We began reading Luke’s gospel at the beginning of Advent last year. We’ve read it in order chapter by chapter up through today. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday. We’re going to jump to later in the story. But thus far we’ve seen the birth predictions and births of both John the Baptist and Jesus. We’ve seen a bit of Jesus’ childhood. We’ve seen the early phases of both of their ministries. Then John was arrested and went off stage. Jesus’ ministry has been focused on the region of Galilee, some 80 miles north of Jerusalem, the religious center. Jesus has engaged in quite a bit of conflict with the sect of the Pharisees, as well as their scribes. That’s no surprise given that Jesus himself was probably of the sect of the Pharisees.
Most
of Jesus’ ministry has been to Jews but he has ventured into the territory of
non-Jews, like we read about last week.
From among Jesus’ followers he has hand-picked a dozen whom he’s named
“apostles”. This dozen is a mixed group
of guys who are not really qualified, but he chose them nonetheless. That’s telling us quite a bit. When God chooses people to do things God does
not often look to the brightest and best.
God chooses whom God chooses for God’s own inscrutable reasons.
We’ve
experienced Jesus’ core teachings and a sermon.
We’ve seen him perform miraculous healings, exorcisms and control the
forces of nature. In what we have read
thus far the foundation of Jesus’ ministry has been laid out. Today as we come to 9:50 we come to the end
of the Galilee ministry. The next verse
takes us into part two of the gospel, which is the journey to Jerusalem. After Easter we’ll return to that part of the
story. Anyway, a major shift happens
here as Jesus transitions away from Galilee.
It’s more than just a shift in his geographic location. There is also a shift in his disciples.
A
few weeks ago I put a handout in the bulletin about the conflict of economies
in Luke. One side was labeled the
Redistributive Economics of Exploitation.
The other was labeled God’s Divine Economy of Promised Compassion. It’s basically the way the world works vs.
the way God works. I’ve included this
second side in the bulletin today.
In
that we see that God is on top. Jesus is
God’s greatest agent to humanity in need.
But we are also God’s agents. In
Luke 9 we see that the role of being an agent of God expands to include the
disciples. Verse 1 starts off, “Then
Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all
demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of
God and to heal.” Yes, the disciples
have been empowered to be agents of God and they are sent out into the region
of Galilee.
The
rest of Chapter 9 is really about the disciples, even as Jesus remains the
central character. So, what are these
disciples supposed to do? Does Jesus
give them each a car, a trunk full of swag and brochures, a bullhorn, and
several days rations if needed?
Nope. They will live radically dependent on the
hospitality of people they have not yet met.
They are to travel fast and light.
Now
it is true that hospitality in those days was very different than today. Today we would be shocked and offended if
someone showed up on our doorstep and asked for a meal and a night’s lodging. But that was not so much then. Travelers could reasonably depend upon the
hospitality of villagers. There were
intricate rules and expectations of both the traveler and the host. We see Jesus expressing some of them in the
text. The point is, these 12 disciples
are to go out not dependent upon their own stores or their own abilities, but
trust that as they spread the kingdom, God will provide. And also as Jesus warns them, they will not
always be well received.
The
very next scene is Herod becoming aware of all this. Jesus alone, or John the Baptist alone, were
just itinerant preachers doing their thing.
When Jesus’ disciples become involved now we’re looking at a much bigger
scale of operation. This inbreaking
kingdom of God is betting noticed. We
get a foreshadowing of what is to come.
At
the beginning of the chapter we are told that the disciples do go out without
provisions and they are successful.
Things are going well for them.
But will it last?
The
next scene is the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
All of the gospels include this feeding miracle. Luke is very sparce in the way he describes
it. And if you read it from Luke again
sometime notice the focus is on the disciples, not on Jesus. The day is drawing to its close. The disciples want Jesus to send the crowds
away for lodging and food. That’s very
logical concern to have. But Jesus tells
them to give them something to eat.
Remember,
they have just done all this successful missionary work. They have cured diseases and cast out
demons. Are they ready to trust that God
provides? Do they really believe that
God will do things beyond what they can see, and do more than the available
resources would suggest?
You
know the story. Jesus tells them to act
as God’s agents by providing and all they do is see things in limited human
terms. “We have no more than five loaves
and two fish – unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” You can hear the sarcasm in their words:
Really Jesus. Feed all these thousands of
people? You’ve got to be kidding, right? Despite being fresh from success, here they
fail. It appears as if the disciples
haven’t learned everything yet. They
aren’t fully prepared.
In
the next scene Jesus asks who do people say that he is. The disciples answer what people are saying:
a prophet, Elijah, John the Baptist. When
asked who they think he is we have Peter’s famous reply, “You are the Messiah
of God.”
Okay, insightful. Thumbs up to the disciples.
Then Jesus goes on to describe what
will be happening to him. He will
suffer, be rejected by the experts, and ultimately killed; before being
raised. I imagine the disciples
listening in puzzlement. Surely this is
a parable or some sort of riddle.
They were similarly confused as
Jesus talks about taking up their cross and following him. But to their credit, they keep silent.
The transfiguration story follows
right on the heels of that. Once again,
while Jesus is the main character, there’s quite a bit of attention given to
the three disciples who witness it: Peter, James, and John. The three of them do appear to be successful,
at least somewhat. Despite being sleepy
they manage to stay awake to see it happen.
Yeah disciples! But then
practical human thinking slips in.
Peter, speaking for James and John
as well, makes a generous and practical offer – make three dwellings, or
booths, for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.
I’ve preached before that this is really an insightful thing for Peter
to say and to offer. But he turns out to
be thinking wrongly. Apparently God’s
ways are not to be predicted. Failure to
the disciples.
Upon returning from the mountain we
meet an epileptic boy. The disciples,
not too long before successfully curing people, are failing.
They fail again at the next scene
when they don’t listen to Jesus when he tells them about what will happen to
him. And they fail yet again at the next
scene when they get into an argument over who is the greatest. Then there is yet another failure when John
tries to stop someone who was not among the hand picked twelve doing things in
Jesus’ name.
As the Galilee ministry winds down
and Jesus turns his attention toward the journey to Jerusalem things aren’t
looking to good for these hand-picked twelve.
These are words that should sink
deep into our ears. Our attention easily
goes to Jesus the superhero and we forget that we are in the story as the
disciples. We, like the disciples, are
God’s chosen agents to bring about God’s kingdom.
It is easy to feel fear and inadequacy
when it comes to doing God’s work. It is
easy to think that there must be someone else better qualified or more capable
of doing the work that God wants to get done.
Or perhaps we just feel like failures because we just don’t have enough
faith. Our priorities are too easily
sinful and misguided.
But
remember the disciples – Jesus hand picked twelve. Despite being with Jesus, and despite being
given special powers by Jesus, they still struggle. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they fail. Also remember that they are a mixed bunch:
fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, a traitor. Certainly none of them are qualified to
change the world!
They
are who Jesus chose. And we are who
Jesus chose. Why? I don’t know!
But God chooses whom God chooses.
That is that.
I
believe it is in our inherent ability to fail, it is in our weaknesses, it is
in our ability to identify with hopelessness, that God finds our real
capabilities. That is how God works – by
sending authentic agents to the world in need.
Never
do we get to set ourselves above others as if we are superior. We simply aren’t. But we are equipped with the gift of God’s
grace. So may we be bold to live it.
By
the end of the gospel of Luke all of the disciples will have failed. As we enter Volume 2 of Luke’s writing, the
Acts of the Apostles, we see them continuing to struggle and to fail, and to
sometimes succeed. Through it all God is
with them. And through it all God’s
kingdom is growing.
May
you live in the faith and confidence of knowing you are an agent of God,
bringing hope and promise to our world in need.
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