My name is Andrew
and there are two things about me that make me stand out among all of Jesus’
disciples. I was the first disciple that
Jesus called. I had been a loyal follower
of John the Baptizer, and John had told us that he was preparing us for someone
else, so when Jesus came along, I didn’t hesitate to follow him with my whole
heart. I had a brother—you’ve all heard
of him—Simon Peter. Well, the second
thing that I can claim credit for is introducing him to Jesus. After that, well, I was just one of the
twelve, but I was plenty happy to be there.
Just walking and watching Jesus was enough to change my life.
Let me tell you
about Jesus. He was a strange sort of
man. Sometimes, he had a faraway look in
his eyes; and, sometimes, he would look at you as if you were the only person
in the world that mattered. He could see
into your soul. His look could heal a
broken heart or calm a troubled one; I know that personally. It wasn’t easy leaving behind everything;
and, when we would get sad about missing our families or when we became
alienated from friends because of our beliefs, he was always right there,
loving us into peace. He, himself,
radiated joy. It took me awhile to
understand where the joy came from, but once I did—my life radiated that same
kind of joy. But, I’m already ahead of
the story.
What Mark wrote
down and what you listened to this morning is only the tip of the iceburg. I love Mark, but he was a “just the facts”
kind of person and, often, cut to the chase without a lot of details. I want to tell you how it came to be. We have been following Jesus and watching him
perform all kinds of miracles. It was
awesome and I mean awe-some. You all use
that word way too much, most of what passes for awesome today is merely ‘cool’
or ‘groovy’. Being in the presence of
Jesus as he raised a dead child or cast demons of addiction and denial out of
the village crazy person—that was awesome—awe-inspiring, awe-full. Most of us knew that we were in training for
something; although I’m not sure what we thought that something was. Then, the fateful day happened.
Jesus called
us—just the twelve of us—and, gave us the orders for our mission. He also gave us the power to achieve that
mission. He gave us authority and the
skills and power to deal with evil opposition.
Jesus knew that spreading his message would be difficult and he wanted
us to be ready for it. But, the next
part of his mission orders surprised all of us, I think. He said, “Don’t think that you need a lot of
extra equipment for this. You are the
equipment.” How could I be the
equipment? I needed to think this one
through but he went right on. “No
special appeals for funds. Keep it
simple. And no luxury inns. Get a modest
place and be content there until you leave”.
We’d mostly been sleeping in caves and on the ground so the ‘no luxury
inns was a snap’. I did wonder how we
were going to eat, but I realized as long as I’d been with Jesus, I’d never
gone hungry, so I guess I would just have to trust God and the people God would
use.
I, for one, was ready to go; and,
I also knew that not everyone would be happy to see us come. Jesus knew that, too. This is what he told us next: “If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t
make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.” I wasn’t about to make a scene; that wasn’t
the way of Jesus. He offered his love to
all, but if they rejected it or him, he focused on the next person who needed
to hear what he had to say. This was
hard for some of us. The changed lives
that Jesus had given to us made us want everyone to experience him. But, some chose not to and we had to learn
that the message wasn’t for them—at least not at that point in their
lives. So we learned to walk away
lovingly and move on to those who were waiting to hear.
Mark tells you
in typical Mark style what happened to us.
Each of us and our partner went in our assigned direction. I’m glad that Jesus sent us out in pairs. This is hard work and I don’t think anyone
but he could have done it alone. But, as
I think of it, he never seemed to be really alone—that’s how close his
relationship to God really was. He would
go off alone, for hours, it seemed; and when he returned he seemed livelier and
rested at the same time. He told us once
that he and God were one. We could have
that same oneness, he said, if only we learned to spend enough time with God.
Well, getting
on with my story—you can’t imagine all that happened. Every time we opened our hearts and spilled
them out joyfully, people believed in what we were saying. Everyone came; we never turned anyone
away. We preached our joy; that’s all we
needed to do was to let them see the joy we had in our new lives and, then,
those who were open wanted it, too. You
should have seen the healing taking place.
People with demons (I believe you call them mentally ill) and those with
diseases were healed just by accepting the good news of this joyful life. The most beautiful healings to me were those
to people whose spirits were hurt—you know, broken people, lonely people,
people who thought they had nothing to live for.
You may be
thinking, that’s all well and good, but where is this joy for me? And what is this message that you are telling
us you preached? Friends, this joy awaits
you as people; and, this joy awaits you as a church. My brother Peter, remember he was renamed
“the Rock” by Jesus, was called to begin a community in which the living out
the teachings and actions were the only important things. Healing the broken spirits, welcoming those
shunned by others, holding out a helping hand to someone in the very pit of his
or her life, giving to those in need—these statements formed the crux of every
community’s work. They didn’t need a
mission statement. They had the example
and life of Jesus to refer to at every turn.
Kindness radiated from Jesus; acceptance, too. Jesus never turned away from those who called
out to him. I must admit that there were
times when we disciples tried to get him to stop; and, he rightfully rebuked us
and reminded us that he came for everyone.
Not just the few who passed the ‘righteousness’ test but everyone.
Jesus knew that
folks were out to get him and that didn’t stop him from preaching the good
news. He didn’t want it to stop us either. Our enemies, people who had sworn to take us
down, men and women determined to stop the spread the good news of Jesus’
teaching, healing, and being—all of these were included in the good news. If the news fell on hears that did not hear,
we walked away. And while we were
saddened when someone rejected the good news, it did not alter our joy.
I want you to
hear this: the message is not hard to
know. For centuries, the community
formed to spread the news has spent most of its time arguing over who determines
what news should be spread and who should do the spreading. This is not the good news of Jesus
Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ is
that it is possible and necessary to live in right relationship with God, with
others, and with all of creation. And,
in your believing this simple truth, you will be filled with the same joyful
urgency to go into all the world and bring the news to others. The time is now. The time is now for all the others in the
world to experience this liberating freedom and joy without limits. The person to spread it is you—each of you;
and the church to be that place where joy and love abound is this one. I wish you well, I wish you joy, I wish you
peace. Amen and amen and Namaste.
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