I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.2
For a couple of years now I have celebrated Independence Day in a place called Birch Bay, Washington where, even though their fireworks display is not sponsored by any civic, community, or corporate organization they literally light up the night sky in a tradition that would make John Adams and his fellow constitutional framers proud.
Now I don’t expect you to remember what we talked about last week because sometimes I can’t remember what I say from one week to the next or, for that matter, one day to the next but last week the disciples were planning to have a real fireworks show in a Samaritan village that rejected them. Only they weren’t planning on bottle rockets and sparklers, they were planning to burn the place to the ground.
Remember, upon being rejected by one Samaritan village, “When the disciples James and John learned of it, they said, ‘Master, do you want us to call a bolt of lightning down out of the sky and incinerate them?’” 3
Jesus rejects their notion as being out of hand but what he does next is totally surprising.
To put it directly, Jesus’ disciples, the first missionaries, were not very good. A little rejection and their first response, their only response, after following Jesus all that time, is to burn the place down. You can almost hear him yelling, “Noooooo!” as he hustles them out of town.
Here is the most amazing thing. Jesus tries it again! He sends them out again! He expands their number (Which I am not so sure is a good idea lest he increase the number of pyromaniacs from two to seventy.) but this time with explicit instructions as to how they should behave if they want to build bridges between people.
I love the way Dr. Eugene Peterson paraphrases Jesus’ instructions from today’s Gospel.
“Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage. Don’t loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way. When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself. Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town. “When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’ “When you enter a town and are not received, go out in the street and say, ‘The only thing we got from you is the dirt on our feet, and we’re giving it back. Did you have any idea that God’s kingdom was right on your doorstep?’”4
This time, instead of burning things down they discover that there is a much better way. If there is any negativity, any toxicity, they are not to let it cling to them but brush it off.
That is easier said than done. For all of us have felt “the rise in our gut when someone rejects our most cherished beliefs.
We recognize the need to justify our views, prove we are right, defend our faith. But we don’t stop there. We also have the impulse to attack — to show how that person is wrong, misguided, even unfaithful. If we have structural or institutional power, we may move to shut them down and “command fire to come down from heaven and consume them” figuratively if not literally. If we have military or political power, we may use it to harm and punish.5
Jesus wants his disciples to try and see if they can’t put an end to all that. He wants them to try and see if they can’t bring peace rather than violence wherever they go. He wants them to, at least, give it a shot and if it doesn’t work congratulate themselves on the effort and then move forward.
And, wonder of wonders, Jesus’ plan works. They come back, besides themselves with excitement. I can’t bring myself to believe that they didn’t shake more than a little dust off their feet.
Still, when they returned, they had more than their fair share of victories to celebrate. Even the “demons”, the worst of the worst, listened to them! The irredeemables listened! The low life’s listened! The boys who once were too proud, listened. They all listened! And they were following because of what the followers of Jesus said and did as bridge builders.
Jesus sent his friends out and warns them that they are going like “lambs among wolves.” That is where we come into the story.
The crowds we face are just as tough, if not tougher, than the crowds those first followers faced.
The crowds we face seem to like, if not gravitate to, political parties that tear one another down rather than build their communities up. The bad news is that this negative stuff sometimes work! It is easier to trumpet what’s wrong with the other guy than to say what’s right about yourself.
The crowds we face idolize, to the point of idolatry, leaders so much that they would risk the Republic on their behalf.
Clearly from the events of last week here in Chicago. The crowds we face worship their guns more than God.
And the worse news of all, the crowds we face may be indifferent to Jesus' message entirely. Preferring fireworks to deeds of love and mercy.
The good news is we can still tap into the God’s power to transform the painful brokenness and into the hopeful promise of what ought to and can be.
Life can be different and our common life repaired when brave men and women stand up to the powers of this world that hurt, and disparage, and destroy and say, “that is not the way of Jesus, and we will have none of it.”
Life can be different when we stop thinking that the way things are so shall they ever be and come together to make the world a better place.
Historian Jon Meacham said the other night on The Daily Show. “Democracy is the fullest expression of all of us.” And then, quoting Winston Churchill he said, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing once they have exhausted all the other possibilities.”
Reminding us that the disciples original, and really quite crazy idea, to burn down a village that rejected them is never the way to go for individuals, movements, or nations, Meacham said “Fear may be a really great starter but it is not a great finisher. But, to fight fear you need courage and courage is one of the most contagious things you can imagine.”6
When Jesus gave the disciples the courage to try again good things began to happen so much so that even the powers of darkness began to give way.
So, my friends, be of good courage, hold fast to the good, render no one evil for evil and maybe through us the world, or at least in our little corner of it, something like the Kingdom Christ intended will be right at our doorstep.
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