Listening to yesterday's Gospel reading from Luke 10 about Jesus sending the Seventy out and instructing them to "rejoice in one thing only," I was reminded that it was the text for the one and only prepared sermon I ever delivered. Near the end of my three years of Lutheran seminary, I took Professor Tom Ridenour's Preaching course, not because I ever intended to do any preaching, but because Lutheran preaching is really based on careful and systematic analysis of scripture, with appropriate attention to context and key words, seeking understanding of what the text meant to those who wrote and first heard it and applying that to current situations. Lutherans are among those who also face the additional troublesome discipline of following the lectionary which forces the preaching pastor to systematically work through most of Holy Scripture during a three year cycle...and then do it all over again.
Dr. Ridenour gave us several texts from which to choose for our soon to be videotaped sermon to the rest of the class. After the taping, we each met with him, one on one, to review the video and hear his appraisal of our sermons and delivery of same. I was probably the only student in the class not preparing for a lifetime of such preaching.
Anyway, for whatever it is worth, here are the text and my sermon. I'm not going to reveal Dr. Ridenour's appraisal of it, but I did get credit for the course.
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Rejoice in One Thing Only
Darryl K. Williams
– April 19, 2004
A Reading from Luke’s Gospel (10:1-20):
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them
on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to
go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
harvest. Go on your way. See, I am
sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no
sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever
house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace,
your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking
whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about
from house to house. Whenever you enter
a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them,
'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into
its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we
wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come
near.' "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever
rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent
me." The seventy returned with
joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall
from heaven like a flash of lightning. See,
I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you,
but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
If you would like to spend a couple of hours reading a good
story of life changing significance, curl up with Luke and Acts and read them
all the way through. These books were
written by one person and comprise more than 25% of the New Testament. We talk about Paul so much that it would be
easy to get the idea that he wrote most of the New Testament, but he is in
second place. Luke and Acts together are
unique in presenting, from the viewpoint of one writer, the life and ministry
of Jesus AND the early years of the Church He established and of which we are
members today. The Gospel reading today
describes one of the early mileposts in formation of the Church: The sending
out of the seventy.
I would (or at least could, with appropriate reference to Matthew 16:18) argue that the church was born in the fifth chapter
of Luke when Jesus said to Peter, in the presence of James, and John, "Do
not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." That gives us a
pretty strong clue about what the church is supposed to be doing. Peter James and John left everything and
followed Jesus. Jesus took them around
the countryside preaching and teaching and healing, and he gathered other
disciples who also walked with him and listened to Him and learned from Him as
he proclaimed the good news. The church was planted and sprouting like bean
sprouts coming forth from fresh moist soil in the warmth of spring
sunshine. People were being caught.
Jesus was always looking for more people who would leave everything
and follow him. He had high standards,
and he did not make it easy for those who were interested. He didn’t just say, “Come on in. We will work out the details later.” In the ninth chapter, the original three have
grown to twelve, and we find him sending out the twelve to proclaim the Gospel
and to heal. They apparently stirred up
a lot of interest in Jesus because just after that we find Jesus and the twelve
surrounded by several thousand who have followed them and are hungry. Jesus feeds them, and then he makes one of
his sobering announcements: He was going
to be rejected and killed and raised on the third day. I guess most people heard the parts about
rejection and killing but that the part about being raised went right over
their heads. Then he said, "If any want to become my
followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow
me."
That should bring in the recruits in a hurry. Follow you where Jesus? To rejection and death?
Well, Jesus, I do want to do that, but I have some things I
need to do first...like live a little. I
need to bury my father…and I need to say some goodbyes…and put my affairs in
order. You’ll find these objections in
chapter 9.
And Jesus says, "OK, but those who want to save their
life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save
it." And by the way, I can’t
guarantee a place to lay your head at night, and you are going to have to put
me ahead of your friends and family.
Tough words….High standards.
But still Jesus ends up with seventy who are willing to
go. And that is where we find ourselves
in today’s scripture from Luke 10…on the crest of a growing wave which is the
church.
We may read a bit enviously about these seventy. They knew Jesus…in the flesh…sat at his
feet…learned directly from Him…from Jesus himself. And Jesus gave them power. He gave them power and authority to cast out
demons and to heal the sick. Man, would I like to have that kind of power
and authority…to cast out demons and to cure people of their illnesses. Man, I’d be going from hospital to hospital
just curing people right and left. I’d cure
them and bring them to church. I’d say,
“You are cured. Come to Ebenezer (My church home at the time).” All the doctors would be out of business. There wouldn't be any need for all these new
heart centers that are being built. I’d
be in the newspapers and have a book deal and…. Oops.
Sorry. I guess I lost control
there for a minute. Maybe I am having
just a little trouble with that part about denying myself.
Maybe some of the seventy went a bit off the deep end
also. They came back thrilled and
rejoicing, telling Jesus of their experiences…that even the demons had
submitted to them. And Jesus has to give
them a little admonition about what they should rejoice over. They should rejoice over one thing only: THE
FACT THAT THEIR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE. There was no lack of follow-up on the part of
Jesus, their leader, teacher, coach, organizer, source of authority, spiritual
advisor, and….saviour.
Jesus gives some pretty detailed instructions in this Gospel
reading. I wonder if those instructions
have any practical meaning for those of us in the church today. OK,
sure, I know it’s a different world.
People don’t walk around in the dust in sandals and carry bags of money
and stay in the homes of strangers and cast out demons and cure people
anymore. We have sidewalks and cars and
credit cards and Motel Six’s and managed care to take care of all those
things. And of course everybody already
knows about Jesus and they have all made their decisions. It’s up to them, and they have made their
choices.
But surely we can learn something from the instructions
Jesus gave? There must be some general
principles there. If we read and listen
carefully we might conclude that we are all called and sent out…not just the
pastors. Isn’t that what Jesus’ whole
ministry was about…calling people and challenging them and teaching them and
sending them out? For Jesus it was not
just the twelve, and for us, it is not just the pastors.
We might also conclude from the instructions that Jesus gave
that we should pray for help…Jesus says, “Ask the Lord for help…” right there is verse 2.
If we dig deeply into Jesus' words and look for principles
rather than specifics, we might conclude that we should have a sense of urgency
and not waste time…that we should be satisfied with little and refuse to be
burdened down by material goods…that our focus should be on others….that we
should not get discouraged…that we should deliver a consistent and simple message. All these ideas are contained in the charge
of Jesus to the seventy.
Most of those instructions are all about logistics, but what
about that consistent and simple message?
Just exactly what was the message he gave them to deliver? He told them to say only two things, one in
verse 5 and one in verse 9. The first is
“PEACE TO THIS HOUSE.” The second is, “THE
KINGDOM OF GOD HAS COME NEAR YOU.”
PEACE is an important theme to the writer of Luke and Acts
and remains so in our worship today.
In the story of the birth of Jesus, the Heavenly Host
proclaims, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth PEACE among those
whom he favors!" We will sing the same phrase in a few minutes
in our hymn of praise.
When Jesus is taken to the temple for circumcision, he is
presented to Simeon who took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
"Master, now you are dismissing your servant in PEACE, according to your
word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the
presence of all peoples, a light for
revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." He probably didn't use the same tune we are
going to use for these same words in a few minutes after we share in the body and
blood of Jesus.
Throughout the Gospel, Jesus tells those he has healed to "Go
In Peace." We will hear that same charge
at the end of our worship. And after his
death and resurrection, Jesus stands among a group of His followers and says, "PEACE be with you." And we will say that
to each other today as we prepare for Holy Communion.
The meaning of peace in the New Testament is much broader
and deeper than harmony among people and absence from war. According
to the prophets, it would be an essential element of the messianic Kingdom…that
Kingdom of God which Jesus says has come near.
The word the prophets used was Shalom.
In Christian thought, shalom or peace is nearly synonymous with the
salvation that comes from Jesus. If you
listen carefully, you can hear that deep meaning in all those phrases we use in
worship. When we pass the peace during
worship, we are not saying, “It’s so good to see you. Have a nice day.” We are saying that we are all recipients of
the peace that comes from God through Jesus Christ…that we are recipients of
His free gift of salvation…that we are experiencing and sharing that gift
together…that the Kingdom of God has come near…and that we too, just like the
seventy, have only one thing in which to rejoice…that our names are written in
the Book of Life.
Thanks be to God who gives us the strength, as we share
together in the body and blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, to continually deny
more and more of ourselves and to follow Him more closely.