Missionary Work

Luke 10:1-20

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” 

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

I have a confession to make. A few months ago, I looked out the window and spotted two people – a man and a woman – walking up my quiet little street. They were neatly dressed, in an old-fashioned sort of way, and were each carrying something – a book, pamphlets. I felt great apprehension as they headed up my driveway, because I was almost positive that this couple was going door-to-door trying to convert people to their religious beliefs. And I was pretty certain they weren’t Episcopalians. Although they may have been perfectly wonderful people, I did not want to talk to missionaries, so I ducked out of sight and ignored the doorbell.

Even at the time, it seemed cowardly to pretend that no-one was home. Surely I could simply explain that I was already a person of faith and not interested in discussing my beliefs. But like many people, I don’t like people coming to my home trying to convert me to their faith. It seems intrusive and disrespectful to my beliefs. 

Episcopalians are known to be particularly uncomfortable with evangelism or, as it’s sometimes called, the E word. And yet how many seats in churches everywhere could be filled if we were more active in sharing our faith? We are so quick to share recipes, diet plans, and other good things, but so private about sharing our faith? Why do we start thinking of reasons to leave when someone mentions evangelism?

A number of years ago I saw a cartoon showing two women leaving church, talking to the priest at the door. One of them is saying, “We don't know why you're making such a fuss about evangelism. Everyone in this town who ought be an Episcopalian already is one.” Fortunately, the Episcopal Church is not as elitist as that cartoon implies, but we are indeed reluctant to evangelize. We’re the opposite of those faiths that are well known for door-to-door missionary work. Most of us are reluctant to talk about our faith except in certain circumstances – in a safe space with people who want to listen.

I once registered for a course in evangelism. It took some courage for me to even sign up for a class with the E word in it. One of our first assignments was to tell three strangers about our faith. By strangers, the instructor really meant strangers: not only people we didn’t know personally, but people who weren’t even in a church or connected in any way to a church. He suggested we talk to people we might meet at a bus stop, or in line at the grocery store. I quickly dropped the course, because I couldn’t even imagine myself doing it.  I’d rather rappel down the side of the Empire State Building than go up to a complete stranger and start talking to them about my faith. I’m afraid of heights, but not nearly as afraid of heights as I am of the look I’d see on the face of that stranger! And I might be even more reluctant if the person was not a stranger, but someone I knew who hadn’t begun the conversation.

But according to the Bible, we have a Great Commission, to go and make disciples of all nations. In this passage from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus sends out seventy of his followers in pairs. Does that mean that the churches who send missionaries door-to-door have it right? As I read about the seventy, I thought of that couple headed up my driveway, and my reluctance to open the door to them. Apparently even in the time of Jesus, it wasn’t easy to get people to listen to missionaries, because Jesus provides these seventy apostles with instructions on what to do when they meet with rejections. He doesn’t assume that everyone will welcome them. But are these pairs of apostles that Jesus is commissioning quite the same as the door-to-door missionaries of today? Were they trying to convert people to a new religion?

Jesus is sending the apostles to places he plans to visit. He doesn’t say that he’s sending them out to make converts. He never mentions baptism, for example, or teaching the people they encounter. In fact, even if we read carefully, it’s not clear what the mission of the seventy is. Much more attention is given to how they’re to behave than what they’re actually supposed to accomplish. Why is Jesus sending them to the places that he’ll soon be visiting himself?

It appears that the pairs of apostles are some kind of “advance party,” the kind that in that time would have traveled ahead of a king or other important person to tell people that the king was coming through their town, so that everything would be ready. But there’s more to it than that, because Jesus begins by saying that

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

I think Jesus is the Lord of the harvest – the harvest master – and these apostles are being sent out to do the His work, as his agents. His only instructions are that, after they have settled into house in a village, they should cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” These instructions aren’t about converting people to a particular set of beliefs. Rather, these apostles are instructed to bring Good News to people: that the Kingdom of God is near.

In the time of Jesus, the people in Judea are living under the rule of  a brutal empire. For many, life is a struggle, as they scrape out a living as conquered people, heavily taxed by the Roman Empire. They’re kept from rebelling by Roman soldiers, who put down any signs of insurrection with great violence, including mass crucifixions. Their hope lay chiefly in believing that one day they would successfully overthrow the Empire through a violent rebellion, but given the strength of the Roman army, they knew that only with the help of God could they win such a war. Many waited patiently for the Lord to send the Messiah, the king who would triumphantly lead their armies in battle against the Romans and drive the hated conquerors out of Israel forever. Then there would be a new king – a Messiah – who would rule with the law given by God, the Torah, and Israel would be strong and independent again. This is the Kingdom of God they were waiting for.

Many would laugh with scorn when these simply dressed visitors, with no sign of any army, announced that the Kingdom of God was near. It would simply be unbelievable, because they’re expecting a very different kind of kingdom, and a very different kind of king. But if they’re paying attention, they can see the healing power of these visitors. And some will start to believe these visitors, not because of what they say, which would sound unbelievable, but because of what they were able to do. In the healing their apostles accomplish, the people in these villages get a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is really like: It brings healing and peace, not destruction and war.

Far from possessing the ostentatious wealth of the Roman Empire, their visitors are obviously not wealthy. They dress simply and travel light. But they have all the wealth and power they need: the power that the Lord of the Harvest has given them to carry out the task they have been given. They are not to use force, or insist that others believe them or agree with them. They are simply to go where they receive a welcome and bring God’s healing power wherever it’s needed. And they tell the people who will listen that they will not have to wait for the Kingdom of God to arrive in the future with a king who will lead a great army. The kingdom of God is already very near.

So – if we are also being sent out to share the Good News, what kind of missionaries are we called to be? Not, I think, the kind who try to change people’s religion, but the kind of missionaries who bring good news that the kingdom of God is very near, who bring God’s healing power in their very presence. That means being people who try to imitate Jesus. We can bring the light of Christ in places of darkness, hopelessness, and pain, not by trying to get others to believe as we believe, but by bringing Christ’s peace and healing power to others. We may not be physicians, but we can be healers.

We may be reluctant to share our faith by what we say, but we say far more about our faith by what we do than what we say. Preach the gospel always – if necessary, use words.