it over the ditch. And then I hit the wall. I hit the wall. The wall that was that high. And there is no way all the grit and determination of my nine-year-old soul could not get over that wall on my own. But I had people around me. And they cut their hands and they let me step on them and they gave me a lift. And they pushed me from behind. And they were on the other side when I fell.
And Jesus sends us out in pairs. In pairs. It is not just your relationship with God. But your relationship with God as it is lived out with one another. Jesus knows that. And when he sends us out to be vulnerable in the homes of those to whom we take peace, he doesn't send us alone. So look around you. Who needs a helping hand? Who's there when you need a helping hand? This commission, we may not feel we are prepared for any more than I was after I was sworn in. But we learn as we go. And Jesus gives us the guiding hand through one another.
The sermon walking wet was not due to a tropical depression today. It really was the theme of youth gathering back while I was an active pastor. And it taught that when we are baptized wherever we go, we take that baptismal promise and grace. We are not just here to leave these doors and go back to whatever we were doing until next Sunday. And we gather again. We've got work to do. The harvest needs all of us. And there's not one here that Jesus cannot use. Whether you feel you're ready or not.
So go out and take that peace, that shalom, not just the absence of conflict, but what makes it well with someone's soul. To be a listening ear and a helping hand. If you don't feel you're able to heal, think about what it is to feel better and offer that to somebody else. If you weep for the children of Texas, God's children, caught up in a flood. And you can't be there to assist. Think of someone else who has caught up in a flood of tears today. Grieving, and we all have somebody we know who's grieving, getting touched. Just be present. Bring Christ's peace to someone. And know that as you do that, you don't have to think ahead or pack any bags. The Spirit will give you everything you need in the moment. And be ready. Because you will be lambs sent out among the wolves. There will be demons to confront. And you may have to call them out when it's unpopular to mention anything about them. Do it anyway. Because that's the commission. And that's how we walk with. Amen.