The Boy Who Wasn't Alone

Sermon 7- 7-19

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

There is a game on an improv show called “Whose Line is It Anyway,” that is based on the cast members borrowing two handbags from unsuspecting audience and creating a skit based on what they find in there. Shoes, dental floss, cardigans, earbuds, q-tips, sun hats, empty water bottles, bags and bags of snacks. It’s like one of the usual games you play at a baby or wedding shower – a scavenger hunt all in your purse! The point is to laugh at all the ridiculous things that other people carry around them… but really, are any of us much different?

It’s only fair that I pick on myself for a moment…  Besides the usual car keys, church keys, wallet, and cell phone, in my own bag I carry tissues, hand sanitizer, some pens, lip balm, extra charger, and usually at least on book that I’m reading, of course!  This week I also have with me a VBS CD, so that I can get ready to teach the kids songs about God and going to Mars! So, for the most part, pretty standard stuff. But still. It’s a lot of stuff in there. And sometimes it gets a little heavy. All in the name of “Just in case… “

Being ready and prepared is a good thing, but there comes a point where we can be TOO prepared, which can hinder, rather than help us. Because if we wait until we are absolutely the most prepared we can ever be before we agree to do anything or go anywhere, we would never actually get started, and we would miss out on the adventure that God has in store for us.

The kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus is on a mission, and is getting people on board, though as we witnessed last week some would-be followers were more ready than others to get with the program. The upside is that this week, we hear that the harvest is at hand, the people are ready to hear the good news of God’s love and forgiveness, but there is so much work to do to get ready that even Jesus needs help. Jesus has already called his core group of twelve disciples, but he needs all hands-on deck, people. This is getting big, FAST, and Jesus needs even MORE people to help him, seventy more to be exact.

Jesus chooses them, buddies them up two by two, gives then their marching orders, and then recommends a packing list for them too. Only… Jesus’ packing list is very, very short. Too short for our liking, in fact. We also have to remember that in Jesus’ time, there was no Motel 6 or Hilton to sleep at… no Chipotle, McDonald’s, Panera, or Acme to get food along the way, or a local Target in case you forgot to pack your toothbrush.

So, when Jesus told the seventy NOT to pack a bag, NOT to bring an extra change of clothes, or even a pair of shoes, NOT to bring extra snacks or food…. This is a huge leap of faith, and a giant act of trust. Jesus UN-equips them, to make then totally dependent on the hospitality of those who are hearing the good news. Which seems pretty foolish, like he’s setting them up for failure.

Why would Jesus do that?  Because he is sending them to be physical embodiments of what is means to be totally dependent on God. They will be waking the GOD-WALK and TALKING the GOD TALK, so that when amazing things start to happen, the only explanation possible is that it was God’s doing.

And amazingly, it worked. Like that tweet that unexpectedly goes viral, the seventy came back reporting with great joy that even the forces of evil were responding and getting out of the way of the kingdom. The harvest is being gathered, the good news spread, and the kingdom is coming near. All this they accomplished WITHOUT being prepared to the gills with floss, hand sanitizer, or extra snacks. All this they accomplished while bringing absolutely nothing with them. All this they accomplished without any special training. All this they accomplished with the help of God. It’s not about what you bring, but who.

That’s why Jesus send out seventy people do to the work of the kingdom… and he sent them out TWO by TWO. No one was alone in this work. They had a huge support network of others to lean on, and someone else physically with them, so that they could care for each other when things got tough, like when they entered a town where they were not welcome. And they also had someone else along to share in the joys as well.

Because Jesus didn’t promise that the following him would make our lives stress-free and comfortable, or that doing his work would be easy. But Jesus does provide people along the way to help us through when (and not if) times get tough.

Too often though, we get caught up in thinking that we’ll be successful at making it through life depending on how prepared we are, if we have enough, and what we bring along with us. But what we own can often weight us down and hold us back. Even as the culture around us tells us the exact opposite – all the time we are told to had bigger purses, bigger wallets, better cars, nicer houses, more storage units…. all in the name of “just in case.” And as a reward, we are held back and weighted down with car payments, mortgages, credit card bills, and sore muscles.  

Non-physical things that we carry with us can weigh us down, too – Fear, anxiety, worry, depression, despair, impatience, addiction, apathy, anger, sexism, white privilege…  all these things are HEAVY to carry around with us, and take a toll on us on a daily basis. We need each other, as Paul writes, in order to bear one another’s burdens. We don’t need more things or to be more prepared… instead we are to pack light….  and share the load. Even when things are challenging… especially when things seem at their most bleak and hopeless.

Lately I’ve been watching through the Harry Potter movies again, which tells the story, over 8 films, how an unsuspecting 6^th grade boy learns how to be a wizard and grows up to defeat the one of the most powerful and evil villains in all of fiction – the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. In one of their confrontation, Voldemort enters Harry’s mind, and calls him weak for caring about his friends and family, which made Harry vulnerable to attack. Instead, Harry Potters tells him “You're the weak one. And you'll never know love, or friendship. And I feel sorry for you.”

Earlier in the same movie, The Order of the Phoenix, other students are in awe of all of Harry’s adventures and decided to gather together to learn how to defend themselves from the coming evil that Lord Voldemort is sure to bring. To their accolades, Harry responds, “it all sounds *great* when you say it like that. But the truth is…  I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I nearly always had help.”

We might not be a well outfitted or have as many resources as the powers of evil in this world… but we do have something they don’t: Jesus, and one another.

God is calling us on a journey to spread the news that God’s kingdom is here.  When we refuse to pack some of the things that can weight us down: fear of the future, our belief in scarcity, and our longing for security – then we have so much more room for the things that ARE on Jesus’s packing list: things like vulnerability, trust, courage, compassion, kindness, empathy, and love for one another, which always makes us stronger.

This doesn’t necessarily mean for us to get rid of the all stuff in our purses, wallets, cars, or homes. But perhaps we should start asking ourselves if what we HAVE helps us or hinders us along the way.

Because the stuff we bring with us doesn’t give us strength. Nor does always being 100% prepared for whatever might comes next. But we know just was DOES give us strength: Faith in Jesus and in one another. The seventy disciples could do all things set before them, and we can too, because we bring Jesus WITH us along the way. Amen.