Proper 9.C.25
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Melanie L. McCarley

I know of a church which has emblazoned on its rear balcony these words: “Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.” If you are entering the church, the words cannot be seen, they are hovering somewhere above you, behind your head. Sitting in the pew, looking straight ahead at the altar and the lectern you would think nothing of them. But after you have received the sacrament of Holy Communion they are what you see as you walk back to your pew before the final hymn and dismissal. “Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.” Now that you have been strengthened by word and sacrament, you are ready to do your work in the world—serving God, beyond the front door entrance to the church. These words, they are the congregation’s marching orders. “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

“Go” is the theme of today’s Gospel lesson. The tenth chapter of Luke contains the story known as the “Sending of the Seventy.” Some refer to the seventy as disciples, others as apostles. I prefer the word “apostle” because it literally means “one who is sent.”

The lesson begins: “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.” Who were these people? Luke never names them, and we don’t hear of them again. Unknown to us as well is where they went and what they did.

However, we do have some idea of their effect. In today’s lesson we learn that the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” One of the fascinating things about the Gospel is how far and how fast it spread. The book of Acts (Luke, by the way, was also the author of Acts) begins in Jerusalem and ends 1500 miles to the west in Rome. The Gospel also spread to the east. By the year 635 believers confessed Jesus as Lord in China. A mere hundred years after that, Syrian believers had spread the Gospel to Baghdad, Tibet and India.

So, it’s worth taking a closer look at the instructions our Lord gives to his followers. When Jesus sends out the seventy he is under no illusion as to the scope of the task that is being set before them. He says: “The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few.” I’m casting my eyes about our world—and I’d say that not much has changed.

We hear nothing in the Gospel about the preparation of these evangelists. No mention is made of workshops, certifications, qualifying exams or licenses for the seventy. My best guess is they were simply followers (think of them as the first century equivalent of people in the pews)—individuals who listened, who responded to what Jesus said, who believed in him and his words. They were not unlike ourselves. What qualifies us to do this work of serving the Lord? Simply stated, our baptism. Each of us is qualified by virtue of our baptism to carry this work in the world. Nothing else is necessary. In fact, it’s what we’ve promised to do.

The Seventy’s task wasn’t easy. Jesus says: “See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” There is risk inherent in this endeavor. Not everyone will listen, not everyone will be welcomed. Sometimes the best the apostles will be able to do is to shake off the dust clinging to their feet as they leave an unwelcoming place.

Nor did they have a lot to carry with them. Jesus, I suspect, wanted them to know that bringers of the Good News don’t need a lot of baggage to do the work of God. This, quite honestly, is a tripping point with me—I’m the type of person who heads out with insurance cards, umbrellas, walking sticks, extra underwear and sunscreen. Given a choice, I’m going to opt for the large suitcase in lieu of the carry on bag. So—if you’re like me, perhaps one thing to consider is this—maybe we should be asking ourselves not what we need—but who. Our Lord sent out those seventy with little more than a blessing and the understanding that God was with them. They headed out in pairs with little but the willingness to be dependent on others—and it worked.

We hear a lot of talk these days about the decline of Christianity in the United States. Notice, in today’s lesson that Jesus sends out 70 disciples. Not 700 or 7,000, but 70. And consider what they accomplished! This group is more than likely the core of the disciples who, after Pentecost, will preach and teach the Gospel and take the good news to the ends of the earth. In later years their descendants will be the ones who build hospitals and orphanages and refugee centers and all manner of institutions that profoundly touch the lives of those around them. Just 70 people in the beginning, and with faith and courage, they changed the world.

Perhaps we should consider that the really amazing thing about this passage isn’t the miracles the apostles accomplished in the name of their Lord, but their willingness to be sent. Ordinary people, doing extraordinary things for the love of God and their neighbors.

This is a story of people asking something of themselves, and of those they encountered—to trust in God, and to experience hope and grace. It was their task for their time, and it is ours today.

The number 70 isn’t so far off from the size of the average worshipping congregation in the United States. Sent out to bring healing and love to a broken and hurting world—these disciples returned with joy. Perhaps it goes without saying that they weren’t heard by everyone. But they were listened to by some—and for those people, who responded to the promises of God and the liberating message of grace, they, in their turn, became apostles and continued to carry that news to others. Ultimately that news came down to ourselves and brought us to this place, this morning. Here, on any given Sunday, we are fed and nourished, and then sent into the world to bear the same message of Christ. It brings to mind once again the words of our Book of Common Prayer carefully painted on the rear balcony of a church. “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” The Book of Common Prayer has four sentences of dismissal. Here are a few more of them: “Let us go forth in the name of Christ.” and “Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.” The message is simple—given to those in the first century of the common era and to us today. As followers of Christ, we are meant to “Go, and serve the Lord.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.