July 3, 2016

A newer sermon on this text can be found here.

After this the Lord appointed seventy [or seventy-two] 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.” – Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Jesus sent an advance party to the places he planned to go himself. He told them to offer healing and peace, and to announce that the Kingdom of God had come near. But he didn’t send these disciples out alone; they went in pairs, to give each other encouragement and to hold each other accountable. A couple of weeks ago, we sent out some disciples from this congregation to offer healing and peace to the East Side of St. Paul. Through their work and their witness, they made it known that the Kingdom of God has indeed come near. I invite the UrbanCROSS team to come and share with us some of their experiences.

[SPECIAL REPORT: Mission trip team on UrbanCROSS]

It started with just 70 or 72 people, this movement of trusting and following Jesus. Seventy or so people who were given the task of spreading peace, healing the sick, and announcing the Kingdom of God. This year’s Annual Conference Session in St. Cloud was just one example of how Christ continues to call us to offer peace and healing while we proclaim the Good News. Sue served as our conference lay delegate this year, and she is going to share with you some of her observations.

[SPECIAL REPORT: Annual Conference Session]

The kingdom of God has come near to you. This is the only sermon Jesus gave his disciples to preach. Heal the sick, spread peace, and say these words over and over: the Kingdom of God has come near to you. Practice saying this to yourself for a moment: “The Kingdom of God has come near to me.” Go ahead, whisper it to yourself out loud!

You have just heard some examples of the Kingdom of God drawing near, of being sent into the world in the name of Jesus to heal brokenness and spread peace. Sometimes we may think that the Great Commission from Matthew’s gospel is the only call to discipleship Jesus offered. But here we are, traveling toward Jerusalem with Jesus through Luke’s gospel, and we see that Jesus has always been sending his followers out to heal, to offer shalom, and to remind this crazy world we live in that it is not our final destination. The kingdom of God has come near to you.

When Jesus sent out the seventy (or seventy-two, depending on which version you favor), he warned them that the work they were to do, this Kingdom work, might not always be easy. We might think that he made it even more difficult with the instructions he gave: take nothing with you, accept whatever hospitality is shown to you, and don’t go looking for the softest bed or the best cook in town. In other words, allow yourselves to become vulnerable, and trust in God to provide for your needs. When people welcome you, receive their hospitality with grace. Know that sometimes, your message will not be received very well. When people don’t welcome you, move on. Either way, the Kingdom of God has come near, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

When Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God has come near, he says “near,” not “soon.” Theologians like to talk about the “already and not yet” of the Kingdom of God. God’s kingdom has already been introduced to this world in the coming of Jesus, God’s own Son. This Kingdom is not something you have to wait for. It is now, it has already come near in the person of Jesus Christ. You can reach out and touch it, it’s so close to you. But it is not yet completed, not yet fulfilled. Christ calls us to participate fully in God’s kingdom, to help bring it to full reality when Christ comes again in glory. There is still work to do. There is still a harvest to gather in.

Maybe you noticed an article in the New Ulm Journal (Friday, July 1, 2016) this week about the wheat harvest in Kansas. It’s been described as a once-in-a-lifetime harvest. Yields in some fields are well above 100 bushels an acre. That’s a lot of wheat. One custom cutter brought in four combines to harvest a particular farm, and had to park one on the side of the field, because the trucks couldn’t keep up with the amount of grain coming in. Remember the piles of corn we had around here last year? They are piling wheat at the Co-Ops in Kansas, because all the storage bins are full to bursting, and there is nowhere else to put this bumper crop.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Harvest time is when you bring in all the help you can find, because there is only a short window of opportunity to get the crops in while they are at their peak. Cousins and in-laws and neighbors work diligently together from early morning into the night to bring in the harvest. They understand the urgency of the situation.

Jesus reminds us that our situation is just as urgent. In the passage we heard earlier from Galatians, Paul writes, “Let us not grow weary of doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) It is this urgency, this need to persevere in doing the work of the Kingdom that brings us to one more realization: we cannot do this work alone.

We need each other to fulfill Christ’s call on our lives. Jesus sent out his followers two-by-two, not to echo the animals entering Noah’s ark, but because he knew how important it is to have partners you can depend on in ministry. A partner holds you accountable for keeping the work going, just by being present. You don’t want your partner to see you goofing off, do you? And a partner offers encouragement when you need it most, when you feel weary, and especially when your message is rejected and you feel like your work is in vain. A partner helps you keep focused on your mission: to offer healing, to spread peace, and to share the good news that the Kingdom of God has come near.

We are called to be partners in ministry together. Jesus sends us out into the world like sheep in the midst of wolves. He gives us authority to act in his name, encouraging one another, so that, when the Kingdom finally comes in its fullness, we can rejoice that our names are written in heaven, where we will feast at our Lord’s Table with all the company of saints. As we anticipate that joy, Christ invites you to this Table.

Come to this sacred table, not because you must, but because you may; come to testify not that you are righteous, but that you sincerely love our Lord Jesus Christ and desire to be his true disciples; come not because you are strong, but because you are weak; not because you have any claim on the grace of God, but because in your weakness and sin you stand in constant need of God’s mercy and help; come, not to express an opinion, but to seek God’s presence and pray for his Spirit. Come, for the Kingdom of God has come near to you, and Christ invites you to be part of it.