Last week we talked about the Mission of God. We talked about Jesus’s
laser focus on Jerusalem and the cross, and the empty tomb, and the
unleashing of God’s Spirit, and the way it made his responses to those that
would follow sound pretty harsh. We also talked about the mission of God today,
and we described it as including everyone in the kingdom.
Today I want to talk about how we get to the kingdom and what it looks
like to be there. I’ve mentioned before how important camp can be in forming an understanding of the kingdom of God, so I want to take you
back to another memory. I was in seminary at the time. I had gone back to serve
as the Assistant Director at my Presbytery’s Camp, a place that held formative
memories for me.
Things were going pretty well. I thought I knew about as much as anyone
could about what mattered and how to order programing and worship and provide the types of experiences that would form and
nurture faith. There was this one kid that I wasn’t sure how to respond to,
though. She was a young girl on an exchange program from somewhere in Africa.
Sadly, I don’t even remember where.
I remember thinking that she had so much courage just to be there, yet
I wondered how much of a choice she had in the matter. She seemed to get
along with everyone pretty well. It was a safe space. It was a pretty typical
PC(USA) environment, racially speaking. She was the only person of color in the crowd, so there was some
inherent vulnerability in just being there.
One day during one of our assemblies she was asked to share something
of her worship experience from home. I can hardly imagine
being in her shoes. Can you imagine? What would you share? All I remember is
that she sang a song.
Building up the temple. Building up the temple.
Building up the temple of the Lord.
Boys Come and help us.
Girls come and help us.
Building up the temple of the Lord.
It was the voice of another vulnerable child, an Israeli servant girl
who had been captured as the spoil of war, who spoke to Naaman about his
leprosy in our scriptures today. While we could talk
about the strangeness of this man approaching the King of Israel for healing, I
think that the most common thread in our scriptures today is vulnerability.
Over and over again we hear the call
to vulnerability. Naaman sent word to the King. The King tore his clothes over
it, saying “See how this man is provoking me! Another war is the last thing I
need right now. It’s not even the right time of year for it! Who does he think
I am? I’m not God.” Somehow Elisha heard and said, “Let’s let him know
that there is someone here who speaks God’s truth.”
So Naaman goes out with all the trappings of power and announces his
presence! It reminds me of those comical moments in dramatic movies where the
bad guy is pontificating and the good guy says, “Hey, can you give me just a
minute. ”The difference between that scene and this scene is that Elisha never comes out; instead he sends a servant. Then once again it’s a servant who says to Naaman, “Look, if
it had been hard, would you have done it?” Then the great General Naaman washes
and is made clean.
Here’s why this matter. Over and over again, people are becoming
vulnerable to one another. Over and over again, it is the voice of the ones who
are already vulnerable that create the opportunity to know of God’s active
presence. It is through vulnerability that we see the location of power, and
it’s not with the one with all the money. It’s not with the one with all the
weapons. It’s not even with the ones who recognize the truth. The power to heal
and reconcile is God’s power, but it is the voice of the vulnerable that helps
us to receive it.
Paul tells the Galatians something similar when he talks about life in
the Spirit. This is not an individual pursuit. He is not rolling out some
manifesto for rugged individualism. Sure, he talks about being responsible for
your own load, but he starts out with the assumption that not everyone will.
“Restore each other with gentleness,” he says. “Bear your burdens together,” he
says. Be responsible for your own load but expect to work together for the benefit of all.
I don’t know how many of you have worked with anyone else on a project
at school or work, but life is simply not an individual sport. Yes, you will
reap what you sew, but chances are you are in that field
with someone else. Life in the Spirit is no different. Life in the Spirit means
that we are free from a legalistic understanding of God, self, and others, but
it also means that we are held to a law. It means that we are held accountable by love.
I can tell you one thing that love does. It makes you vulnerable. So it
was with the 70 that Jesus sent out ahead of him to
proclaim the ultimate vulnerability, reliance on the hospitality of strangers.
He gave these followers the same instructions as the 12 that he had sent out
before. “Take nothing but the clothes on your back,” he said. He added a few
things this time though, when he told them, “If they refuse you, they refuse
me, and really they are rejecting God. If they do that, shake off the dust of
your sandals in protest and tell them that the Kingdom of God has come near!”
So, what does that mean to us? Are we supposed to go door to door for
Jesus? Maybe. I once had a friend tell me that they did that for their
neighborhood. Yes, they were Presbyterians. They went door to door and asked
questions like, “What are your hopes? How could the church be a better
neighbor?” I’m told that’s how the Bridge Ministry got started here in Four
Corners, one of the toughest neighborhoods in town.
Maybe God is calling us to go down a similar road. I’ve been here for 9
years, and we’ve never had a significant interaction with
our closest neighborhood, Freetown. What about all the new housing that is
coming into the downtown area. Should we dismiss them as renters that won’t
stick around? Should we simply hope they will think we are pretty like some
child sitting in the corner at a dance?
It’s scary, right, this idea of ultimate vulnerability and putting
yourself out there. Yet in becoming vulnerable we make way for an openness to the presence
of God. For some, this comes easier than others. They’re just wired that way.
That doesn’t mean they are better, or closer to God, in fact, some of us rush in because we aren’t.
Really there are two factors here. The first is whether you are
naturally vulnerable because of your position or status in the world. The second is whether or not you are willing, to be honest with
yourself about your own need for vulnerability.
Jesus seems to force both of these issues onto the disciples at once, but
there is something more to it than that. He tells them that they are to
announce that the Kingdom has come near, and we know what he means because we
know the rest of the story, right? At least we think we do.
You see, Jesus wasn’t the only one headed to Jerusalem. According to the theologian, Marcus Borg, and Historian, David
Crosan, there were two processions happening in Jerusalem. One was a military
procession that Roman authorities held at the same time as the Passover in order to remind the people what real power was about. The other was
a Jewish Rabi on a donkey.
Again and again, the kingdom is announced through vulnerability, through
mutual submission, and through the love of neighbor as next of kin! Again and again
I hear a little girl sing that we are building up the temple! Again and again, I
hear the call of Christ saying, go where I send thee!
Again and again, I hear the scriptures ask me who is not included at this table and why?
Building up the temple. Building up the temple.
Building up the temple of the Lord.
Boys Come and help us.
Girls come and help us.
Building up the temple of the Lord.
God has given me, eyes to see
God has given me, arms to build
God has given me mouth to sing
Building up the temple
Building up the temple of the Lord.
Perhaps the first step is to recognize our own vulnerability and then listen to
those more vulnerable than us. For we will know the Kingdom has come near when
the vulnerable are heard and healing breaks forth. We will know the Kingdom has
come near when we cannot help but respond to power
with a greater power of love and vulnerability.
I pray that it may be so with me and that it may be so with you, and to God be the glory, now and always. Amen.
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