July 3, 2016

“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.’” Luke 10:1-11

“(Jesus…) commands that they take nothing with them. This means that the disciples – far more, by the way, than the usual twelve we think about – must depend on the generosity of others. For their meals … for a place to stay … for, well, just about everything.

Most of us find such dependence uncomfortable. It makes us feel like we’re not prepared, maybe unsafe, definitely vulnerable. I wonder if that’s the point. I mean, we are vulnerable. We forget this, too, going to great lengths to manufacture and perpetuate illusions of control, independence, and invulnerability. But any illness, any loss, any death or disappointment or tragedy reminds us painfully of just how incredibly vulnerable we are.

And so Jesus sends his disciples out in pairs and instructs them to rely entirely upon the hospitality of others. Why? Because this is our natural state: we are stronger when we stay together and our welfare is inextricably linked to that of each other. “No man,” John Donne wrote, “is an island.” The loss of any, he went on to say, diminishes each.” (David Lose, working preacher website)

I do not like being dependent upon others in any situation. It always makes me uncomfortable. I do not like thinking that others feel I am taking advantage of their generosity, their kindness, or their resources. And yet, Jesus sent his disciples, all 72 of them in this instance, out to spread the good news of the kingdom of G-d with the exact command that they depend upon the generosity, the kindness and the resources of others.

Our country is born on the idea that we fought for the independence we have from Great Britain…and thus was born the spirit of American individualism. And this idea of “individualism” is as much a myth of our culture as is our idea that we are a country that is not vulnerable to outside forces. The pilgrims and others who settled this land were incredibly aware that their survival depended on each other. The colonies they eventually established, after all, we called “commonwealths,” places where the good of any individual was wholly linked to the good of the entire group. And as Benjamin Franklin is quoted to have said, “We must hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately.”

Today we have been sold a bill of goods that wants us to believe that we must always be looking out only for ourselves – that we will be better if we worry about number one, and make sure that we, individually, have what we need to survive. Isn’t it interesting to see how, like after the shooting in Orlando recently, people did not go their separate ways to try to cope, they flocked together in vigil to stand together in strength. This is why the gift Jesus gave to these 72 disciples, the gift of mutual dependence, was a gift that forced them to work together with teamwork and trusting obedience. Because when we work together, when we recall that G-d said it is not good for us to be alone, when we see our hope and welfare linked to that of those around us, then we not only can accomplish so much more than we possibly could alone, but we also discover that our names are written in the book of heaven, together, not separately.

Pastor Dave