Luke 10:1-11,16-20
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 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.”
These days we all feel trampled by a herd of stampeding wolves. I know real wolves don’t stampede, but bad-budget-bill wolves, war wolves, racist wolves, concentration camp creating wolves, science denying wolves and the rest of the whole horrible pack are stampeding these days like crazy! But even though our country today has more wolves than the New York subway has rats, Jesus IS NOT calling us in this story to fight the wolves. Jesus is calling us to go out like lambs into a world filled with wolves… and do something else… look for, find, and be with fellow People of Peace.
A friend was invited to a party. He asked, “Can I bring anything?” “Sure! How about dessert?” Arnie made fudge brownies… from scratch. Fancy ones with Flakey Sea Salt! He baked them, topped them with the fancy flakey sea salt, and on Saturday at the appointed hour he rang his friend’s doorbell. One problem. The party was on Sunday. He was exactly 24 hours early. What do you think happened? Some laughs? Yes. A little poking fun? Yes. Then what? You guessed it, they all sat down together and had a brownie! Why? Because SCRATCH MADE FUDGE BROWNIES WITH FLAKY SEA SALT! That’s WHY! AND… and… because Arnie had found some fellow people of Shalom… people of hospitality… people of generosity… people of wholeness… People of Peace.
An Appalachian Trail hiker named Jackrabbit wrote in his blog that the last big Trail Magic he had encountered had been a month ago in Virginia. Because of that, his expectation for Trail Magic in Massachusetts was “low”. But then he wrote, “After… hiking not even an hour, the Trail Magic drought was over. A sign off a road crossing advertised trail magic a short ways down a field. I followed the many signs denoting the path, each advertising “burgers and hot dogs”, “smiles” “shade”, and “kindness”. I was giddy at finally getting to be a pampered hiker again, and was lead to a huge tent with burgers, hot dogs, chips and cookies. I sat down for a bit, chatted with trail angels and hikers, enjoyed my food and got hiking again.” And WHY did his Trail Magic drought end? Because BURGERS AND HOT DOGS, COOKIES AND SNACKS, ALL UNDER A GIANT TENT! That’s WHY! AND… and… because Jackrabbit had found, sitting under that tent, people of Shalom… people of hospitality… people of generosity… people of wholeness… People of Peace.
Jesus sends us out into a world he acknowledges is overrun with wolves but NOT primarily to battle the wolves. Jesus sends us out primarily to make connections like Arnie and Jackrabbit did! Jesus knows most of us are not equipped to directly control the wolf population. If you ARE equipped to do that, then by all means DO THAT, but Jesus knows most of us are not. Most of us ARE, however, in a position to seek out fellow People of Peace in a wolf-ravaged world. Jesus knows that once we find other People of Peace, if we would just sit down for a bit, not work each other up into a panic, not get into an all-fire hurry, eat a brownie with flaky sea salt, throw a burger on the grill, or crack open a drink, we would find that in that time together we will have given one another something the wolves know nothing about… PEACE. We’ll have sat together experiencing SHALOM. We’ll have spent time in each other’s company and when we spend time in the company of other People of Peace we will discover that WHOLENESS is given, received, and even flows out into the world. In those moments, in the company of other People of Peace, THAT is where we will be able to FEEL and SEE and KNOW that the Kingdom of God, really has come near. It is in those moments, in the company of other People of Peace, that we become aware that we do NOT actually live in a world overrun with wolves, but it is actually within the Divine, that we mystically live, and move, and have our being.
Will our search for other People of Peace always turn out as well as it did for Arnie or Jackrabbit? Jesus says… IT WILL NOT. In spite of Burgers, Big Shade, and Brownies (even brownies with Flaky Sea Salt), Jesus tells us we will inevitably run into the wolves who are NOT predisposed to Peace… NOT sympathetic to Shalom… NOT aware of their hunger for Wholeness. Jesus’ advise for those times is for us to NOT let those wolves poop on our Peace or (pardon my French) shit on our Shalom! AND Jesus says, we are absolutely, positively, NOT, under any circumstance, to carry their crap with us down the road, stuck to the bottom of our shoes! We are to shake that shit off our sandals immediately! Hose that crap off our shoes! Rinse all of that wolf dirt and dust and dung off of our souls… and THEN… move on… having let ALL of it fully and completely GO… we are to return to the work we HAVE been called to… searching for and being with fellow People of Peace.
Our wolf problem is Legion and what do we do? We worry. We scroll. We rant. We drag wolf poo around on our shoes everywhere we go! Jesus calls us away from all of that and back to the work that Jesus knows WILL make a difference… finding other People of Peace… gathering with them in community… spending real time together… sitting with others in Shalom… checking each other’s shoes… cooking a burger… sharing a brownie… creating an environment into which hope might fly in and brush against our cheeks.
Jesus is calling you and me out of our self-destructive wolf-worry and back to the work of finding and being with fellow people of peace, because THAT is where the WHOLENESS WE ALL NEED is waiting for us! THAT is where we will begin to FEEL and SEE and KNOW that the Kingdom of God, really has come near, and THAT is where we can remind one another that it is the Kingdom of God come near… that is, even now, changing the world from being overrun with wolves, back into the world God created it to be. Amen.
