SERMON: Pentecost 4, Proper 9, July 6, 2025
When someone says the word mission, what do you think about? What is the first thing that comes to mind when you say the word, mission?
I asked this question in a sermon in 2001, and the overwhelming response was, the Mormons who go around door to door selling Jesus. The young men in white shirts and blue or black pants and a tie, knocking on your door. That was an overwhelming understanding of the word mission about 24 years ago.
Some other responses I heard to that question were the arrival of the pilgrims and the immediate exploitation and subversion of the indigenous population residing here. The Poisonwood Bible was released right around that time and had become popular, it depicted a certain style of mission work as well. The other image I often recall is the movie Mission with Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons.
Erin received a letter from a woman who lives around the corner. We never met her, so we spent a few minutes trying to figure out where the address was, just a few blocks away. When Erin opened the letter, it was a treatise on how Erin must discover Jesus, and this woman possessed the way to make it happen. She had the power, the influence, to save Erin.
The shape and understanding of mission has changed over the centuries. Knowing what we know now, I wonder how we would approach mission if we were alive back then. When you stop and think about this, our ideas about mission really only come from a couple of texts, as far as the Gospel is concerned. Books and tomes have been written and interpreted based more on the actions of Paul, than the words of Jesus. And that is ok, but it needs to be considered when we think about how we understand mission as the work of the Church.
Today's Gospel text is one of those texts we listen to only in portions. Think about it. We hear about the 70 being commissioned and sent, and we assume that we are to be sent in the same way. We hear about the power that Jesus gives to the 70 and we imagine it more as a fairy tale rather than a reality. They didn’t heal the sick and cast out demons, and if they did, there is a perfect explanation as to why and how it happened.
We also hear the negative connotations in this Gospel loud and clear. In fact, many Christians cling to these words of Jesus as if they are the last plank of a sinking ship in a storm. When Jesus says that those who reject the 70 also reject Jesus, and by association, reject God, we embrace that text because it grants us power and worse, permission, to be mean and horrible to fellow humans. Or so we think.
My point is, when we hear Gospel stories like this, we listen to their acts and deeds of power. We listen because we desire that power. We listen because we want that influence. Wouldn’t it be amazing to heal those who are sick, and not just the illness an ibuprofen or tylenol can fix, but rather the deep life changing illnesses that bring death and sadness to those we love. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the same political influence Jesus and the disciples had. We could change the entire political landscape if only our voices were loud enough.
We hate feeling helpless, we hate not being able to solve the problems of those we care about, whether it’s depression, grief, cancer, job loss, the list goes on and on. We want to help, we want to fix, we want to heal. Having the power, as we understand it, that the appointed 70 had, would give us so much back. It would fix everything.
The last line of the Gospel stands out like a sore thumb, or if you want to be positive, a beacon of light in the midst of darkness. The last line of today’s Gospel is vital for understanding what mission is. That last line helps us align our understanding of where we stand with God. That last line of the Gospel tells us what is most important of all to the God who loves us.
“Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
This is our reminder that power, authority, influence, all those things we have understood for centuries mission is to be, every last imperialistic effort is a human effort and not God’s work. Do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you. Do not celebrate that you have power, that you can influence even the demons of the world. This is not what should make you happy, this is not what should bring you joy. The only thing that should bring you joy, the only thing that should make you dance is that your name is written in heaven.
How many sermons have you heard take that last line to heart? I know I have not heard many. The sermons I hear from this text are often about doing work in the world, changing the lives of others so you can eventually be rewarded in heaven. The sermons I hear about do not touch on this idea of God’s knowledge of each of us being enough, rather they tend to say the opposite.
We believe we are clever people, we often believe we can outsmart God and get around those parts of God’s requests of our lives we don’t like. There was a teacher at a middle school who watched as the kids lined up for lunch. There was a tall pile of apples in the food line and thinking she’d be funny, she wrote a note on the table by the apples, “Please take only one, God is watching.” One student, seeing this, pulled a piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled on it then took it over to the tray of chocolate chip cookies, “Take as many as you want, God is watching the apples.”
We are clever, God created us with these amazing brains and bodies to do amazing things. To discover and be curious. To understand and to explore. I think Jesus knew exactly what some of those 70 disciples would do with their power. When they returned, after doing all these amazing things, Jesus reminds them, your power to make spirits submit to you is not what should bring you joy, what should bring you joy is the understanding your name is written in heaven.
God desires us to be co-creators, co-partners and to become more and more God-like, treating everyone equally and with dignity, even those we regard as evil. To be like God, who gives up on noone, who loves us, not because we are loveable but rather because we are flawed, God loves us with a love that will not let us go, a love that loved us before we were created, a love that loves us now, a love that will love us forever, world without end. A love that says to each one of us: “I love you, you are precious and special to me, I love you as if you were the only human being on earth, I love you and there is nothing you can do to make me love you more because I already love you perfectly.”
How incredibly, wonderful it is that God says to you, to me: "There is nothing you can do to make me love you less. I take you very seriously, I take you, body and soul, the visible and the invisible parts of you, I love you, I love you, I love you." It is you and not your power of others that I love, it is you. You alone, I love you.
I asked this question in a sermon in 2001, and the overwhelming response was, the Mormons who go around door to door selling Jesus. The young men in white shirts and blue or black pants and a tie, knocking on your door. That was an overwhelming understanding of the word mission about 24 years ago.
Some other responses I heard to that question were the arrival of the pilgrims and the immediate exploitation and subversion of the indigenous population residing here. The Poisonwood Bible was released right around that time and had become popular, it depicted a certain style of mission work as well. The other image I often recall is the movie Mission with Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons.
Erin received a letter from a woman who lives around the corner. We never met her, so we spent a few minutes trying to figure out where the address was, just a few blocks away. When Erin opened the letter, it was a treatise on how Erin must discover Jesus, and this woman possessed the way to make it happen. She had the power, the influence, to save Erin.
The shape and understanding of mission has changed over the centuries. Knowing what we know now, I wonder how we would approach mission if we were alive back then. When you stop and think about this, our ideas about mission really only come from a couple of texts, as far as the Gospel is concerned. Books and tomes have been written and interpreted based more on the actions of Paul, than the words of Jesus. And that is ok, but it needs to be considered when we think about how we understand mission as the work of the Church.
Today's Gospel text is one of those texts we listen to only in portions. Think about it. We hear about the 70 being commissioned and sent, and we assume that we are to be sent in the same way. We hear about the power that Jesus gives to the 70 and we imagine it more as a fairy tale rather than a reality. They didn’t heal the sick and cast out demons, and if they did, there is a perfect explanation as to why and how it happened.
We also hear the negative connotations in this Gospel loud and clear. In fact, many Christians cling to these words of Jesus as if they are the last plank of a sinking ship in a storm. When Jesus says that those who reject the 70 also reject Jesus, and by association, reject God, we embrace that text because it grants us power and worse, permission, to be mean and horrible to fellow humans. Or so we think.
My point is, when we hear Gospel stories like this, we listen to their acts and deeds of power. We listen because we desire that power. We listen because we want that influence. Wouldn’t it be amazing to heal those who are sick, and not just the illness an ibuprofen or tylenol can fix, but rather the deep life changing illnesses that bring death and sadness to those we love. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the same political influence Jesus and the disciples had. We could change the entire political landscape if only our voices were loud enough.
We hate feeling helpless, we hate not being able to solve the problems of those we care about, whether it’s depression, grief, cancer, job loss, the list goes on and on. We want to help, we want to fix, we want to heal. Having the power, as we understand it, that the appointed 70 had, would give us so much back. It would fix everything.
The last line of the Gospel stands out like a sore thumb, or if you want to be positive, a beacon of light in the midst of darkness. The last line of today’s Gospel is vital for understanding what mission is. That last line helps us align our understanding of where we stand with God. That last line of the Gospel tells us what is most important of all to the God who loves us.
“Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
This is our reminder that power, authority, influence, all those things we have understood for centuries mission is to be, every last imperialistic effort is a human effort and not God’s work. Do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you. Do not celebrate that you have power, that you can influence even the demons of the world. This is not what should make you happy, this is not what should bring you joy. The only thing that should bring you joy, the only thing that should make you dance is that your name is written in heaven.
How many sermons have you heard take that last line to heart? I know I have not heard many. The sermons I hear from this text are often about doing work in the world, changing the lives of others so you can eventually be rewarded in heaven. The sermons I hear about do not touch on this idea of God’s knowledge of each of us being enough, rather they tend to say the opposite.
We believe we are clever people, we often believe we can outsmart God and get around those parts of God’s requests of our lives we don’t like. There was a teacher at a middle school who watched as the kids lined up for lunch. There was a tall pile of apples in the food line and thinking she’d be funny, she wrote a note on the table by the apples, “Please take only one, God is watching.” One student, seeing this, pulled a piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled on it then took it over to the tray of chocolate chip cookies, “Take as many as you want, God is watching the apples.”
We are clever, God created us with these amazing brains and bodies to do amazing things. To discover and be curious. To understand and to explore. I think Jesus knew exactly what some of those 70 disciples would do with their power. When they returned, after doing all these amazing things, Jesus reminds them, your power to make spirits submit to you is not what should bring you joy, what should bring you joy is the understanding your name is written in heaven.
God desires us to be co-creators, co-partners and to become more and more God-like, treating everyone equally and with dignity, even those we regard as evil. To be like God, who gives up on noone, who loves us, not because we are loveable but rather because we are flawed, God loves us with a love that will not let us go, a love that loved us before we were created, a love that loves us now, a love that will love us forever, world without end. A love that says to each one of us: “I love you, you are precious and special to me, I love you as if you were the only human being on earth, I love you and there is nothing you can do to make me love you more because I already love you perfectly.”
How incredibly, wonderful it is that God says to you, to me: "There is nothing you can do to make me love you less. I take you very seriously, I take you, body and soul, the visible and the invisible parts of you, I love you, I love you, I love you." It is you and not your power of others that I love, it is you. You alone, I love you.
Appreciate this very positive and hope filled message.
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