Pentecost 5 Luke
10:1-11,16-20 7/4/04
Dennis
Mannering in a piece he wrote for one of the Chicken
Soup books shares, In a class I teach for
adults, I recently did the "unpardonable." I gave
the class homework! The assignment was to "go to
someone you love within the next week and tell them
you love them. It has to be someone you have never
said those words to before or at least haven't
shared those words with for a long time." Now that
doesn't sound like a very tough assignment, until
you stop to realize that most of the men in that
group were over 35 and were raised in the generation
of men that were taught that expressing emotions is
not "macho." Showing feelings or crying (heaven
forbid!) was just not done. So this was a very
threatening assignment for some.
At the
beginning of our next class, I asked if someone
wanted to share what happened when they told someone
they loved them. I fully expected one of the women
to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this
evening one of the men raised his hand. He appeared
quite moved and a bit shaken. As he unfolded out
of his chair (all 6'2" of him), he began by saying,
"Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when
you gave us this assignment. I didn't feel that I
had anyone to say those words to, and besides, who
were you to tell me to do something that personal?
But as I began driving home my conscience started
talking to me. It was telling me that I knew
exactly who I needed to say 'I love you' to...
So, last
Tuesday by the time I got home I had convinced
myself I was going to tell my father I loved
him... "The next morning I was up bright and
early. I was so excited I could hardly sleep. I
got to the office early and accomplished more in two
hours than I had the whole day before. "At
9:00 I called my dad to see if I could come over
after work. When he answered the phone, I just
said, 'Dad, can I come over after work tonight? I
have something to tell you.' My dad responded with
a grumpy, 'Now what?' I assured him it wouldn't
take long, so he finally agreed. At 5:30, I was at
my parents' house ringing the doorbell, praying that
Dad would answer the door. I was afraid if Mom
answered that I would chicken out and tell her
instead. But as luck would have it, Dad did answer
the door. I didn't waste any time - I took one step
in the door and said, 'Dad, I just came over to tell
you that I love you.' It was as if a
transformation came over my dad. Before my eyes his
face softened, the wrinkles seemed to disappear and
he began to cry. He reached out and hugged me and
said, 'I love you too, son, but I've never been able
to say it.' It was such a precious moment I didn't
want to move...
Two days
after that visit, my dad, who had heart problems,but
didn't tell me, had an attack and ended up in the
hospital, unconscious. I don't know if he'll make
it. So my message to all of you in this class is
this: "Don't wait to do the things you know need to
be done. What if I had waited to tell my dad -
maybe I will never get the chance again! Take the
time to do what you need to do and do it now!"
When I
read this I immediately saw parallels to our
Gospel. Jesus gives the disciples a homework
assignment. They are to go in pairs to every town
that Jesus plans to visit. They are to bring to the
people the good news that the kingdom is coming to
them. It is important to note that these are
not the ones we usually think of when we see the
word disciples. This is not the twelve that formed
Jesus’ inner circle. In fact, the first verse of
the lesson indicates that the twelve weren’t even
involved in this holy homework. We might wonder
what these unnamed disciples were thinking and
feeling. Surely, their enthusiasm or dread varied
from individual to individual. Some would be
confident they knew just what to say and how to deal
with these people, and some would be scared they’d
the wrong things, get tongue tied, make fools of
themselves. Some could face the possibility of
rejection without a bit of concern and others would
be hurt by it. Whatever the feeling, Jesus knew
they were only human. They wouldn’t get all their
homework right the first time... (or ever).
Notice
that the success of their assignment doesn’t rest on
how many people they convert or bring to meet Jesus
when He comes. Their assignment is simply to
prepare the way, to speak the word, to share what
they know. And, since theirs was holy homework, the
Spirit would be with them to help
them. There was an urgency to their
homework too, but we have no way of really knowing
their knowledge of that urgency. They may or may
not have been present when Jesus talked of His
impending death, and even if they were present they
may not have understood. After all those closest to
Jesus didn’t get it. In any case, these 70
disciples could be forgiven if they were unaware of
the momentous events ahead and how close the
beginning of that time would be.
And so,
they do their holy homework to the best of their
ability and in the process see wonders - even
greater wonders than the student in Dennis Mannering
class.
Our
Gospel for today is a direct appeal (or should we
say command) to members of the church today.
It’s easy to sit back and say: “Evangelizing and
witness are the pastor’s job or the Evangelism
Committee’s job.” The truth is though that the
average church member has contact with far more
unchurched people than any pastor could possibly
have. Furthermore, Jesus makes it clear that
preparing the way for His coming is everyone’s
homework. Someone might also say, “But I wouldn’t
know what to say. I might get it all messed up or
offend someone”
It’s
amazing how human, fallible and just plain dumb even
Jesus closest disciples were. Again and again, they
didn’t get it or they put their foot in their
mouths. This should give us assurance that we are
only responsible for the doing of our holy
homework, and not for the outcome.
Yes,
it’s uncomfortable when someone doesn’t want to hear
our invitation to worship or our witness to Christ’s
presence in our lives, but rarely will we really
suffer the rejection we imagine. And, we just never
know, we may even see miracles
happen.
It’s
easy to fall into the temptation of assuming that
because Christ has not returned in 2000+ years, He
won’t return in our lifetime, so there’s really no
urgency to our homework assignment. But, we
don’t know the day or hour of His return. All
we know is that we have been told to go and tell
someone God loves them.
That
student in Dennis Mannering’s class could have taken
the easy road. He could have goofed off on the
assignment (faked it) or he could have said it to
someone who already knew he loved them like his wife
or mother. Just remember the end of his story and
realize the urgency of our witness. Someone may be
only days away from a life and death crisis and
needs to hear today that God loves
them.
So, here
is some holy homework for the coming week. Choose
one person of your acquaintance, go to them and tell
them that God loves them. Help them experience the
nearness of the kingdom. You never know, you just
may experience miracles too. Amen.