Co-Missioned - A Sermon For Sunday July 6 2025

GOSPEL: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

The holy gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus commissions harvesters and laborers to go where he would go and do what he would do. Risking hardship and danger in exchange for the experience of great joy, they offer peace and healing as signs that the reign of God is near.

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘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.’

  16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

  17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

We tried this little exercise back in 2021,

back in the days of online only church,

but let’s try this again.

I invite you to find a partner,

perhaps best with the person you are sitting beside.

I’d like one of you to make a fist,

and make it as tight as you can.

I’d like the other person to try and open up

your clinched fist.

Don’t hurt yourselves -

You can switch and both give it a try.

try to unclench that fist.

How’d it go? We will come back to this.

I am fascinated by the gospel lesson,

which is the sending of the 70 or 72 for mission.

Whether 70 or 72, this number is meant to represent

the Gentile nation, the non-Jews.

Jesus sent the apostles in mission for the Gentiles.

This story is very similar to Jesus sending the 12 apostles

just one chapter earlier.

The word apostles means “Sent Ones”.

Jesus calls the apostles and sends out the apostles

with very similar words and instructions

to the story of sending the 70 or 72.

The big difference is with the sending of the 70

is they are commissioned.

Co-missioned.

Jesus offers them public acknowledgment or recognition.

It is no secret that they are sent - co-missioned

sent with Jesus’ mission

to the towns and villages Jesus intended to visit.

Whether Jesus went physically or supernaturally,

trust that Jesus went out ahead of the sent-ones.

The language is very similar

to the mission of John the Baptist:

to go before the Lord,

to prepare the way of the Lord,

to say “The Kingdom of God has come near”

Jesus may be sending them out

as lambs in the midst of wolves,

but Jesus does not prepare them for a holy war,

Jesus does not arm them -

rather Jesus does the opposite;

Jesus removes their belongings.

“Take no sandals, nor purse nor bag.”

Go with God.

In baptism, we become the apostles,

we become the sent ones.

You, beloved child of God

are sent out by God for a mission.

Success is in the sending.

But God does not send just you,

God sends the whole church with you.

Baptism means you are not in this alone,

we are all in this life of faith together.

We are all called by Christ in our baptisms,

co-missioned to join in God’s mission

for the life of the world,

and we are sent out to proclaim that

God is at work in the world,

To share God’s love and acceptance for you,

for any,

for all.

I had the opportunity to visit Madagascar back in 2008.

At that time, the population was between

20 and 40 million people.

It is hard to tell the precise population

because many people live in small, remote villages,

among other factors.

There is a revival movement, an awakening,

called the Fifohazana,

from the word that means “get up”.

Every September, they send out shepherds,

two by two,

to travel to various villages to spread the Gospel.

This should sound familiar,

the Fifohazana movement is based on this passage.

They go with God;

taking minimal resources,

Relying on the generosity and hospitality of strangers,

they preach repentance,

and they offer healing to those in need.

We met some of these shepherds from the movement

at a time of political upheaval.

A new government had come into power

through civil war and force,

This new government was not recognized

by the African Union, nor European Union.

Unrest, uncertainty,

and even still some violence

in a very peaceful nation.

I’ll never forget that day,

the inter-generational community dressed in all white;

the baptismal garment.

They washed our feet

and they served us a large meal

from their meagre cupboard.

And they shared stories of their travels,

not unlike the apostles sharing their stories with Jesus.

They meet real people in real need;

meting people that might never see a census form,

if such a thing exists there.

Madagascar is among the poorest nations in the world,

many people living off a dollar or two a day,

clean water is a luxury.

Yet Christ’s Church is bursting at the seams there.

God’s grace is both sufficient - and abundant.

I’ll never forget the question I was asked

by a Malagasy seminarian, he asked me

“How do you proclaim the Gospel

for people who already have everything?”

Perhaps like the rich young ruler,

we don’t have everything,

perhaps we lack one thing…

You and I receive the same words,

the same sending,

as the Fifohazana movement.

Sent as lambs into the midst of wolves.

The harvest is plentiful,

but the labourers are few.

Ask the Lord to send out workers into the harvest.

Now go on your way.

Can you remember the exercise we began with,

the clinched fist?

Can I please have one of you volunteer

to come up to the front;

Which ever one of you has the strongest grip,

the tightest fist?

I am going to try to un-clinch your fist.

(hold out hand to shake it)

You can’t unclinch a fist with force,

whether that’s in a relationship with someone you love

or someone you just met,

or even when it comes to systemic violence

and international conflict.

The message that the apostles, the sent-ones go with

is peace.

They are lambs in the midst of wolves,

but they are not sent out to fight.

Their greeting, their first word is peace.

The coming of the kingdom of God

begins with pronouncing the peace of Jesus Christ.

But Peace has to be more than words,

it comes with action,

with justice, with mercy, with love.

You cannot point a weapon at someone

and say “peace be with you!”

That’s not real peace.

You can’t extend a fist of peace,

God’s peace doesn’t work that way.

Peace happens with an extended hand,

with open arms,

with an invitation to be in relationship.

As you seek to bear Christ’s peace in your lives,

if you really and truly extend peace,

and it is not received,

that peace will return to you.

You can’t force your peace on anyone.

The peace we are called and sent to share

need not disappear.

When you offer hospitality,

when you offer peace to someone,

and they don’t accept it,

that peace only leaves you

if you refuse to accept it back again.

Dear sisters and brothers and siblings in Christ:

The peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,

now and always.

This peace is yours to give away.

You are the baptized, you are apostles,

you are the sent-ones:

commissioned for God’s work in the world.

So may you be the apostles:

sent to extend and receive hospitality graciously.

May you unclench fists

by extending Christ’s peace.

May you go,

trusting that Jesus is out ahead of you.

Thanks be to God. Amen.