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In the name of T Jesus.
I’ve been
to a number of seminary call services; those services during which seminary
candidates hear their names called, and then seconds later, find out the name
and location of the congregation in which they will serve in the Office of the
Holy Ministry. I’ve been to a number of
seminary call services—once as a candidate myself, but other times as a
participant in the congregation.
I’ve also
been to a number of ordination and/or installation services; those services
during which the sanctuary is filled with excitement as a new pastor is being
prepared to be placed into the Office of the Holy Ministry in a new, or
another, congregation; those services during which the altar paraments are red,
and all the pastor’s stoles are read, and there are special guests, and
excitement, and probably a celebratory meal to follow to welcome and celebrate
the gift of a new pastor.
I’ve been
to a number of seminary call services; services during which men discover the
location of the place in which they will service. I’ve also been to a number of ordination,
and/or installation services; services during which those men have hands placed
upon them, and blessings given to them, and then finally are installed into the
Office of the Holy Ministry in a given local congregation. And in all the call services, and in all the
installation services, I’ve never heard a sermon preached, or a blessing
spoken, that used today’s Holy Gospel, from Luke, chapter 10.
Imagine
being a young man being sent from the seminary, or a more seasoned pastor,
getting ready to begin ministry in a new context; or imagine being one of the
seventy-two, who were appointed by Jesus Himself—a Divine Call, you might
say—and who were sent by Jesus Himself, two by two to preach the word of
peace. Imagine being any of these men,
and being given today’s Holy Gospel as a word of encouragement:
“Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”
Gee,
thanks! That’s worse than being sent to
South Dakota! I imagine there weren’t
any of the 25,000 youth at the National Youth Gathering this past week, who
stopped by the two seminary booths in the convention center to gather
information about what it means to be a pastor, and how to prepare to be a
pastor, who had this passage in mind. I
know, for a fact, that today’s Holy Gospel isn’t printed on any of the
recruitment brochures that the seminaries produce. But maybe it should be. “Behold,
I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”
And to
make matters worse, Jesus tells the seventy-two that they’re not supposed to
take anything with them. I remember when
I graduated from the seminary, and was getting ready to move to San Antonio to
serve in my first call. Naomi was about
eight months old, and we had lived in a three-bedroom home for some of our time
of seminary, and there were ten years worth of college and seminary books to
load up. But to the seventy-two Jesus
says, “Carry no moneybag, no knapsack,
no sandals, and greet no one on the road.”
Jesus tells them to take nothing
but themselves. And Jesus tells them to
say nothing to anyone along the way. “Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no
sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say,
‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest
upon him. But if not, it will return to
you.’”
Jesus tells them to take nothing
but themselves. And Jesus tell them not
to say anything to anyone along the way.
And unlike a class of seminary students, who have been called by
congregations who have offered prayers for God to send them a laborer to help
with the harvest, Jesus doesn’t help out these seventy-two by telling them the
houses to which they should go.
Jesus tells them to take nothing
but themselves. And Jesus tells them not
to say anything to anyone along the way.
And when they arrive in the city, and they go to the door of a home,
Jesus gives them but one thing to say, “Peace
be to this house!”
It is the season of ordinations,
and installations, you see. This summer,
seminary graduates are being ordained, and installed in congregations all
across this country, and while it is unlikely that anyone in attendance at any
of those services will hear a sermon preached on today’s Holy Gospel, and it is
also unlikely that any of the pastors who place their hands on that ordinand
and speak a Word of blessing will choose today’s Holy Gospel, but maybe they
should. Because in today’s Holy Gospel,
the Words of blessing that Jesus speaks to the seventy-two that he appoints and
sends to preach in His name would remind us all that one who is called by
Jesus, and sent by Jesus, is sent, not to be charismatic, although he will
likely be able to speak quite well; he is sent not to be charming, although he
will hopefully enjoy talking to people; he is sent not to be dynamic, although
many will be and some will not; he is sent not to double the size of the church
in a matter of years because he is this new, young, energetic pastor, with a beautiful
wife and family, although if the kingdom of God grows in numbers everyone will
give all thanks and praise to the Lord of the harvest. You see, the reason today’s Holy Gospel is so
helpful to keep in mind for pastors and congregations alike, is because in it,
Jesus reminds us that the called, and ordained servants whom He sends, are sent
by Jesus only to speak. Those
seventy-two, along with those who serve as pastors in the Church today, and the
congregations who are the recipients of this ministry, do well to remember that
these men, are sent only to speak the Word of Peace in the name of Jesus.
And that can be scary! Because it means that they might actually do
it. Called and ordained servants of the
Word might actually conduct their ministry and rely upon nothing else than the
Word of God. They might actually trust
that if the Lord is going to grant a rich harvest, then He is going to provide
that harvest through the means that He has given. They might actually believe that where the
Gospel is preached in its purity and the Sacraments are administered according
to Christ’s institution, there will be the Church. They might actually believe that the Gospel
is the power of salvation, and while they will end up doing all sorts of things
that have nothing to do with their call or ordination—they will sweep, and make
coffee, and create agendas for meetings, and drive a 15-passenger van all the
way to San Antonio and back—they will keep in mind that these other things they
do are only serving to give them opportunities to do the one thing which Jesus
has called them, and sent them to do, and this is to speak His Word of Peace to
His people.
But that can be scary. Because the people, as Jesus tells the
seventy-two, might not want to hear His Word of peace. Sure, they will likely open the door and
greet you with a smile. Some will even
go out of their way to knock on the pastor’s door so that they can inform him
of all of the important things he needs to know about the congregation. Sure, there will be a celebratory meal, and
the Servant of the Word will be welcomed with pomp and circumstance, but then,
if He is a faithful servant of the Word, He will start speaking that Word, and
there will likely be people who simply don’t want to hear it.
Jesus tells the seventy-two that
if the Word they Speak is not received, they should not waste their time,
begging and pleading. On the
contrary. When the Word they speak is
not received, Jesus tells them to go into the streets and declare it plainly, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off
against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I
tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!...And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven? You shall
be brought down to Hades.
I hate to say it, but it is
true. There are people in the
Church—maybe even in this Church—who despise the Word of God. They despise the Word of God when it points its
finger, and declares that person guilty.
There are people in the Church—maybe even in this Church—who would
rather hang on to their selfish desires, and cling to their world ways, and
follow after false teachings, and maintain a façade of faithfulness than be
brought to repentance, and confess their sins.
There are people in the Church—maybe even in this Church—who will hear
the Word of God spoken from the mouth of His servant, and they will reject it,
and Jesus says, that when they do, they are rejecting Christ Himself: “The one who hears you hears me, and the
one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent
me.”
This can be a scary thing, this
Ministry of the Word. It can be scary
for pastors who preach the Word, and it can be scary for congregations who are
to receive the Word. There is no
guarantee that the Word will be received with thanksgiving, and there is no
guarantee that the Word will be preached faithfully.
And while you are not called and
ordained, you most certainly have had a taste of this within the context of
your own vocations. Consider, for
example, the 25,000 youth and adults who by now have returned from the National
Youth Gathering with joy and enthusiasm, having been reminded that they are
loved by God, and knowing that they are loved by God because of the cross of
Jesus Christ, and trusting that their identity has nothing to do with what they
do with their hands, or their feet, or their eyes or their mouth but in what
was given them at their Baptism when God made them His own dear child. These 25,000 Christians are ready to
LiveLove[d], in their homes, and among their friends, and when school starts up
again, I pray they’ll still be eager to do it then. But they will find, as all of you have found,
that Jesus wasn’t joking when he told the seventy-two that they would be lambs
in the midst of wolves.
Be it as pastors called to serve
congregations, or spouses called to serve one another, or parents called to
serve their children, or coworkers called to love their neighbors at work and
to speak of Christ when given opportunity, or even as citizens of a country who
are called to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ, and to bear witness
to the truth in all places, you and I have been called only to speak. You and I have been called to speak a Word of
Peace that Jesus has given. You and I
have been called to speak of a Word that declares everyone equally guilty
because of our sin, and at the same time, to those who confess their sins,
because of Christ, you and I have been called to speak a Word that declares
them fully forgiven. And this ministry,
my friends, because we want so badly for people to come to a knowledge of the
truth, and to confess their sin and to trust in Christ for everything, this
ministry can be scary.
But this ministry of the Word is
not only scary, it is also full of joy!
Remember how Jesus says it will look when the Word is Received? “And
if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him….And remain in the
same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his
wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they
receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them,
‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
Wow, that’s not scary at all! The Word of Jesus is spoken, and the Word of
Jesus is received. The one who speaks
the Word, and has taken nothing along on his journey, is provided for by those
who gladly receive that Word, because when they receive that Word, they are
grateful to know Jesus, and to they are grateful for the one who has shown them
Jesus. And He has shown them Jesus
because He trusted the promise of Jesus, that he would provide a harvest
through the seed that was sown in the Word of the God alone.
Do you see it? When Pastors understand that theirs is a
ministry in which they’ve been sent only to speak the Word of God in all times
and places; and when people in the congregation expect of their Pastor that he
will conduct a ministry that speaks the Word of God in all times and places,
then Pastor and People will dwell together, and will remain together, and will
rejoice together in that Word of Peace which Jesus gives to them all! Of course, the Lord reserves the right to
call His servants, and to place His servants in other contexts, but as long as
Pastor and People together are speaking, and hearing, and receiving what it is
that Pastors and People are called by Jesus Himself to speak, and to hear, and
to receive, that is a place to stay, and that is a pastor to keep, and those
are a people to love.
You know, it’s interesting, the
way the text comes to an end. Those
seventy-two called and sent ones, sound like they’ve gone out and tried
it. It sounds like they’ve gone out and conducted
their ministry, and knocked on doors, and spoken the Word that they’ve been
given to speak, and they return to Jesus with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.”
Dear people of God. Satan has been defeated. Jesus saw him fall from heaven, and on the
cross, when Jesus had completed all His work on your behalf, and was ready to
give up His spirit in death, Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” And Satan’s destruction was secured.
But if we want to continue to see
Satan fall. If we desire to see the
Church remain strong, and faithful and true.
If we hope to be the body of Christ, and livelove[d] as brothers in
sisters in Christ, who are not ripped apart and divided by sin, but are united
in confession and repentance, and rely on Christ alone, then, I pray, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, we might trust this Word of Jesus, and while the
ministry of the Word may at times be scary, it is the only thing that still
makes Satan fall, so that you might stand, and together rejoice, that your
names are written in heaven. In the name
of T Jesus. Amen.
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