Jesus
made it look all so easy. Turn up in a city or village. Preach in the synagogue,
heal the sick, give sight to the blind, raise the dead. No problem. Now it’s
the disciples’ turn. And suddenly it’s
more difficult.
I
used the analogy in my Pentecost reflection, that Pentecost was a graduation
party for the disciples. They’d fully qualified to go out into the word and
proclaim the Good News, after spending three years training. Continuing that
analogy, I think we can think of this passage as the disciples doing a work-based
placement!
The
task Jesus sets the disciples isn’t an easy one. Whilst they don’t have to go
to Gentiles or Samaritans and only have to concentrate on “the lost sheep of
Israel” Matthew 10:6, they are told
7 As you
go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”[c] 8 Cure the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers,[d] cast out demons. Matthew
10: 7 – 8
They must
receive no payment; they must travel with the minimum belongings. They need to
find out “some worthy person” to stay with. And so on and so on.
Is
anyone, apart from Jesus, up to such a job? No human follower of Jesus could
achieve all that surely? And yet maybe those first followers of Jesus set off
feeling they could do these things. They had every confidence having had the
best teacher ever. (Though as a reading of the Gospels shows, the disciples,
before Pentecost often fall short of what Jesus hoped of them.)
If the
disciples fall short after being personally trained by Jesus, what hope have we
got? For starters, let me tell you during my ministerial training there was no
training on curing the sick or raising the dead!
We do not
know what “training” the disciples had before they set out. But what we do know
is that they set out with faith and not much more. Although equally we know
from elsewhere in the Gospels that Jesus often chided the disciples for not
having enough faith. See for example Matthew 17: 14 – 20 where the disciples
fail to heal a demon possessed boy.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why
couldn’t we drive it out?’
20 He replied, ‘Because
you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a
mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it
will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’
Therefore,
although the disciples set out with faith, their faith wasn’t sufficient for
the task.
And
that I feel is the stumbling block for us. We feel our faith isn’t sufficient
to go out into the world to get Christ’s work done. We also feel that even if
we had faith to share the Good News, how will we get our message heard in a
world where so much other “news” dominates?
And
then of course there is the second part of the passage about not needing any
money or clothes or possessions because they will be provided for. But by the
way disciples, you can expect, floggings, to be arrested, betrayal by family
members which might end up with you being put to death.
Would
any of us be prepared to go out into our community, let alone the wider world,
if that was what was required of us? I doubt it. I know I wouldn’t.
All
in all, this passage is quite disheartening I feel. We know we should be better
disciples. We know we are told to at least proclaim the Gospel (even if the
healing of the sick and raising of the dead is above our pay grade.) But we
aren’t able to do that effectively. What’s the point?
The
point is, that throughout history, amazing things, seemingly impossible things,
have been done and continue to be done through ordinary members of the Church.
Jesus’ words have encouraged and motivated far more than the twelve disciples
listed in these verses.
I
don’t know if you’ve seen the previous series, but I can recommend “A house through
time” on BBC 2. It is a bit like “Who do you think you are?” but
instead it focuses on a single house and who has lived there over the
centuries. The current series looks at a house in Bristol and the house was originally
owned by a series of ships captains and traders all involved in the slave trade.
Without giving too much away the fortunes of the house changed when John Wesley
set up a Methodist chapel in the street. The wives of various captains started
to attend the chapel and these women, in a small way, started to bring about
the end of the slave trade after hearing Wesley’s ante slavery sermons.
Nothing
is impossible with only a small amount of faith. Having Christ with us,
believing Christ is among us enables us to do things we could not believe
possible ourselves.
One
of the hymns I’ve chosen is “Rejoice”. It picks up this theme perfectly.
God is at work in us His purpose to
perform Building a kingdom of power not of words
Where things impossible by faith shall be made possible, Let's give the glory
To Him now.
Though we are weak, His grace Is everything
we need We're made of clay, but this treasure is within. He turns our
weaknesses Into His opportunities So that the glory Goes to Him
Once a Russian Monastery that was dying and declining. The
brothers were growing old, many had died. The local villagers had stopped
coming to visit the monastery. Young men were no longer interested in dedicating
themselves to the monastic order. This decline led to worry, and the loss of
hope led to bitterness. In desperation the abbot went to visit an old hermit he
had heard about. He hoped that the old man might have some wisdom. The abbot
arrived after a long journey and explained their problem to the hermit. The
hermit prayed for the abbot but said nothing more. The two men sat in silence
for an awfully long time and the abbot patiently waited to hear some word of
hope - a blessing, a prophecy, just something simple to try. Finally, the abbot
could abide the silence no longer and he begged the hermit for an answer. The
hermit replied, "I'm sorry, but there really isn't anything I have to
tell you. I don't know what the future holds for the monastery. I am sorry -
oh, but there is this - I believe that the Messiah is in your midst."
The Messiah? thought the abbot. Among us at the monastery? He rushed back and
reported the unexpected news and the brothers began to question, "Who
is it?" "Who among us is the Messiah?" Surely not Bro.
Nicolaus, he gripes too much. Surely not Bro. Stavros, he is so whiney. But
what if ...? And on it went.
And in time as the monks began to suppose that any one of them
could be the Messiah, they began to treat each other with respect and kindness
and love. That spirit extended into the village and rumours of the Messiah's
presence continued so that everyone began to wonder if their neighbour might be
the Messiah. And though no one was ever identified as the Messiah, the
monastery was thriving, and the village was blessed, and young men devoted
themselves to the faith.
Since Jesus is with us always, then discipleship is on-going,
and it is every day. It is not something for a special day or a special evening
or a special event. It is the pulse of every moment lived in the kingdom of
God.
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