The Good News of the Kingdom

In our readings today, being a Christian, let alone an evangelical Christian does not appear to be something to strive for. Paul, of course is the greatest of evangelicals, taking the gospel throughout the Roman world on his tireless journeys. For his pains, he ends up in prison facing death which is where we see him in this letter that he wrote to Timothy. Not only is he in prison facing death, but he has been deserted by everyone except Luke.

In the story that Luke tells, the prospects of the seventy that Christ sends out on mission is not particularly attractive either. Travelling by foot for miles and miles, not knowing where they would sleep, how they would eat, whether they would be welcomed or not, taking no money, no bag, no sandals. To top it all Jesus say’s “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves”. This is not very appealing especially to Westerners who live in comparative comfort. We wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without booking a hotel on the Internet first, or at least telephoning our friends to see if they could put us up for a while. The amount of money in our purses is important to us and personally, when I go away for an unknown length of time I take at least 3 pairs of shoes with me. If we are trying to bring the good news of the gospel to today’s consumerist world, which is surely our task, then telling people that they have to be poor, alone, take risks and perhaps die is not going to convert anyone. We no longer live in the days of the early Church where being a martyr was considered the greatest of honours or in the medieval days when relics of martyrs were venerated and Cathedrals built on their supposed tombs, although we do see this tendency returning in the Muslim faith with suicide bombs and the like. But for most of us, today’s consumer society tells us that the more we have the happier we will be, the richer we are the better our lives will be. We are told that we should be able to do what we want when and where we want to do it. We live in an individualistic world where we are certainly not so stupid as to go like lambs to the slaughter.

So for us today, as for the disciples in the early Church, being an evangelical, taking the good news to the nations is not attractive and not without risk. Nevertheless, this IS what we are asked to do. We ARE the disciples of Christ and he tells us, as he told the seventy, to go. We are being sent; we are being sent out by Jesus just as Jesus was sent by the Father. Just as Jesus suffered, so we will suffer and those who live in Pakistan might even be asked to die as Jesus did and as Paul and many others have down the centuries.

So are we completely mad or is there some sense to all this? The question that I ask is “What is it that is so amazing that Paul, Luke and all the others have accepted to be sent out like lambs among the wolves”? “What is it that makes Saint Luke’s writings, in his gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, so mission centred”?  What is it that we can see in our own broken lives that brings us here to worship today? It must be something very very amazing and something completely inspiring for which our hearts year and on which our hopes are founded.

I believe that Luke, Paul and all Christians throughout the centuries have caught glimpses of something so wonderful that their lives have been changed. I believe that even if they didn’t have all the answers, they knew something or had seen something of the wonders and promises of God. I believe that all of us here today have also had glimpses of, well what exactly?

 Luke’s story is one which fulfils the First Testament Scriptures. So let’s go back to Isaiah and the psalm.

The passage in Isaiah 35 speaks of a people in exile. They are not a free people, they are imprisoned, rather like Paul is in prison, rather like you and I are caught up and imprisoned in a seemingly rather senseless and suffering world.  Here, in this passage, is a promise of redemption, of being set free, of being made whole. Here is a promise of salvation in which the speechless will sing for joy and waters will break forth in the wilderness. Here is the promise of a faithful and loving God which is confirmed in the psalm which sings of the gracious, creator God who builds and binds up broken people.

This passage reveal thel signs of the reign of God.

In Luke”s gospel Jesus says “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”. Peace was a traditional greeting but here it is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. It is the peace of Christ which they offer. In all four gospels the proclamation of the Kingdom of God is at the very heart of Jesus’ ministry and the peace that he brings. In Jesus the Kingdom of heaven comes near (Mark 1.14). In Luke chapter 8 Jesus sends out the twelve to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Now he sends out the 70 because he says to them

“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”

The Kingdom of God has been inaugurated by the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Jesus reigns in glory at the right hand of the Father. He has done everything for us already, the Kingdom has come and we are the first fruits of that Kingdom. I believe that it is because the disciples had seen glimpses of the Kingdom that they are prepared to be sent out. I think that we too have caught glimpses of the Kingdom and that is why we will let ourselves be sent. Where we are sent we will heal, where we are sent we will make whole, we will bind up, we will gather the outcasts, we will be like streams of living water to dry lands; the deaf will hear the good news and the blind will see glimpses of the wonders of God.

And so, what does it matter if we are sent out with little resources, what does it matter if we have no money, what does it matter if we take risks? The glimpses of the Kingdom of God that we are given will set our hearts on fire just as the disciples hearts were set on fire as the risen Christ spoke to them on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24.32) and even if the going may gets tough and we may be tempted to be distracted from our task our sending will be joyous because we hold in our hearts the hope of the Kingdom of God reaching its unimaginable glory when Christ returns. Let our hearts rejoice and may we praise God with thanksgiving and abounding joy for all that he has done for us. Let us pray that our hearts may be opened to perceive the signs of the Kingdom breaking in on our suffering world and let us pray that in our mission, with the vision of the Kingdom before us and within us, we may be sent joyfully to proclaim the good news.

Amen

Revd. Christine Bloomfield, Strasbourg Anglican Church.

18th October 2009. Saint Luke the Evangelist.

Isaiah 35:3-6; Psalm 147. 1-7; 2 Timothy 4.5-17; Luke 10. 1-9.