I’m going to start today by talking about basketball. Do you remember Jeremy Lin? He played basketball at Harvard and was good enough to hang on the edges of the NBA for a couple of seasons.
Then, in 2012 we experienced Linsanity.
A couple of injuries led to Lin seeing the court for the New York Knicks. He went from the last guy off the bench to a sensation over the course of just a few games. It started on February 4 against the Nets. After playing only 55 minutes in his first 23 games with the Knicks, Lin poured in 25 points in his first game with real playing time. The next game — his first start — he scored 28. After that game, his coach quipped that he was going to ride Lin “like freakin’ Secretariat.”
The next game Lin had 23 points. Then he put up 38 on the Lakers, outscoring Kobe Bryant. The next game Lin sank two free throws in the final seconds to seal the win. The game after that he hit the game-winning three. Before Lin played significant minutes, the Knicks had lost 11 of 13. After, the Knicks won seven in a row.
Jeremy Lin found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time, and other national publications. The whole world was caught up in Linsanity.
Of course, he couldn’t keep it going. He’s had a solid career and is still playing internationally. His play for those couple of weeks opened doors for him. Without it, none of us would even know is name.
Jeremy Lin is also a Christian, and he sees how the platform he gained through his play comes with responsibility. His words are drawing me to today’s gospel text. Lin said, “For the sense of being an ambassador for Jesus Christ, hopefully, through my story and through all the improbables and the miracles that happened in my life, people are inspired or at least a little bit warmer to the idea of exploring who Jesus is.”
Even as his career took off, Lin knew that he was first and foremost a Christian and that his life was meant to convey Jesus to others. He’s an ambassador for Jesus.
That brings me into today’s gospel reading. Jesus appoints seventy folks who have been following him to be his advance team. As you read this week, you probably noticed that Jesus does something similar with the twelve disciples at the beginning of chapter 9. Interestingly, Luke calls the disciples “apostles” in verse 10. The word “apostle” means one who is sent, and it’s a clue into the new role the disciples take on in Luke’s sequel, the book we call Acts. In that book, Jesus has risen and ascended, leaving the disciples to carry on the ministry. Here we have a glimpse into God’s mission for the church even while Jesus is with them. So, I find it fascinating that this work isn’t just for the inner circle of disciples. It’s a mission that is far too expansive to be limited to the insiders.
Why would Jesus send seventy? I mean that’s a weird number and quite a large team to manage.
There seem to be two possible Old Testament echoes that make this number significant. First, in Genesis 10, following the flood, there is a list of the nations descended from Noah’s children. There are seventy nations listed. So, Jesus sending seventy in mission is foreshadowing the work of the church in Acts and beyond in how they spread the good news to all the nations. This sending of the seventy only occurs in Luke’s gospel, but it has a clear connection to what Luke knows is coming.
The second alternative — and this is the one I’m a bit partial to — comes in Numbers 11. There, Moses has grown overwhelmed in leading the people in the wilderness, so the Lord instructs Moses to gather seventy elders in the Tent of Meeting. God shares the spirit with these elders to share leadership beyond Moses.
That is, the work of ministry needs regular folks, like you and me, to share in what God is doing in the world. These seventy are sent to be ambassadors for Jesus, going village to village to prepare the way for Jesus, who is resolutely on his way to face what is coming in Jerusalem — his death and resurrection.
In them we should see ourselves. The mission Jesus gave them continues in its own way through us today.
Jesus sends the seventy with clear instructions. First, they are to travel in pairs. I think this is a vital detail. Ministry done as a solo act leads to burnout. God gives us others to help shape our faith and work. I don’t know if you’ve ever taken on a hard project by yourself, particularly when it comes to ministry, but these works are made infinitely easier with the encouragement and companionship of others. As someone who defaults to operating solo, I can attest that Jesus is right in this. As the proverb says, if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. Or in the words of Ecclesiastes, “Two are better than one, for they have a good return for their labor.”
As I’ve heard stories from you all about reading the gospels, I have heard so many of you reading with a friend or spouse or family. I love how that reading in community is deepening faith so significantly. Sharing the load broadens the impact and widens the perspective.
So, those Jesus sends travel together, but they also pack light. They are doing ministry dependent on the hospitality and care of others. That’s a hard one for us Americans, who usually do not travel light. It’s one of the things I most enjoy about the mission trips I’ve gone on. I try to only bring the bare essentials because having less forces me to stay present in the moment and to make do with what I have. (The one exception I make is that I always bring my own coffee. That’s an essential!) Packing light reminds them and us that God is the one who equips us for ministry, especially through the Spirit and the care of others.
Speaking of others, when they arrive in each village, they are to find a home that will welcome them in. Their ministry will be based in these homes, which gives them a foothold of credibility in the villages. They are to depend upon the hospitality of their hosts, for, as Jesus says, “the laborer deserves to be paid.”
(Friends, I know this is Pledge Sunday, and this is the closest you’ll get to a moment of stewardship from me today. Part of God’s calling for us to be the church in this time and place is to support the work of the ministry that we share. We all do so in our individual ways, but we must do so as we bring our gifts to the church so we can pay our staff fairly, keep this facility up, and spend wisely on the mission and outreach of the church. So, I hope you’re excited to pledge today! I am.)
Back to our story. Everything I’ve shared so far sounds pretty exciting. It will be an experience where they get to see new places and meet new people. But there’s a cloud hanging over this mission. Jesus begins by telling them that they should ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers. In the Bible, the harvest is a sign of God’s judgment — the bill has come due. He also says that he is sending them out “like lambs into the midst of wolves.” Honestly, isn’t this the Good Shepherd we’re talking about? What kind of shepherd releases the flock into danger?
But that’s precisely what Jesus is doing. The message Jesus has is not something everyone wants to hear. Following Jesus is not safe, as much as we really wish it could be. They will face rejection in their work as Jesus’ ambassadors.
What message are they bringing? The one we’ve said repeatedly this fall — the kingdom of God is near to you. Not everyone wants to hear that their way of life needs to change. I like how Eugene Peterson translates this. “When you enter a town and are not received, go out in the street and say, ‘The only things 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?” Not everyone is ready to receive this message, but it’s the same one they utter as they leave town. God’s kingdom is here.
Our passage closes with some really harsh words for some of the places where Jesus himself taught and healed but that didn’t change their ways. He declares woe to Chorazin and Bethsaida, two villages just a couple of miles from Capernaum, the home base for much of Jesus’ early ministry. In staggering words, Jesus says Sodom would be better off than those towns that rejected Jesus.
It’s hard to overstate how jarring this comparison would be for Jesus’ Jewish audience. “The story of Sodom’s depravity and fiery judgment in Genesis 19 branded it as the model of infamy for Israel, the most sinful place of the most godless people, in the words of later rabbis.” Jesus seems to be saying that even the most depraved of places is better off than those who have the chance to respond positively to what Jesus is doing and still choose to reject him.
Still, Jesus sends them as an advance team, as his ambassadors. In the same chapter we do read that they had both success and challenge along the way, which is good news for us.
If you are a Christian, then you, too, are an ambassador for Jesus. Your life is intended to reveal the glories of Jesus in your midst. Jesus says, “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
It is quite likely that your life has a bigger objective than simply fitting in and getting by. Like these unnamed seventy followers, God sends all of us to bear the news that God’s kingdom is here — even right here in the Tri-Cities, available for encounter even now. This is not work for a select few. It’s for all because God has gifted each of us uniquely for this purpose — to tell God’s story in our actions and lives.
We are all ambassadors for Jesus. The questions for all of us is this: How are we doing representing Jesus through our lives? Do people see Jesus in us? Do our lives bring the good news?
