July 5, 2009
Rev. Wendy Miller Olapade
Fifth Sunday after Pentacost
Scripture:  Psalm 48, Mark 6:1-13

WE ARE THE EQUIPMENT

Imagine that you are a reporter for a home town newspaper with an assignment to get the voice of the people for a story on a local boy who was beginning to gain a national reputation as a teacher and a leader.  People would tell you that they knew the rising star as a young man and that they knew his family.  You would expect them to go on telling glowing stories and be proud of a local boy made good.  Not here.  Something has gone wrong with the usual formula.  

Something in Jesus’ message and actions makes his community very uncomfortable -- to say the least.  A message that introduces and calls for a new world will always be a threat to those who are happy and successful in the old one.

Interestingly, from what we know of the community of the faithful to whom Mark’s gospel was written, this story reflects their experience.  They too were persecuted by their community.  You can almost hear the thought wheels turning, “What is happening to us, happened to the Lord himself!  We are not alone!”  

But, this story is also a missionary spur to Mark’s community and to us.  While Jesus was not able to do deeds of power there, and could only lay hands on and heal a few people; while Jesus is frankly, amazed at his neighbors’ response and their unbelief, he nevertheless continues on teaching in the villages - and he expands his ministry by commissioning the Twelve.

I love the way Eugene Peterson describes Jesus’ commission in The Message translation:

Jesus called the Twelve to him, and sent them out in pairs.  He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition.  He sent them off with these instructions:

Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for this.  You are the equipment.  No special appeals for funds.  Keep it simple.  “And no luxury inns.  Get a modest place and be content there until you leave.   

“If you're not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw.  Don't make a scene.  Shrug your shoulders and be on your way."

Then they were on the road.  They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.

Beloved, we disciples, we modern Christians, are called to the same response.  “…on the road…they preached the good news with joyful urgency, right and left the brought wellness to the sick and sent the opposition packing.”

And Jesus tells us that we already have everything we need to do this.  In Peterson’s translation, we do not need extra equipment.  We are the equipment.

As Hope Church catches her collective breath this summer from a couple of years of weeping and gnashing of teeth and an interim year of transition, adjustment and healing; a year of discovery, discernment and development—I believe that it is time for Hope Church to turn her sights outward.

There is still stuff to be done internally--not the least of which is to continue growing leaders and ministries that glorify God, making a huge decision about place and a relationship with others – and of course there is the little matter of calling a pastor!  

But as Hope has learned to do over the years she has been flying, as Hope has done with much grace and aplomb, she must continue to “build the airplane while she is flying it.”

Hope must continue to do all these things while she heads on out, one-on-one, two by two or twelve by twelve and preach and teach with joyful urgency that life can be radically different with God at your back.  It is time for us to get back out in the street and share the good news of Jesus.  It is time for us to get back out in the community and bring people to God – sharing God’s love for all of creation through the worship and ministry of Hope Church.

Bishop William Willimon notes in a sermon on this text that Jesus spends more time and detail telling his disciples what not to take as they head out, rather than in telling them what to take.  He tells them to travel light and keep it simple.  Those of you who are frequent travelers can be easily separated from those of us who drag gigantic suitcases along for the vacation.  You already know how little you really need to be out there and get the job done.

So the disciples are noted for what they do not take with them rather than what they do.

How different this is from the way we usually present the Christian life.  We usually present Jesus as a means for getting something we need.  And yet here, Jesus is presented as the master of relinquishment.  Come and follow Jesus and leave things behind, give up things that were once dear to you, and move forward with Jesus.

When we sign on with Jesus as disciples, something is gained, yes.  But something can also be lost as well, and those necessary losses can sometimes be painful.  Simple honesty therefore compels us this Sunday to speak of the loss that faithful discipleship brings us.

There, as Jesus leaves his home town, he abandons his family and friends, and calls his disciples, telling them that they also must relinquish, abandon, let go, and move forward with him.  "Take no purse, or bag, or sandals."  I think of it as clearing the way for the things God asks us to do – love God and love our neighbor.

We can think of this as stuff that needs to be left behind – like the "props" that most people require in our society - power, economic success, a big car, an impressive career, successful children, etcetera - the disciples become a sort of test of the power of Jesus.  Can Jesus Christ accomplish what he promises without the stuff of the world?

But it is more than the stuff – in order to be light on our feet and light of heart, in order for Hope Church to fly, ultimately, we need to relinquish our anger about the things that didn’t go exactly as we had planned for Hope church; our hurt at the way the institutional church treated us in the past; our disappointment at the pastors or leaders who did not live up to our image of them.  We must relinquish our fear of failure, our need to be successful based on the way the world defines success, and our presumptions about what the institutional church and the Christian Faith is all about.

You already know what you need to do – you identified it in your responses to the survey being used to define the churches search process:  You need to focus on the main thing for the church - the worship and service of the living God, Jesus the Christ.  Let go of all the baggage, stay focused on the most important thing - you are a priesthood of all believers, you are to bring people to God."

Jesus is on the move and he calls us to move with him.  Will we be obedient to his command to take nothing with us except his vocation and his providential care?  We already have everything that we need – we are the equipment – so let’s go, let’s move, let’s share this amazing grace we have been given, let us share our Holy God with people who have not yet met her, let us carry the good news to the ends of the earth—beginning with those who have no church home, need strength, want to follow Christ, have doubts, or do not believe.

Let’s leave behind our baggage, let’s relinquish control, let’s lighten our load and not take ourselves so seriously.  (They say that is why Angels can fly – they don’t take themselves too seriously.)  Let’s share the gospel with new visitors and old friends, grandparents, mothers, fathers, and single people.  Let’s move forward and preach and teach people of all colors, cultures, abilities, and sexual orientations, old and young, believers and questioners –and questioning believers.

Let us be the good news, here, in this place, today, tomorrow, the next day and the next day.  Let us be hope.