Grace to you from the Mystery in whom we live and breathe and have our being. He said to them…
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,”
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. 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. Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you.
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. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say,” 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.”
Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
THE RETURN OF THE SEVENTY-TWO
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 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. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
The last time two people came over to sell me something they were dressed pretty nice. The last time a person asked for money at the QT gas station, they didn’t look so nice. Sounds like the guy’s Jesus was sending out probably looked like the latter. Not exactly the best presentation for a bunch of lambs in a town where wolves lived.
Then, what a peptalk Jesus gave! “No purse, no bags and no sandals and don’t talk to strangers on your way.” Please eat what’s given to you and heal their sick. No matter the situation if they welcome you, stay there, don’t leave and look for a better spot. Oh, and also there are some bad dudes out there just waiting for lambs like you.”
What is happening here? Is Jesus so bent on making a name for himself that he would send seventy people into harm’s way? What did they have that was more valuable than anything they could take for protection? Something so transformative that it was worth risking violent rejection?
kingdom of peace
It was Peace. A taste of the kingdom of peace. A departure from the political wranglings and despair. Peace. Community and connection was the venue for the kingdom of peace. The universality of connection is a deep longing for every individual and molecule since the big bang. Connection ushers in a peace so satisfying it heals, nurtures and satisfies the soul even in the middle of chaos.
Connection is the action of belonging. It is a mutual relationship not only of people but of the quantum connections of stars in the sky and the molecules in the dust. Peace is shared and spread by connection.
All Jesus sent them with was the pursuit of people with the longing for peace. In return for bringing the kingdom of peace to others they learned to receive. The capacity to be vulnerable and be a recipient of sustenance is another hallmark of community. It’s easier to be a giver. To be a giver and never a gracious receiver is to maintain power and control over others and self.
If this divine peace is rejected, Jesus said dust yourselves off and move on. They aren’t rejecting you, he is saying, they are rejecting connection. They’re desire for separateness is so powerful even the energy in the dust around them should be shaken off. The kingdom of Peace still came near them and evidently Jesus liked that.
Peace is the wealth of shoeless, bagless travelers on a journey to transform the world.
connection and community
What happens when connection and community occurs and peace in the middle of chaos finds a home? Jesus said it was like a flash of lightning. Piercing the satanic work of division.
How do we experience this peace? How do we share this peace through connection?
Imagine the celebration when all the pairs of travelers returned. They are on a high and they share war stories about their power over spirits of darkness.
Jesus celebrates as well but tells them in affect, “don’t rejoice over your presentation of power. Rejoice that you are fulfilling every bit of life’s aim. To be a participant in God’s divine nature, our only heavenly goal on earth.
In her book, Circles of Grace, Jan Richardson moves us with her poem,
THIS GRACE THAT SCORCHES US
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.” – Acts 2:3
Here’s one thing you must understand about this blessing: is not for you alone.
It is stubborn about this. Do not even try to lay hold of it if you are by yourself thinking you can carry it on your own.
To bear this blessing, you must first take yourself to a place where everyone does not look like you or think like you, a place where they do not believe precisely as you believe, where their thoughts and ideas and gestures are not exact echoes
of your own.
Bring your sorrow. Bring your grief. Bring your fear. Bring your weariness, your pain, you’re disgust at how broken the world is, how fractured, how fragmented by its fighting, it’s wars, it’s hungers, it’s penchants for power, it’s ceaseless repetition of the history it refuses to rise above.
I will not tell you this blessing will fix all that. But in the place where you have gathered, wait. Watch. Listen. Lay aside your inability to be surprised, your resistance to what you do not understand. See then whether this blessing turns to flame on your tongue, sets you to speaking what you cannot fathom or opens your ear to a language beyond your imagining that comes as a knowing in your bones, a clarity in your heart that tells you this is the reason we were made: for this ache that finally opens us, for this struggle, this grace that scorches us toward one another and into the blazing day.
Amen
Wednesday Respite is a 30-min contemplative service of scripture, prayer, music and a Spirited Touchpoint by Henry Rojas, spiritual director at Spirit in the Desert.
Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine. Previous Touchpoints are available as PDFs or on SoundCloud.
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