| July 8, 2001 Isaiah 66:10-14 + Galatians 6:14-18 + Luke 10:1-12,127-20 |
| We are presently in a series of Gospel readings taken from a special section of Luke’s Gospel that is often called the “travel narrative” It began last week, and it will continue to the Thirtieth Sunday Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, and Luke uses this occasion to teach about discipleship: about what it means to be a disciple, and about the human qualities of disciples. |
| Being task oriented as we have become in our culture, we often get the what mixed up with the who. It’s so easy to begin to shape our identity by what we do rather than by who we are. Recently I was listening to a eulogy during which someone was speaking about the deceased. On and on it went about what the man had done, where he worked, who for, and for how long. Inside I was groaning because that wasn’t who this was, that was what he did, and the man we were honoring was far more than where he worked which to me seemed totally msignificant since I never knew the man before he had retired! |
| We are forever selling ourselves to the tasks of life, measuring our worth or the worth of another by what we earn, where we work, what we have accomplished, what we drive, and how big the house is. Our children start early with this stuff – their judgements have to do with what they wear on the feet, how many megs on their hard drive, and how fast their internet server! |
| This way of thinking, so at odds with the Christian message, often finds its way into our reflection and our thinking about who we are as disciples. In other words, we begin to think of discipleship as something we do, as something with very serious duties and responsibilities, and while that is an element, it’s not all there is to it. When that’s all there is, we are stuck, and discipleship is reduced to just another thing we’re supposed to do, sort of like another job or chore added on the rest of life. What we can discover in this section of Luke’s Gospel is another way of looking at ourselves and one another in the context of discipleship rather than in the context of consumer or producer There is more to this calling than something we must do. Being a disciple is what we must become, and that happens first by what we are, not by what we do. |
| Last week, we got the first of several characteristics or attitudes that are important elements of discipleship – or perhaps we might better say, they are part of the identify the disciple. Poverty is the one I spoke of last week. If you remember, I suggested that it had nothing to do with what we own or do not own, but rather with how we relate to and use what we have for others – in short, whether or not we can give it away, or share it without worry over whether it might be broken or lost is the measure of our poverty. |
| This week, we get another quality of discipleship, and it springs out of the Poverty, that fundamental and first of them all. Notice how Jesus sends them out with nothing: poor. With nothing to worry about, nothing to lose, nothing to pack, carry, or slow them down, they are free, and that quality of freedom from worry and the possessive concerns that seem to weigh down the rich who’s stuff is too good to loan or share, is called._JQy. Notice that attitude in the disciples of this story· “They returned rejoicing” Then, lest they think or we think that their joy has something to do with what they have done, he goes on immediately to say· “Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” It’s who they are, not what they do that matters, that makes them disciples, and fulfills their mission. |
| Now lest we think that this is about someone else, or about those Apostles, pay attention to the fact that Luke is talking about “others”, nameless ones who are all followers of Jesus – all are sent on this mission of discipleship; all given the divine command; all. All ofus are sent on ahead in Christ’s name. We are emissaries of God. What Christ wants is that others will see Him in us. “Then God said. ‘Let us make humankind in our own image, according to our likeness.” Our calling is to act in God’s behalf, to represent God until he comes in glory.. |
| But, what does this world get? What kind of God do we represent – what is the image this world gets of God from us? It is a profound and a troubling question. A world that longs for a loving, forgiving, God of mercy too often gets a God a judgment, revenge, and punishment. Is that the God we believe in, trust, and hope for? A world that longs for God of patience, and loving understanding often gets intolerance and impatience. Where’s the God we pray to and ask for mercy with confident expectations. Why is it that others cannot find in us the image of the God we want for ourselves? I think it’s because we don’t get the point – fail to understand discipleship and continue to reduce it to tasks, duties, and responsibilities. |
| As disciples we are called to be poor, and the consequence of that poverty when we have embraced it is Joy, because we are free of anxious concerns and worry about things that have nothing to do with who we are; that have nothing to do with the wonderful news that our names are written in heaven. In the weeks to come through this summer and fall, journey with me to Jerusalem, and let us see what we can discover about what who are called to be, and how discipleship is to be lived. This much we have learned so far· poverty and joy are the first two attitudes by which the disciple lives in this world. |