Saturday of the Third Week of Lent - March 17, 2012
Luke 10:1 - 6
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If the head of the house loves peace, your peace will rest on that house; if not, it will return to you."
Jesus sent his followers into the world "like lambs into the midst of wolves." He instructed them not to take provisions for the journey with them, but to travel light and live off the land, so to speak.
Jesus was not a very good business man (in the contemporary sense), and his plan for "success" is not a model that many have adopted. Though some contemporary folks have sold books -- and made a pretty good profit -- portraying Jesus as a savvy business person, turning his teaching into principles for 21st century free-market success, it typically doesn't work well. Jesus tended not to be interested in the things we call "success," except to the extent that it gets in our way and keeps us living false, delusional lives.
For the most part, his followers through the centuries have tired of being the lambs in society, and so have decided that it's far better to be the wolf. History is full of Jesus-followers in the role of wolf. It is little wonder that Christianity has been impotent when it comes to significant and healthy social change across the ages.
Jesus' plan, when sending out his followers into the world, was essentially to have no plan. He invited them to make no strategy to cover the contingencies for food, clothing and shelter.
"Trust God with your total being," was his bottom line. "Otherwise, you are trusting in yourself to discover and care for all the unpredictability of life." And the human being is not big enough to think of all the contingencies, nor mighty enough to see that they are all covered.
We moderns are far away from this basic instruction. In the Western world, we spend time acquiring goods and then safe-guarding those goods. We give so much attention to them that we have no energy left for the things that matter.
For today . . . what would be a modern-day equivalent for you to Jesus' words, "Do not take a purse, a bag, or sandals"? In other words, if Jesus told you not to take provisions into the day ahead of you, what would that mean?
Does the thought of going into the day empty-handed make you nervous? Uncomfortable? Lighter? Notice how you feel about this possibility.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If the head of the house loves peace, your peace will rest on that house; if not, it will return to you."
Jesus sent his followers into the world "like lambs into the midst of wolves." He instructed them not to take provisions for the journey with them, but to travel light and live off the land, so to speak.
Jesus was not a very good business man (in the contemporary sense), and his plan for "success" is not a model that many have adopted. Though some contemporary folks have sold books -- and made a pretty good profit -- portraying Jesus as a savvy business person, turning his teaching into principles for 21st century free-market success, it typically doesn't work well. Jesus tended not to be interested in the things we call "success," except to the extent that it gets in our way and keeps us living false, delusional lives.
For the most part, his followers through the centuries have tired of being the lambs in society, and so have decided that it's far better to be the wolf. History is full of Jesus-followers in the role of wolf. It is little wonder that Christianity has been impotent when it comes to significant and healthy social change across the ages.
Jesus' plan, when sending out his followers into the world, was essentially to have no plan. He invited them to make no strategy to cover the contingencies for food, clothing and shelter.
"Trust God with your total being," was his bottom line. "Otherwise, you are trusting in yourself to discover and care for all the unpredictability of life." And the human being is not big enough to think of all the contingencies, nor mighty enough to see that they are all covered.
We moderns are far away from this basic instruction. In the Western world, we spend time acquiring goods and then safe-guarding those goods. We give so much attention to them that we have no energy left for the things that matter.
For today . . . what would be a modern-day equivalent for you to Jesus' words, "Do not take a purse, a bag, or sandals"? In other words, if Jesus told you not to take provisions into the day ahead of you, what would that mean?
Does the thought of going into the day empty-handed make you nervous? Uncomfortable? Lighter? Notice how you feel about this possibility.
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