Isaiah
tells God's people to rejoice with Jerusalem! Their mourning is over.
Flourish and rejoice! The psalmist leads us to sing, “Shout
joyfully to God, all the earth, sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.” And our Lord watches the seventy-two
he appointed return to him rejoicing from their work against Satan in
the world. So much shouting and cheering and rejoicing. Jerusalem
returns from exile. Rejoice! God rescues His people – again.
Rejoice! Christ's workers return victorious from the field. Rejoice!
It may seem obvious to us why there is so much rejoicing this
morning. There's homecoming and divine rescue and victory against an
enemy. And that's probably why many of those rejoicing are rejoicing.
Can we rejoice with them? In a way but not truly. We can only share
their joy second-hand through scripture, believing – as we do –
that God again and again fulfills His promises of protection and
loving-care. Fortunately, we have our own reasons for rejoicing. Our
Lord says to the seventy-two and to us, “. . .do not rejoice
because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your
names are written in heaven."
Our
names are written in heaven, but we still live in this world. Our
citizenship is in heaven, but we abide – like alien residents –
in a foreign land. That's the paradox of being a child of the Father
and a subject of the world. Our hearts and minds are aimed at our
perfection with Him, yet we still have to eat, sleep, love, work, and
die among the temporary things He created. And not all those created
things welcome our presence as witness-bearers to Christ. Our Lord
appoints and sends out seventy-two witnesses to preach and teach the
Good News. He says to them, “Go on your way; behold, I am
sending you like lambs among wolves.” Note: they do not choose
themselves for this work. They do not decide to go among the wolves
as lambs and take charge of demons themselves. They are picked to do
this and they are commissioned in Jesus name. He didn’t ask for
volunteers. He named his workers. Matthew. John. Simon Peter. Philip.
Paul. He named them. At no point did Jesus ever stand before the
crowd and say, “I need seventy-two volunteers to go like lambs
among the wolves! Let’s see those hands, people!” Jesus knows
what
he is sending his workers to do. And he knows where
he is sending them to do it. This is why the seventy-two are
appointed ministers and not volunteers. Jesus knows that the harvest
is abundant – it’s HIS harvest, after all – but he also knows
that there are wolves among the sheep. Satan has fallen like
lightning from the sky.
The world we live in welcomes us – our labor, our money, our votes –
but it is less than welcoming when we bring the Gospel and try to
live out our faith. Jesus give the seventy-two careful instructions.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; pray peace on whatever house
you enter; stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered;
cure the sick where you are; preach the coming of the kingdom of God;
and, if any town refuses you hospitality, shake off their dust –
Sodom’s fate will look kind compared to what will happen to this
town. Know this: the kingdom of God is at hand! Clearly, Jesus knows
that the wolves will attack his ministers, calling them
money-grubbers, moochers, long-lingering guests, spiritual and civil
provocateurs, and snake-oil salesmen. We hear these accusation this
even now. We've heard it all before, and we will hear it again. And
so, our witness to God's enduring mercy must be motivated by veritas
in caritate, truth in
love. That's our defense and our offense. Truth in love. We cannot
defend ourselves by lying to the world – we tried that and it blew
up into the abuse scandals in 2002. We cannot defend ourselves by
hating the world – we've tried that too and it led us to hate
ourselves as embodied souls. So, we endure as witnesses to God's
mercy by telling the truth and loving our enemies. No easy task!
It
is no easy task to watch this world pass by and find a reason for
rejoicing. It's difficult to see why anyone could be joyful. Where do
they find the time and energy to rejoice? So much to do! We could
count the sources of temporal joy if we need to. But there is just
one source of eternal joy: Christ Jesus. For those chosen for this
work – all the baptized! – our delight, our moment of joy is
bringing the peace of Christ to the world by preaching his gospel
with our hands and feet, our words and deeds. Our enduring joy comes
from the knowledge that our names are written in heaven. We are, you
and I, inscribed – essentially, substantially – carved into the
very book of God’s Beauty; we are Words of Truth and of Goodness.
And so we rejoice not b/c of our power or our gifts or our deeds. We
rejoice b/c we belong to God! And His kingdom is at hand. Remember
that when the wolves begin to prowl: God's kingdom is at hand, and
you have been chosen as His witness. Think of Paul. He writes to the
Galatians that he bears the marks of Christ on his body. That he has
been crucified to the world and the world to him. He is a new
creation for whom the old law means nothing. How have you been
crucified to the world? Does the peace and power of Christ rule your
heart and mind? If so, rejoice!
And
what good does rejoicing do us? God doesn't need us to rejoice. He
doesn't need our prayers or our praise or our thanksgiving. We
rejoice and pray and praise and give thanks b/c we need to do things
to grow in holiness. We need them all to do the work we have vowed to
complete. If we live in the world as citizens of the world, then
rejoicing and prayer and praise all seem pointless, utterly useless
wastes of time. However, if we rejoice and pray as children of God
living in the world, then we bear witness to God's mercy and show –
with our words and deeds – that His promise of eternal life is true
and good and beautiful. Like hard exercise that builds muscle, or
intense study that builds knowledge, persistent rejoicing and praise
nurtures holiness, and we grow closer and closer to our Father. Think
of it as getting fat on prayer! And go preach and teach and bear
witness where you are. And wherever you are, rejoice b/c your name is
written in heaven as long as you endure in his name. That assurance,
that promise is sure spiritual protection from whatever the Enemy can
throw at you. So, go out rejoicing, serving, preaching, teaching,
bearing witness, being merciful, and all the while grow in holiness
until you meet Him face-to-face.
______________________Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->
No comments:
Post a Comment