Trinity Blog

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy 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 labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. ³ Go on your way. See, 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 anyone is there who shares in peace, 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 labourer 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.” ¹² I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

As a boy, one of my chores this time of year was the harvesting of the garden and the various trees in the back yard.  When my parents felt the produce was ripe, I was sent out with baskets to collect and harvest everything I was told to harvest.  I dug up the potatoes and put them in a crock.  I picked the apples and the tomatoes and put them in bushel baskets.  I broke off the pea pods and placed them in a metal colander.  When the time came to harvest, I was sent out with an empty container and told to get everything I could, while the time was right and the produce ripe.

Just as I was sent out to harvest by my parents, so too are we sent out to harvest by God.  But while I was sent for vegetables and fruit, the Lord of the harvest sends out laborers into all his creation.  Just as I was the only child at home to do the enormous task of harvesting a large garden and orchard, so too is God’s harvest plentiful but the laborers are few.  God sends us out not for the corn, but sends us out for lost children of God.

Are we all to go out or only some whose specific purpose is to do so?  While this may or may not be the question on many Christian’s hearts and minds, I wish not to answer it, but ask maybe a different question.  Did Jesus go out for us all?  Then why don’t we all go out for Jesus?  Jesus’ obedience was not just to obey the will of his Father to go out, but Jesus’ love was that he went out for everyone.  Instead of some obnoxious rule of what is right or wrong for all Christians when it comes to mission, let us replace it with a knowledge of God who is mission incarnate in Christ Jesus.  Since he came for us all, then let us all go out for him.

Are we to go out into our community or some other one?  While this may or may not be yet another question on many hearts and minds, I again wish not to answer it, but ask maybe a different question.  Did Jesus go only to Nazareth?  Then why don’t we go everywhere for Jesus?  Jesus didn’t just stay in his home town, he went to others as well.  Instead of some rule of what is right or wrong for all Christians when it comes to their mission field, (if we have one at all), let us replace it with a knowledge of God whose field to harvest is all of creation.  Since Jesus went into all creation, let us all go everywhere for him.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, while I share with you all no small amount of trepidation or anxiety when it comes to mission work, we all share the common purpose given to us in Jesus Christ, to be laborers sent out into the harvest field to collect the Lord of the Harvest’s bounty.  While I might want to hide behind the readymade excuse of “I am not called to go out,” in Christ Jesus we see God coming to us all, so that we all might go out.  While I might want to take shelter in the pretext of “I am not called to go there,” in Christ Jesus we see God going every place we are, so that we might go everywhere he is.   Therefore, let us not dwell in our apprehensions and hesitations about being sent out and being sent out where we do not want to go, let us dwell in Christ Jesus through faith and we will find ourselves being Children of God having already gone out.

Hebrews 12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In the Tour De France, one of the words that the spectator or viewer must come to learn is the idea of the Peloton.  It is the group of bicycle riders that group together to pace themselves during the race.  They ride together in a large clump of riders sometimes with teammates and sometimes with rivals.  But, throughout the many days and the many miles of riding, the contestants draw together to ride and race together.

So is it with the Church.  The Church is an assembly of people summoned by God to follow Jesus Christ.  But the great advantage of being in the Church community is that one does not follow alone.  Every believer is surrounded by other believers just like in the Peloton every rider is surrounded by other riders.  But we are not just surrounded by other believers, but we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.  We are not only surrounded by other believers but also the great heroes and witnesses of our faith.  We are surrounded not just by each other, but by Peter, Paul, Mother Theresa, Dr. King, Archbishop Tutu and many more.  We have the support of not just our faith community, but every person and community in every time and place. 

But perhaps the important word of this passage is the word “since.”  Since we are surrounded, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  The advantage of being surrounded is that we can overcome the obstacles that hold us back and we can throw off the sinful behaviors that tie us up.  Those obstacles can be many and varied depending on the time and season.  But in this moment as we are heading into Labor Day weekend, what we might need to throw off are those bad habits of not participating in our faith communities.  September is our “Back-to-Church” time and season.  Where we re-connect with each other and with God, but also where we re-commit to the life of discipleship that has perhaps waned in the past few weeks and months.  Perhaps what we need to throw off and untangle is the many distractions and priorities which have caused us to float away from the Peloton, from the community of Faith. 

Perhaps then our life together, or to continue the metaphor, is about running the race set before us.  But “since” we are surrounded, we not only throw off the obstacles holding us back and keeping us away, but we run with perseverance, the race marked before us.  The Tour De France is not won in a day, it is marathon mixed with moments of sprinting, and moments of climbing, and moments of descending.  Our church life is no different.  We will have moments marked out for us by God, that will differ depending on the circumstances.  We will have hills to climb, like covid, wars and recessions.  We will have sprints to power through, like rummage sales and picnics.  We will have descents to coast through, like Christmas and Eastertime.  But we run the race set before us with perseverance.  Not just when life together is easy, but especially when life together requires learning, growing, adventure and change.  We run, but we run together with perseverance.

But just as a bicycle rider focuses on the finish line, we are to focus on Christ who is at the finish line and summoning us to himself.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  A pioneer is someone who paves the road or blazes the trail.  A perfecter is one that ensures the road is finished and drivable.  With Christ as pioneer and perfecter, we can run the race of faith because it has been created and finished already.  We must simply follow the road by fixing our eyes on the one who made it and who finished it, so that we can simply follow along behind him to the finish line.  If we see him having finished the race, can we not finish it ourselves.  The hard work has been done, the victory has been accomplished, we can merely enjoy the ride and be ensured of finishing strong.

If then our eyes are fixed on Christ, then we can consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  The main reason we quit the race is because we grow weary and lose heart.  Times become tough, challenges and difficulties overwhelm, we lose the joy of our life together, and Church becomes tedious and dull.  But if we consider Christ, who endured opposition on his race, we can endure our opposition and run on, fixing on Christ, running with perseverance, throwing off the bad habits that hold back and sins that cling, since we are surrounded by a faithful cloud of witnesses.  But if we consider Christ, we disciple on until the race is finished and God’s Kingdom comes.  Friends, let us consider Christ and let us run the race set before us with perseverance, never quitting, because we are surrounded by fellow believers by also every faithful witness.  Amen.