Sermon - 6 after Pentecost "Unpacking for the journey"

Sermon - 6th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
July 4, 2010
Journey with Jesus sermon series part 2
“Unpacking for the journey”

Luke 10:1-11, 16-201 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. 2 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. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house!' 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 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. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 "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.'
16 "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." 17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" 18 He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 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. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

My mother is a very prepared packer. I never had to worry about running out of sunscreen, bug-spray, anti-itch cream or hand sanitizer. My dad is at the other extreme, his suitcase holds a toothbrush and a change of underwear. I take after my father.
Many of you may also be traveling this summer, and you may be concerned about what to pack. Perhaps your luggage still won’t fit in your car after rearranging it 7 different ways; squeeze your hair gel into a plastic baggy for your flight in accordance with federal regulations.

We are now in the second week of the sermon series “Journey with Jesus.” Last week Jesus set his face to Jerusalem, we talked about how steadfast he is in the mission, and how he calls us to be as well. He reminds his followers that this journey won’t be easy; in fact Jesus has nowhere to lay his head.
After having already commissioned the 12 disciples, this week Jesus commissions/sends out seventy. He says “go on your way.”
Jesus is calling them and all of us to go out, to share the good news, the amazing things God is doing. Amidst the chaos of the world, they are sent to share the very peace of God’s essence to each house. Amidst the oppressive kingdom of Rome, Jesus tells them to say, the “Kingdom of God is near!”

And he gives them a travel guide for their journey. This travel guide gives us guidance on our journey, and the mission of the Church. The travel guide begins with instructions for what to pack… What does Jesus advise they pack for their journey? Not much. No purse, no bag, no sandals.
Could you do it? My mom would go nuts. No hand sanitizer?
As we go on our journey… Let us begin by asking this question: What are we packing? There is a lot that we pack, without even realizing it. Not just what are we packing in our suitcases, but what are we packing in our hearts and minds?

As we look at Christian missionaries throughout history, there has been a strong tendency of focusing on mission as delivering some goods somewhere. In colonialism and imperialism, this concept has been pervasive, and often destructive…even today.
Often times missionaries believe they know what is best for the people.
Often times missionaries go into a community with the best of intensions, but they rely on what they are bringing, without first listening to the community.
There are churches built by missionaries in Africa that have never been used because the communities prefer the straw huts they’ve always worshiped in.
These missionaries weren’t traveling lightly. They brought their own agenda. Whether it be as a missionary or in our every-day encounters,
we all share this disposition to do heavy packing, to bring our own “stuff” into relationships.

When Jesus sends them and us on our mission, rather than packing, he says we must UNPACK. In other words, humble yourself, leave yourself open to those you encounter on the journey.
We are not called to force feed people with the Gospel message; but rather by unpacking, humbling ourselves, and being open to those we encounter; in so doing the environment is created where the Gospel message would be manifested.
That is, when we come into these encounters with nothing, unguarded, humble, open, vulnerable; it opens a space where those we encounter can also be vulnerable, and it is in that mutual vulnerability that there can really be healing, and we can talk openly about God in our lives.

Jesus tells his disciples twice to eat whatever is set before them. They will have to rely on others, and trust in their hospitality They have to trust that their hosts and God would provide for them
Later in Luke’s Gospel, (Luke 22:35) when they had come back, Jesus asks his disciples: "When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "No, not a thing."
Once they have to humble themselves and rely on other’s hospitality, they just may be turned in-side-out, transformed and humbled.
Jesus wanted the 72 not to over-pack their suitcase so that they would have a genuine openness to the situation of those whom they would meet on the journey, without carrying the freight of their own agendas into the relationships. They must first be open to listen and receive.

In his book, “Gracias,” Henri Nouwen writes these words about his experiences in Latin America:
“After many centuries of missionary work during which we, the people of the North, tried to give them the people of the south, what we felt they needed, we have now come to realize that our very vocation is to receive their gifts to us and say thank you.
Nouwen goes on to say…that there is what he calls a ‘spiritual treasure’ in Latin America, a gift for us who live in the illusion of power and self-control.
He calls this treasure “gratitude,” and it can help us break through the walls of our self righteousness, both individual and collective and it can prevent us from destroying ourselves and our planet in our attempt to hold onto what we consider our own.

After I graduated from college I spent a year working with churches in Juarez, Mexico. I came into it like so many bright eyed well intended people, with a passion to share the gospel, and to help those in need.
I had something to bring…something they didn’t have—I was to be the donor, they were to receive.
I remember one day being invited to a family’s home to eat, as I often was. What a great opportunity to share the gospel, right?
The father of the house, worked at a Maquiladora, a factory where the average salary is under $5 a day. This is the entire income for him, his wife and two young boys. I was welcomed into their small two-roomed cinder-block home. As I ate with the family I was given a huge plate of food with a large steak. This kind of meal is rarely eaten because of how expensive it is. I looked at all the food, and I knew that it cost them at least a couple days’ wages. I did not deserve such hospitality.
The way this family showed me love, without condition or merit, is the same way that God loves. It was through the hospitality of this family that the grace of God flooded my soul. There was grace in the meal, there was grace in the sounds of their out of tune guitar, and there was grace in our laughter as I failed in my attempt to eat an entire chili pepper.
In all my efforts to tell the family about the grace of God, I was the one that received it, in the most humbling way, through the actions of this family. As much as I wanted to tell them that the “kingdom of God was near,” they showed me what it is really like. It’s not like the kingdom I know—in this world, where people take and hoard everything they can, but rather one in which people give selflessly.

I went into this meal having over-packed my suitcase, focused on what I was going to give them, only to be shown what it really means to give.
In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus calls us to go out, and he doesn’t just send us out, but gives us the authority to boldly proclaim the peace of God, and that God is near and bringing a new kingdom, a new way. The good news is that when we go out to do this, Jesus reminds us not to over-pack our suitcase, that what we can pack is not what sustains us.
The good news is that Jesus takes away our baggage, and sustains us by the grace given through the hospitality of the ones to whom we were sent to proclaim.
We are not sent out to serve alone, but with empty suitcases we are sustained by the grace of God. Amen.