“Follow the Leader”
Original sermon given July 3, 2022, written and delivered by Pastor David Brummer at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church
Watch the sermon live here
“Follow the Leader”
Luke 10:1-11,16-20
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
A fond memory of childhood is playing Follow the Leader.
You had to imitate the person at the head of the line.
Sometimes it was hard, depending on who led.
As Christians, we are called to follow Jesus, our Leader.
In our Gospel Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.
While we can’t do what he accomplished on the cross,
we can follow him by being good news for others.
In that sense, we continue to his mission to the world.
In last week’s Gospel and today, he says it will be hard.
For these 70 disciples this is a training session for
the Gospel mission to the nations begun at Pentecost.
70 is a number of repeated significance in the Bible.
Ps. 90:10 speaks of our life span as 70 years.
(Or three score and ten if you prefer KJV language)
Exodus 1:5 mentions 70 who came to Egypt with Jacob.
(69 family members including God who went with them.
These 70 were were the beginning of the nation of Israel.
Luke’s way of pointing to a new kind of people beginning?
The Gentile, Luke, has a great concern for the Gentile world.
The sending of these seventy is only recorded in Luke,
Jesus wants the 70 to go everywhere he intended to go.
That included a number of Gentile communities:
Samaria, Tyre and Sidon, Greek cities in Galilee, etc.
When Jesus says, eat what is set before you,
he may have had Gentile prospects in mind.
Did he mean don’t insist on eating only kosher foods?
They received so much from following Jesus:
his love, compassion, understanding, teaching.
Now he asks something of them.
They had been nurtured by Jesus.
Now he asks them to do some nurturing.
They had been recruited by Jesus.
Now he recruits them to do some recruiting.
Jesus’s life was one of generous giving.
People who follow Jesus are to be giving people.
To be alive in Jesus means to give as we have received.
Let’s compare Lake Gennesaret and the Dead Sea.
The first is fresh and supports many living organisms.
The second is stagnant, salty with few living organisms.
The first receives water and releases water.
The second receives water with no outlet.
The Gospel that we are given is something to share.
Those content to receive only are like the Dead Sea.
This Gospel account should make us asks ourselves:
What am I giving to express my thanks to Jesus?
How am I being caring, concerned and giving to others?
But Jesus isn’t being a Pollyanna about this endeavor.
He warns his followers they can expect difficulty. He says:
I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.
We should be aware of challenges for Christians.
But there is satisfaction in promoting love and forgiveness.
Iris my 6year-old granddaughter, was disappointed recently.
She complained about the library books we got for her.
She said, They’re no fun to read. They’re too easy.
Because it was no challenge, she found little satisfaction.
If we are feeling lazy and have little ambition—
—it’s tempting to take it easy and expend little effort.
But when we are ambitious, and highly motivated,
the easy way may not feel right.
We may feel that something is lacking or missing.
Working hard can bring a real sense of satisfaction.
Completing a hard task can make us feel good and happy.
Many feel that they aren’t well equipped to share their faith.
Notice how Jesus instructs these disciples.
He tells them to just do it without a lot of desired resources.
Does Jesus want us to serve as disciples without having
access to the all the help and resources we would like?
Isn’t it better to prepare well and ahead of time?
There is no answer given to that question in the text.
Is it because we are to depend on what God provides?
Does Jesus want them to seek more than human resources?
Does this show that it’s grace God who changes others?
Is this a reminder that only God can change people.
Jesus tells them to be agents/instruments of peace.
Peace to this house is what they are to say as they go.
The Apostle Paul usually begins his letters by saying:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The sequence is instructive.
First is grace, what only God can give to us.
Then peace, a result, a by-product of grace.
That too is a gift from God that we are to share.
There’s a final word from Jesus that we should note.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
So if good things happen following our efforts,
let’s not to boast about what we have done.
Instead, let’s be satisfied in knowing we are God’s children.
Finally, it’s God who makes good things happen.
So let God have the glory and just keep working.
Be satisfied with being instruments in God’s successes.
Be satisfied faithfully following Jesus, no matter what.
As Francis of Assisi prayed:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. +