Pentecost 7 – 3 July 2016 – Year C
Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen
The text for
this meditation is written in the 10th Chapter of the Gospel
according to St Luke; Verses 1 – 20:
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, kit will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Woe to
Unrepentant Cities
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you,
Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But
it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
15 And you, Capernaum, will
you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the
one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent
me.”
The Return of the
Seventy-Two
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even
the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he
said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from
heaven. 19 Behold, I
have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits
are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
God does
not do things the way we expect Him to do them.
If I had God’s ultimate power and His ultimate Good News, I would spell
it out in the sky. I would proclaim it
on the lips of the angels above. I would
carve it into the mountains. If I had
God’s resources, I would use every supernatural means to proclaim the Good
News. But I am not God, and God has
chosen the opposite way to get out the message.
God has chosen to get His message out through the very natural method of
human proclamation.
Last
Sunday we learned that Jesus is the one who [Luke 9:51] set his
face to go to Jerusalem. That means
that Jesus had absolutely determined that He was going to Jerusalem to
sacrifice Himself for us on the cross.
When the Bible tells us that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, that
is one more way that the Bible says that Jesus loves us.
As we
continue following Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, we learn that Jesus allowed
extra time in His journey. He allowed
extra time to minister in the towns and places along the road. In today’s Gospel, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him,
two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. Jesus used seventy-two sinners to prepare
people for His coming. That’s
right! Jesus sent sinners to proclaim
His Good News to the people. We are so
used to the idea that sinners proclaim the Word of God that we don’t even think
about how strange an idea that is. Jesus
put His most precious Good News into the mouths of wretched sinners.
Now
before you start wondering if maybe I am over-stating the case here, ask
yourself who Jesus sent out. Jesus sent
out James and John. Remember that just
last week, we heard that James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on
an unsuspecting Samaritan village just because they didn’t want Jesus to pass
through their town. Jesus sent out Peter
… you know the one to whom He had to say, “Get behind me, Satan!” Then there was good old doubting Thomas.
Then, of
course, let’s not forget Judas. Judas …
the one who would betray Jesus … the one who would hang himself in despair …
that Judas! He also was one of the
disciples that Jesus sent out to prepare the way for His arrival. Each and every one of these disciples had
failed Jesus multiple times. Each and
every one of these disciples would fail Jesus many times again after the events
in today’s Gospel. These are not the men
that I would choose to get out the word if I were God. But then, I am not God.
In spite
of the fact that all of these men were sinners … in spite of the fact that we
know that at least one of them, Judas, was even a traitor, Jesus still
entrusted His message to them. He even
said, “The one who hears you hears me,
and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him
who sent me.” Jesus promised that
even though they were sinners, His message would remain intact in their mouths.
The truth of the message was the all important focus point for those who heard,
the sins of the messengers was a personal matter between them and Jesus.
What is
this precious, holy message? In today’s
Gospel, Jesus said, “Whatever house you
enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” This is no ordinary peace. This is the peace of God that passes all
understanding. This is the peace that
Jesus would soon earn when He finished His journey to Jerusalem and kept His
appointment with the cross.
Jesus
also told them to heal and preach. “Whenever
you enter a town and they receive you … Heal the sick in it and say to them,
‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
The Kingdom of God is different from earthly kingdoms. Here on this earth, we say that someone is a
king because he rules a kingdom – the king depends on the kingdom. When it comes to the Kingdom of God, things
are the other way around. The kingdom of
God exists only because Christ the king rules it – the kingdom depends on the
king. When we say that the kingdom of
God has come near to you, we are saying that the king has come near to
you. That king is Jesus Christ Himself.
There
were great blessings for the people who received these messengers from
Jesus: “Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before
you. Heal the sick in it and say to
them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” They would receive the blessing that we pray
for in the Lord’s Prayer. God’s Kingdom
came to them with its blessings.
So far,
everything about this mission sounds very positive, but there is also a dark
side to this mission. It begins in the
instructions. Jesus began with a
warning, “Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” As wonderful as God’s peace and His kingdom
are, there will be some people who will attack you for it. There will always be people who reject God’s
peace and His kingdom. There will always
be those who hate God’s message and His messengers.
Jesus had
stern words of judgment for the people who rejected the words of His servants: “Whenever you enter a town and they do not
receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that
clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the
kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell
you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.” Remember Sodom? Sodom was the city that God destroyed with
fire and brimstone way back in Genesis.
Jesus very clearly states that those who refuse to listen to God’s Word
will suffer a judgment worse than Sodom.
We
sometimes forget that the coming of Jesus means two very different things
depending on how He comes. When Jesus
comes near to you, He comes with
grace and every blessing. When Jesus
only comes near, He comes in severe judgment.
You see,
Jesus Christ died for the sins of the entire world. When Jesus Christ hung from the cross and
shouted, “It is finished,” He meant it is finished for everybody. Jesus Christ has earned the forgiveness of
sins for every man, woman, and child who ever has or ever will live. Jesus purchased the forgiveness of sins for
all people in all places in all times.
This
means that you can walk up to anyone in any place and tell them that you know
for a fact that Jesus Christ has earned forgiveness of sins for them. Think of the worst human beings who ever
lived. Jesus earned forgiveness of sins
for them. Nero burned Rome and blamed it
on the Christians, but Jesus earned forgiveness for his sins. Genghis Khan, Jesus earned forgiveness for
him. The people who carried out the
Spanish inquisition, Jesus earned forgiveness for them. Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Osama Bin
Laden, whoever you can name, Jesus earned forgiveness for them. Even Judas Iscariot, Jesus earned forgiveness
for him.
The
mystery of God’s Grace is that even though Jesus earned forgiveness for all
horrible villains, in human reckoning the odds that they are or will be with
the Lord should be extremely low; that however is ‘God’s call’ for only He
knows their state of repentance when they breathed their last.
The focus
here is on those two little words “to
you.” Jesus earned forgiveness for
everyone, but some people reject that forgiveness. It is not the Lord’s fault that anyone
suffers forever. He has brought His
kingdom near. He has earned forgiveness
of sins for everyone. The Holy Spirit
offers that forgiveness through the Gospel to everyone. The only thing the Holy Spirit can not do is force
the Gospel into people hearts and minds.
Some people resist the Holy Spirit and reject the Gospel. The Kingdom of God has come near
them, but not to them.
Dr.
Martin Luther’s explanation of the second petition of the Lord’s prayer “Thy
kingdom come” helps us to understand. ‘Whilst the kingdom of God comes without our
prayer, of itself; we pray in this petition that it may come to us
also. This is done when our heavenly
Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word
and strive to live a godly life here in time and there in eternity. We pray in this petition that it may come to
us’.
Two
little words take the Gospel from objective fact to personal reality. Those two words become the truth when our
heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His
holy Word. The Holy Spirit’s gift of
faith makes the difference. Without that
faith, the life of Jesus is just a collection of the objective facts. With that faith, the life of Jesus Christ is
the way of salvation for me … and you.
Two
little words can make such a difference.
Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins can
add two words to the objective facts.
Listen to the difference this makes.
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary for you. Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate for
you. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died on the cross for you. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus rose from the dead for you. Jesus ascended into heaven. Jesus ascended into heaven for you. From there He will come. From there He will come for you. Two little words … “for you” … They make all
the difference here in time and forever in eternity. Jesus is for you. Amen
The love
and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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