C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for September 9, 2007
During our summer vacation I went with my 12 year-old son Hugo to Cedar Point. One of the rides at Cedar Point is the “Top Thrill Dragster.” It is described as the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the universe. I wondered to myself whether they had tested any of the other universes, but I took their word for it as being the tallest and fastest, at least in our universe. The ride travels from 0-120 miles per hour in 4 seconds and climbs 400 feet before plummeting just as quickly, in jerking 360 pirouettes to a dead stop. After waiting an hour in line, we got to the welcome sign, and there were the usual notes about keeping all body parts in the carriage, and no food, etc., but then came the show stopper - “Occasionally the carriage doesn’t make it to the top of the hill. If this happens, do not be concerned.” Do not be concerned? I’m putting my life in the hands of some high school punk, doing a summer vacation job, and just found out that sometimes it doesn’t make it, and I’m not to be concerned? That’s like having the flight attendant on an airplane begin the flight by saying, “Occasionally while we fly over the Atlantic, we don’t make it. But don’t be concerned. That’s life. Sit back and enjoy the ride” So I read on and it said to not be concerned because it just rolls back down the hill. Now I feel so much better! In any case, I went for the ride, felt very concerned, but landed safely and loved every second of the 8-second ride. Life is Messy Doesn’t that sound like life sometimes? Isn’t life a roller coaster, fast and furious, and no one can give you the certainties you want? The bottom line is that life’s messy, but try not to dwell in fear and anxiety- because life tends to work itself out. When I read the story of Jesus sending out 70 disciples I get some of this same feeling. The number is symbolic, as 70 represented the number of fullness and universality. In Hebrew culture, this meant that they were sent to all people, in all of the nations. Just as it was with my preparation, waiting an hour to get on the Top Thrill Dragster, Jesus had several years’ preparation with his disciples. And, right at the last minute, he said to them, “I’m sending you out as if you are lambs into the midst of wolves. This could get messy. You will get a mixed response. But do not be concerned. Life has a way of taking care of itself.” I saw a wonderful comic strip involving two lambs reading this passage about Jesus sending out his disciples. The words appear as a bubble over the heads, “Im sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” One lamb says to the other, “I don’t like the sound of this.” The other lamb responds, “Well, I wouldn’t worry too much. After all, Satan has already been defeated.” And the first lamb says, “Then why do I feel like wolf-bait?” So often people tell us not to worry or be concerned, but we can’t help it. We still feel like wolf-bait. We want the certainties and cannot get a handle on the mess that is life. Jesus gave his disciples 3 clues to use in their mission as peace ambassadors. They are equally relevant for us today. 1) Travel light Travel Light Jesus says to his disciples, “don’t take a purse, sandals, or a bag”, and he is speaking symbolically, suggesting that they travel light. Before you can be useful on a peace mission, you have to rid yourself of a lot of excess baggage. You must first make peace with yourself so that your very presence will bring peace and liberation to others and to the world. I agree with psychologists who say that when something is unresolved inside of us it plays out as a war outside of us. If we are not at peace inwardly, we play out conflicts outwardly. I wonder if that is true for countries as well? Is it possible that when a country has unresolved issues internally, they play it out externally with war? For example, unresolved national fear might play out as aggression against a foreign nation. The power of unresolved tension is powerful and frightening. Rid yourself of as much excess baggage from the past as you can, and travel light. Leave it in the past, and move forward with a freshness, so that every new experience holds all the possibilities in the world. Leave behind the assumptions from the past; the fear and anxiety and travel as light as you can. Of course, we all carry some baggage. That’s the reality of being human. But rid yourself of as much baggage as possible. So Jesus says to travel light, and it is a symbol, but it is also more than a symbol. Because when you resolve those inner conflicts you have to allow them to translate into your body language and communication, into your very mannerisms. Sometimes it takes an extra step of awareness to do that. Translate inner peace into a peace that you wear in your body, actions and words. Don’t fret about the outcomes Even the Top Thrill Dragster arrives safely at the end of the ride, most of the time. Life has a way of working itself out, most of the time. Jesus says to go out, take your peace to every household, and leave it there. If it is received, then well and good. If not, then move on. Don’t sweat about other people’s responses, simply be the peace yourself. Offer peace, and don’t worry about what you cannot control - other people’s responses or the outcome of events. Let go of the outcome. We need to understand something about hospitality in first century Palestine. Homes were organized around hospitality and hospitality was a mark of a family’s honor. So every home had a public entry, where anyone could walk in anytime, and if they were friends, the owner would invite them into the private area of the home. If they were enemies, they would be escorted from the premises. To refuse hospitality to friends was a mark of shame on the host family. But how would Jesus’ disciples have been categorized? They were friendly strangers, so should the homeowners treat them like friends or enemies? That was the choice, and by their choice they would choose honor of dishonor. All you can do is put peace out into the universe. You can’t control how people will respond, that is their journey. Let go of others’ journeys, just be the peace yourself. Peace is mutual empowerment, not charity Charity would be me giving you peace. I have it and you do not, so I give it to you. That is charity. That’s not what is spoken about in this passage. What is spoken is far more empowering. Jesus says, “When you arrive in a place and are welcomed, if they cook for you, eat the food.” Allow the family to entertain you. Receive their hospitality, because this is a mutual relationship, and is one that is empowered. Dominic Crossan is a Roman Catholic Jesus Seminar scholar who has a great theory about this sending out of the disciples.(* see quote from Crossan below) Crossan argues that much of Jesus’ mission was about social revolution. He suggests that, at the time, the world was ordered according to power relationships, whether the relationships were class or gender or tribally oriented. Poor people were kept functional only at the whim of wealthy landowners. So Crossan says that this passage is a call to peasants to restore egalitarian community, inspiring those in the first century to live peace in such a way that boundaries of class, race, and gender were shattered. The type of egalitarianism that Jesus’ was calling his disciples to pursue was a radical discipleship. It was a radical form of common wealth and empowerment, and mutual sharing of resources. So whatever peace means for us today, and as you head out on your peace mission, keep in mind that one of the barriers to peace in our world is the same as it was in the first century. As long as we do not begin to break down class discrimination, gender discrimination, and racial discrimination, there will not be peace in the world. The way to break down these inequalities is to give it as charity, but to find mutually empowering ways to share peace. I pass Jesus’ radical discipleship on to you. Be the peace you wish to see in the world. This is a radical mission of egalitarian common wealth. Jesus encourages his disciples to see a spiritual reality; one where distinctions are blurred and all people come together despite all manner of difference. Peace was urgent in the first century, and its urgent now. Peace as an Emerging Global Consciousness You and I are part of a progressive spiritual movement that is gaining momentum around the world every day. We find our partners in all sorts of new places. They are not necessarily other religious organizations. They are not defined by religious beliefs or social vision; they are defined by a willingness and consciousness to break down boundaries between people. This movement is determined to see people according to their intrinsic worth, and not some value prescribed by society status. It is a consciousness that first resolves those inner conflicts, and from that place pursues relationships where any fractures are healed. Seek peaceful families, and from those families seek peace within communities, and from communities to nations. Nations that seek peace rather than division. And from nations to a whole world which seeks to be one in this common consciousness. I charge you as human beings to go out from this place alone, two by two, three by three, it doesn’t matter the number, because within this room we represent the 70. We represent all people in the world, global consciousness, a will to explore healing and wholeness. I inspire you to go out from this place and be the peace you wish to see in the world. Wage peace on yourself, all those aspects that remain unresolved and at war. Wage peace on your partner, your family, work colleagues, and the world. The call of Jesus is my call to you today: Peace- Just do it. Peace- Just be it! * The missionaries do not carry a bag because they do not beg for alms or food or clothing or anything else. They share a miracle and a Kingdom, and they receive in return a table and a house. Here, I think, is the heart of the original Jesus movement, a shared egalitarianism of spiritual and material resources. I emphasize this as strongly as possible, and I insist that its materiality and spirituality, its facticity and symbolism cannot be separated. John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991, 1992), Page 341 For Jesus…commensality was not just a strategy for supporting the [healing] mission. That could be done by alms, wages, charges, or fees of some sort. It could have been done, for instance, by simple begging in good Cynic fashion. Commensality was, rather, a strategy for building or rebuilding peasant community on radically different principles from those of honor and shame, patronage and clientage. It was based on an egalitarian sharing of spiritual and material power at the most grass-roots level. For that reason, dress and equipment appearance was just as important as house and table response
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