Yr. A Proper 6
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few, pray therefore for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers in to the harvest.”
Yep,
we need laborers all right.
Jesus
speaks these words
right after he’s
cured a man possessed with
demons,
healed a paralytic, a woman with uncontrollable hemorrhages,
two blind men, a
mute…. And all the while
He’s
teaching and preaching the Good News of God’s kingdom.
How can one man possibly do
all that needs doing?
Just
look at then- milling around like so many orphaned sheep.
Look
over there- there that young one, aimlessly floating from job to job,
with no real sense of direction or purpose.
And
there, how about those guys?
They’re
slap worn out from the day in day out race
to earn recognition and a
regular salary…
And over there? She becomes more frail each week
Her body blasted by chemo and death dealing drugs…
And
there that child who can’t read,
And over there.. that solitary one
who waits by the window…and….
YES,
Lord- we will pray for laborers.
This
job is impossible!
And he called to Him his twelve
disciples
and gave them
authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out
and to heal
every disease and sickness.
But
wait…US??? We’re not qualified.
LORD,
this is serious business.
These
folks are in pain- they’re hurting in mind and body and spirit.
Us,
heal the sick? Cast out demons?
Us? Bind up wounds of resentment and anger?
Certainly
we will pray for other laborers to step forward…
For
laborers who are certified in medicine, or psychology or education.
But us?
We’d
better get some experts in here- men and women with credentials
( maybe even seminary degrees) But us????
So
imagine the following letter.
Dear
Sir:
Thank
you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men
you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization.
All
of them have taken our battery of tests.
We
have not only run the results through our computer
but have also
arranged personal interviews for each of them
with our vocational aptitude consultant.
The
profiles of the tests are included.
You
will want to study each of them carefully
As
part of our service, we offer some general comments.
This
is given as a result of staff consultation
and comes without any additional fee.
It
is our opinion that most of your nominees
are lacking in background, educational and vocational aptitude
for the type of enterprise you are undertaking.
They
do not have the team concept.
Therefore,
we strongly recommend
that you continue your search for persons of experience
in
managerial ability and proven capability.
We
find Simon Peter to be emotionally unstable
and given to fits of temper.
The
two brothers, James and John, place personal interest
above company loyalty.
Thomas
demonstrates a questioning attitude that tends to undermine morale.
Likewise
we feel it our duty to inform you that Matthew has been boycotted
by
the Greater
James
the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus
have radical leanings and registered high manic depressive scores.
Only
one of the candidates shows great potential.
He
is a man of ability and resourcefulness.
He
meets people well and he has a keen business mind.
He
has contacts in high places and is highly motivated, ambitious
and responsible.
We
recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right hand man.
All
the other profiles are self explanatory.
We
wish you every success in your new venture.
Sincerely
yours,
Well,
there you have it. This motley crew, this is the bunch
Our
Lord sends forth on a mission impossible.
Do
they do it perfectly? Not at all.
Each
of the gospels and the Book of Acts tells us over and over again
of
the ways they missed the mark, dropped the ball,
fell over their own feet and generally were the gang
who couldn’t shoot straight.
They
could not understand the parables,
didn’t know what He meant when He predicted His own death,
slept through His last agonized hours,
deserted Him as He went to judgment and the cross,
barely recognized Him when He appeared to them as the Risen Christ
and hadn’t a clue when He ascended into heaven.
One
of them even sold Him to the enemy for a briefcase of unmarked bills.
And yet….
There
is a church around the world today
witnessing in every nation
to the Good News of God in
Christ.
The
sun never sets on Christian hope.
The
faith that proclaims the Good News
even in the darkest hour
the faith that proclaims the ocean depth’s of God’s love
for all of God’s creation.
All
because these unskilled, unlikely laborers stepped out in faith
into the Lord’s
harvest.
They
carried no credentials.
Their
only qualification was to simply trust in the name
of
the One who sent them.
And
did you catch what happened to their names?
No
longer are they called disciples. No, from now on,
He
names them apostles.
Apostles, literally meaning- those
sent out.
And
it is as apostles,
that they wade into the fields of despair and mistrust and fear
to
boldly proclaim, “ The Kingdom of God is at hand!”
For
with God- nothing is impossible!
Maybe
it was the story of Abraham and Sarah they told each other
as
they walked along.
They
probably got a good laugh out of the story too.
Sarah
herself certainly did!
In
fact, even Isaac’s name is a reminder of his incredulous beginning-
for Isaac means “Son of Laughter”.
A
barren woman old enough to be a GREAT grandmother
told that she and her geriatric spouse
could set up the nursery for their firstborn. Told this by the LORD himself…
I’d laugh too. Wouldn’t you?
I’m
always drawn to the part of the dialogue
where Sarah denies she’d
laughed.
For
she was afraid you see. Afraid of what? The wrath of God?
No,
I suspect, she was afraid it just might be true after all.
Is anything
too wonderful for the Lord?
So
don’t you think somewhere along the line,
those first apostles, our forebears in faith
laughed too?
Laughed
and denied--- they had what it took.
But
soon enough they took a step, and
soon they were off and stumbling.
But
they stumbled on and walked out into the Lord’s harvest in His name.
That’s
what is so wonderful about the whole venture isn’t it?
“God
pays us the greatest compliment
by including us in God’s
ongoing mission”. ( A K.Grieb)
Again
and again, God does the extraordinary with the ordinary.
This
is the testimony throughout scripture and our own lives is it not?
Madeline
L’Engle calls it: God’s Glorious Impossibles.
“Possible
things,” she writes, “are easy to believe.”
“The
Glorious Impossibles are those things
that bring joy to our hearts,
hope to our lives and songs to our lips.”
The
birth of Jesus was a Glorious Impossible.
His
life and death and resurrection- Glorious Impossibles all
for all of us… from the Lord
of the harvest.
Baptism
is a glorious impossible.
For
at our baptisms we become apostles of the Risen Lord of the harvest.
At
every baptism we promise:
To proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.
We
receive our credentials at baptism… and for ever after
we
are certified laborers--- stamped not USDA
but sealed, sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism
and marked as Christ’s own
forever.
The
baptismal covenant becomes our job description.
The
promises we make on behalf of those too young
to
speak for themselves
as
well as those we claim for ourselves are serious promises.
We
stand and say: YES, I am an apostle of Christ.
I
am called to a mission impossible:
I
will bring Christ’s healing, reconciliation and love
to
a broken and hurting world.
I
will, I will, I will – with God’s help.
Like
the first apostles, we won’t be perfect.
We’ll
make mistakes, miss opportunities, welsh on our word,
betray our Lord.
But
our Lord is endlessly forgiving.
And
He keeps sending us out
back out into the world… in His
name.
For
you see, we’re all He’s got.
By
the power of God, the first apostles, our forebears in faith,
turned the world upside down.
WE
CAN TOO.
For
with God, nothing is impossible.
Amen.