Pentecost 5

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Pentecost 5
PROPER: 7A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: June 23, 2002


TEXT: Jesus said, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

See also: Jeremiah 20:7-13 – For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

ISSUE: Here’s another “sending” passage, another empowerment and authorization of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ disciples are being sent to an extraordinarily dangers and vicious time. The passage is very relevant to our time. Our country and world is in uproar. We fear the terrorism and violence that surrounds us. Our civil rights are endangered. The world is involved in a strange undeclared war that seems to have no way of telling when it is over.
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The Gospel account of Matthew continues with another kind of Pentecost event. It is another sending, or commissioning of the disciples, and one that pulls no punches: Jesus says, See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Eugene Peterson translates this passage in still another way that is quite emphatic, and reveals the urgency of the sending: Stay alert. This is hazardous wok I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.” Both translations make it very clear that the mission of the church and its disciples will not be a particularly easy effort in a difficult, violent and cruel world.
Continue to be mindful that Matthew’s Gospel was written around 80-85 A.D. Whether or not it quotes Jesus exactly, it addresses a very difficult time that had significantly increased after Jesus’ departure. But the passage and the message is clearly not naïve. These were difficult times. Shortly after the time of Jesus, the Temple in Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Romans. This destruction meant both an end to their status as a nation, their religious center of worship, their culture, and any semblance of independence. Their political structure, even though influenced by the Romans was completely destroyed along with the Temple. Many died in the insurrection of 70 A.D. The Israelites were being ruled by Roman Emperors that were not only cruel, but some were crazy egomaniacs, especially, Caligula and Nero.
For those earliest Christians separating themselves, or being excommunicated from Judaism, they were facing separation from families, and persecutions from the government. These were apocalyptic times, times of great uncertainty, anxiety. Indeed, they were sheep sent to live in a world of wolves. Their future was uncertain. As we folks today sit in our comfortable pews, we are inclined to forget what our ancestors in the faith of Jesus Christ endured, and how fortunate we really are that the Gospel of Jesus Christ endured to this time. It required and demanded very committed, extraordinarily faithful men and women to face some of the profound pain and suffering.
Linked with this passage from Matthew is the Hebrew lesson from Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah was not exactly your most popular of prophets. His message was to proclaim and make the people aware of the “Violence and destruction.” He came as a prophet of warning to a nation that was corrupt from within, and threatened by the Babylonians, but were too dumb to see it. They rejected Jeremiah and resented what they saw as his prophecies of doom. But Jeremiah remained faithful to his calling in a very difficult time, and faced the resistance of his time with determination. Yet he burns from within to proclaim the need for the people to change and to return in faithfulness and to keep their relationship with God and God’s justice strong.
Discipleship in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures was never suggested to be easy or without pain. Discipleship faces the facts that evil exists in the world, and that disciples have a mission and a purpose to be faithful, and to be well aware of the wolves, and to be as innocent as doves. The discipleship’s own model of that of Jesus. He was that faithful suffering servant, described in Isaiah, who accepted his crucifixion on the cross, with non-violence, and with the determination of the Godliness, the Divine, within himself that love, forgiveness, and justice should prevail.
What is particularly fascinating to me is how timeless some of the Scriptures really are. It is interesting how a passage will address so beautifully another time in history, which is like an apocalyptic age. The events of September 11th has changed the world, so it is said. Many people have been awakened to the fact that “Violence and destruction” are everywhere, even in the United States of America. This event was and certain should be clear to us that many of us were awakened to the fact of real evil in the world. Wolves do exist. And if we aren’t outraged, we just aren’t paying attention to what is going on around us.
The September 11th event, as dramatic as it was must awaken us from lethargy and complacency as God’s people in the world. There were earlier signs: the earlier bombing of The World Trade Center in the parking lot, the bombings of our embassies in Africa, the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. After September 11th came the anthrax episodes. The continuing cycle of violence and destructioin continues to devastate the Middle East. The dreadful scandals of sexual abuse in the Anglican Canadian church, the Roman Catholic Church in this country have fueled the fact of “Violence and Destruction” everywhere. But even more subtle evils infect the world whereby illicit drugs infect our whole country, cities, suburbs, and rural areas. It is not an especially happy time in our world today, and even in many of our personal lives.
Our reactions to these problems are often more vengeance, more war, more violence and destruction: payback, death penalties, and more war. And what is even as frightening is the loss of civil rights we may be giving up out of fear and the need we have for security. The undeclared war on terror is being fought, but with what criteria to tell us when it is over?
Yet out of what seems to be a dismal and hopeless situation, Jesus sends his faithful disciples. He encourages them not to be disheartened. There are packs of wolves, and plenty of them, but persist in faithfulness in God’s wisdom and act as doves. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. If the teacher is maligned and ridiculed so will the teacher’s disciples be. If the master is crucified and killed, it is likely that the disciples will face their share of suffering, anxiety, and uncertainty in a wild, crazy, and hostile world. Yet it is God through Christ that teaches justice, and what is right. It is God’s Spirit that will give the disciples utterance as it was given to the Master, Jesus. Truth will come to light, and be broadcast from the housetops. While there will be those who would kill the body, you still have nothing to fear. The hairs of your heads are numbered! You need only fear those who will try to devastate you spirit, your soul, your faithfulness, your allegiance to the love of God and to God’s justice. God’s love and non-violence will prevail.
Remember some of the images out of the past. There was that fantastic scene in the motion picture of Ghandi. Ghandi was leading the Indian people in a protest march against the British. Finally the frustrated British cavalry charged the people. Ghandi had the people to lie down in the street when they were being charged, and the horses would not trample them. Remember some of the scenes in the 60’s of the non-violent Civil Rights marches in this country, when Martin Luther King and his followers protested in the south. We saw frustrated white men trying to scare these people with high pressure fire hoses and attack dogs, burning crosses and white sheets. The images were too clear, too focused, too real, the truth about hate was being broadcast from the rooftops, rather from the television net works. It was time for an unjust country to change its course, to repent!
This age of our is not a time for complacency and lethargy, especially for the Christian Church, and the followers of Jesus Christ. There are many crazy wolves, terrorists, evil, drugs, loss of dignity among many people who are poor and old. There is still the demands for retribution, death penalties, and vengeance. The craziness and the crazies of the world still threaten us all. Yet the command comes, “I am sending you . . . “ “As the Father has sent me, so I send you . . . .” “God therefore and baptize (dip or immerse) all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them . . . .” Immerse your world in love and the call to what is just.
We must be clear that it is not the Muslims who are our enemy, but the evil ones. We must remember that it is not the Roman Catholic Church, or the Anglican church of Canada that is evil, but the evil ones, the pedophiles. We must remember that we ourselves are not perfect, but called to bear witness to a love that is non-violent, and to an assurance that we are the people of God, and that we have a mission. We have to break free from some of our own complacent and lethargic attitudes. For example: Isn’t it wonderful that we are a small rural church. Where is that based in scripture, I don’t know? What is the theological foundation for that thinking? Last week’s Gospel said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send (more) laborers into the harvest.” (Matt. 9:35f) The world is desperately in need of a bountiful discipleship to make witness with God in the world. Violence and destruction are everywhere. This age is not an age for hiding and cute petty aphorisms. We don’t like rocking our comforts or getting too involved. After all what would people think? Human need abounds, and we are called. It’s quite a challenge for the hearty and the faithful.
The world is enchanted with violence. It is a significant part of our world, our culture. Its in our sports, frequently in our religious beliefs, on television, in the movies, and in the newspapers. It’s in our schools. Christ died on the cross at the hand of violence. His death and his sacrifice is once and for all. You want violence, then eat his body and drink his blood and be changed into a new human being, and into a new way of life.