THE APPOINTMENT
JULY 4 2010
Rev. Barry W. Szymanski, J.D.
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa

Luke 10:1-11,16-20, Psalm 30

SERMON

[Note: the Gospel and Psalm, which are the topics of this sermon follow after this sermon for your review.]

When Jesus appointed the seventy disciples I believe that he chose them because of their relationship to God. And they, in turn, chose Jesus because of his personality, his spiritualilty, – and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They, as devout Jews of that time, most likely had memorized the Psalms. One of the Psalms, # 30, we prayed earlier this morning. We know that Jesus prayed the Psalms. If you would recall, when Jesus and his disciples left the upper room after the foot washing at the Passover Meal, and the institution of the Breaking of the Bread [Holy Communion], it was reported in the Gospels [Matthew 26:30] that Jesus and his disciples sang Psalms at that Last Supper.

It is widely believed that they sang Psalms 113 to 118 and Psalm 136. Every Sunday here, at FCC, we sing or pray a Psalm. The Psalm liturgically assigned for this Sunday is Psalm 30. This Psalm, as you will remember from praying it this morning, is a solo prayer – it is the prayer of one person. In this Psalm, the praying person calls upon those around him to join him in praising God.

His call to others to join with him and share in his joy, and in his thanksgiving, and this shows his exuberant relationship with God -- for he wants his friends to rejoice with him. In his excitement he prayed that God had drawn him up and did not allow his foes to rejoice over his situation. He reminded God that he had cried to God for help, and that God healed him! The Psalmist's sharing of his joy with others shows his relationship with them.

There was a covenant between them. And there was a covenant, a relationship, between the Psalmist and God also. The Psalmist cemented his covenant even though the Psalmist said, at one point, that God had concealed God's own face from him, and that, because God hid, the Psalmist was dismayed.

The Psalmist then proclaims that The Lord has turned his "mourning into dancing . . . and clothed" him with joy." You can almost hear the Psalmist shouting when he tells us that his soul will praise God and will not be silenced. Yet the Psalmist did not take all this without a struggle. During the course of his life and his many problems, the Psalmist also said this: "As for me, I said in my prosperity, 'I shall never be moved."

What the Psalmist said was that when things were going great, he told his friends, "I've got it made. I'm a favorite of God." But when God looked the other way, the Psalmist recognized that he fell to pieces. The Psalmist had recognized that he wanted health and prosperity, but not God. He projected God to be what he thought a God should be – he did not want to see God as God is; -- nor did he want to see himself as he really was! Artur Weiser, a theologian, said this, "We are wholly dependent upon God and have no protection from God." I think that Artur summed up what the Psalmist learned from his life experience as retold in Psalm 30.

Let us return to look at the 70 disciples. They were motivated to serve as active followers of Jesus. They were asked to go out and, like John the Baptist, prepare the way for Jesus, so that the people in the villages would know that Jesus was coming. The instructions that Jesus gave to them were quite interesting. He asked them to pray for laborers for God. He told them that they were like lambs going out into the midst of wolves – in other words, there were going to be people who would not accept them, and, perhaps, even try to hurt them. They were not to carry money because they were to rely on God and God's people only for their sustenance. They were not to carry a suitcase, backpack or bag. They had no need for an extra pair of sandals. They were not to move from house to house looking for better meals and a softer bed – but rather, when they came to a house where they were accepted, they were to bless all in that house and announce that it was a house of peace.

The 70 may have been skeptical about the 'power' Jesus gave to them to bestow peace, cure the sick, and survive in poverty and stay alive among wolves. Yet they must have also relied on Isaiah's promise that "the Lord's power shall be known to his servants." Is 66:14. They then went out, and, when the 70 returned they were jubilant! They were surprised at what they were able to accomplish! For 'even the demons were subject to them.' However, what they had to have realized was what they achieved was done in Jesus' name.

Paul well recognized the power of Jesus, and Jesus' name, when he wrote to the Galations [6:18] to extend "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" to them. Paul understood that God is a force beyond ourselves. Paul appreciated that through God's grace and mercy the impossible is possible. That is what the 70 experienced – the impossible became the actual!

They were witnesses to Jesus — and we are to be witnesses also, because that was not the only time Jesus sent out disciples. Jesus sends you and I out constantly. We have the exact same instructions: pray for God's harvest, and for workers for His harvest, travel light, get to the point - avoid small talk, bring peace to homes you enter, don't impose yourselves on others – if they don't want you, move one, form relationships with those around you – don't flitter from one group to another without establishing a home, work to heal the sick, and continue to tell people that “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

And, if I may add, you can do this by your presence -- even before you speak – and perhaps actions speak louder than words – so presence may be enough.

We are all Sent Ones – everyone here this morning -- we follow in the footsteps of those 70 disciples -- and we should make them proud! When we do so we become one with Jesus Christ!

As Isaiah said in 66:13-14: our "bodies flourish like grass." What Jesus said to each one of the 70, he will say to you: I know what you did. I saw Satan fall like a bolt of lightning out of the sky. I've given you the ability to walk over demons, and given you protection from every assault of the Enemy - no one can put a hand on you.

All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you and God's presence within you. For it is not what you do for God but what God does for you and with you — therein lies the reason for rejoicing. [Based upon Luke 10:18-20 The Message.]

Let us pray,

Lord, God, may we extol you like the Psalmist, and rejoice with him. Let us, like the Psalmist, not be silent, but praise you with shouts, and may our souls dance, and may we be clothed with joy.

Let us, like Paul, not grow weary in doing what is right, and, like Paul, hope that we will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

Let us, like the 70 disciples, accept the call to be witnesses to Jesus; let us go forth and announce that God's Kingdom is near by our presence, and by our actions; and let us rejoice that Jesus has called us to work in His Holy Name. Amen.

THE READINGS

Luke 10:1-11,16-20

". . .the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.

He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way.

See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.

Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.

Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.

Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’

The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

PSALM 30

I will extol you, OLord, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me.

OLord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.

OLord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

Sing praises to the Lord, Oyou his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger is but for a moment; his favour is for a lifetime.

Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

As for me, I said in my prosperity, ‘I shall never be moved.’

By your favour, OLord, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.

To you, OLord, I cried, and to the Lord I made supplication:

‘What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit?

Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?

Hear, OLord, and be gracious to me!

OLord, be my helper! You have turned my mourning into dancing;

you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.

OLord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.