Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Jesus may have sent seventy out to prepare his way, But that seventy has multiplied over the generations, And now the risen Christ sends millions and millions out - To towns and cities, to villages and countryside - With the same message as the first seventy – the message that the kingdom of God has come near. And, whether we realize it or we don’t realize it, We are among those millions – those followers without numbers – Who are also sent out – Sent on our way with little more than just a message – A message of the nearness of the kingdom of God - A message of peace and reconciliation and healing, And that Jesus Christ has come to bring all of those things. Yes, we too – each of us – have the same mission as the seventy whom Jesus sent out. We just don’t always think of ourselves as missionaries – As people sent out to tell other people that God has come near - That he has sent his only Son to live among us and die for us and live again for us. We think of missionaries as those other people, Those special people, those people with suitcases…Those people who go to Kenya and China and France…When in fact it’s all of us – We are among those who are sent, even if we aren’t sent far away. We too are sent to all the places where Jesus intends to go – Sent into homes and neighborhoods and offices and factories and schools and camps and all over the place, To say, the kingdom of God has come near. To say, there’s hope – there’s life, there’s something more than just a paycheck and a mailbox full of bills, there’s something more than just a pile of laundry or a lawn to be mowed – There is Christ. And Christ has brought the kingdom of God near. Step back a minute and think about that – The fact that we can say with assurance, with confidence, That the kingdom of God has come near – Has come here. We hear his word, his voice – We see his body and blood, we touch it with our own hands, we taste it with our own mouths – We feel and know and experience the work of his spirit, the activity of the Risen Christ. The kingdom of God has come near – we know it for sure. We see it here at Christ Lutheran Church every Saturday night and Sunday morning – When the rest of the world wonders what in the world we are doing here in church, When the rest of the world – and maybe even members of your own family – wonder why go to church, why bother? We can say with confidence – because the kingdom of God has come near – And it’s right here, We’re in the middle of it – It hasn’t fully dawned on the rest of the universe yet, But it is near, And we’re in the advance guard – We’re the scouts, the sentries, the ones up on the watchtowers – And we see it coming. But it isn’t enough just for us to sit here and say “yes” I know it’s coming, Yes, I’ve experienced the coming reign of God in my own life. Our mission, like the seventy, is to tell the world – To go out to all the towns and places where Jesus intends to go. To go to downtown DuBois and to Rockton and to Treasure Lake and to Indiana and to State College and to all the other places and towns, And tell people – The kingdom of God has come near. Jesus is alive, and so now life is different – Now there is forgiveness and hope. But there is also something bigger than ourselves – There is the peace of God, and healing and wholeness and life. The truly weird thing is that people sometimes don’t want to hear about it – That people sometimes won’t just yawn and ignore this monumental, amazing news – Sometimes they will actively reject it. Sometimes people will actually get angry, and even violent, when they hear that the kingdom of God has come near. Some people get very upset when they just hear God’s name mentioned – They can’t stand the idea of good news that comes from God – They fight it every inch of the way. It is so interesting to me that there are people who can’t even stand to hear God’s name in the context of the pledge of allegiance, Or see it printed on a piece of paper. There are even cults in which the leader is forbidden to speak God’s name, Let alone Christ’s name or the name of the Holy Trinity. There are people who build their whole lives on the rejection of God and even the possibility that there is a creator and ruler of all. And there are people like that everywhere you go – Jesus himself warned the seventy that, while they will be welcomed by many, And cared for by many, There will be times and places where they will not be welcomed – Times and places where even a greeting of peace is not welcome, Times and places where the good news of Jesus Christ will be rejected, And in those times and places, they are to shake the dust of that place off their feet – But even in those times and places, the message is the same – The kingdom of God has come near. The message doesn’t change, you see, even when it is rejected – Rejection, unbelief, apathy or outright hostility doesn’t change the fact that the kingdom of God has come near – It has come near for peace, or it has come near for judgment – Whether people are willing to receive it or not doesn’t change the fact – The fact that Christ has come near, And continues to be near, and Has already begun to usher in his kingdom. The challenge to us in the towns and places where we are sent out is that we can be lulled into thinking that the message isn’t important enough to share with everyone. Or that, because some people might reject it, we shouldn’t share it with anyone. Or that, because some people might reject us, we should be afraid of sharing it. But maybe the biggest obstacle to our sharing this amazing news is that we have swallowed the lie that somehow, this message is only true for those who believe it, And that, somehow, it isn’t true if you don’t believe it, or if you believe something else. That somehow truth is relative, that it depends on what you want to believe. But it’s not – The message of truth – the message of Jesus Christ – is the same for those who believe and for those who reject – The kingdom of God has come near for those who welcome that news. And the kingdom of God has come near for those who reject that news – In fact, Jesus says – whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. The message comes from God – We are the ones charged with spreading it far and wide –The mission comes from God – We are God’s messengers, God’s hands and feet and mouthpieces. So, the message is valid whether people welcome it or reject it – And that is the source of our confidence – Not that we have something that other’s don’t – But that we serve the most high God – That the names of God’s people are written in heaven, as Jesus says – As we go out on God’s mission, to spread the news that God is active and at work in the world, Reality tells us that there will be good times and tough times. But reality also tells us that we are sent by God with good news, and that, in sharing it with others; we don’t need to fear rejection, even though it will happen. And we don’t need to feel triumphant when we are welcome. We simply do what we are sent out to do – humbly, with joy and with compassion – And realize that God will be with us, That it is God who sent us, As the seventy were sent, And that is all we need – to be witnesses to the nearness of God. And to know that, through Christ, Our names too are written in heaven.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
|
