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Tend Your Fields
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 12, 2020
Matthew 13:1–9 (ESV)
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:18–23 (ESV)
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
The story of the sower is probably one of the most important stories in my Christian life. I grew up in a farming community, and that lifestyle is central to my soul. But many today do not identify with the sower, because the agrarian roots of our culture have become distant. We may know someone that owns a farm, that person might even be a relative, but to many if they are asked where the food, we eat originates those origins end at the store.
This is a serious issue. When people are unaware of the vast networks that are involved in feeding three billion people in this world, we begin to have trouble. When governments began to issue stay at home orders, they were quick to label the people that work at the grocery stores as essential workers, but that is not where the food chain begins. It begins out in the middle of nowhere, in places that most people call fly over country. The backbone of every society is not the urban centers where much of the financial wealth is found. The backbone of society is where the food is grown, and where the livestock is raised. When the crops fail, when those that raise the crops can no longer afford to keep their business going, the entire economy will collapse. The reason Jesus took the bread during the last meal he shared with his disciples before his arrest, was because that bread is the simplest meal. That bread is the most basic nutritional staple in our diet. And bread is basically flour and water mixed, and baked. The staples of human life begin with the grinding of grain, which is the fruit of one little seed.
What keeps us alive begins with one little seed. It might seem insignificant when compared to everything around us. We can walk into a grocery story and see aisle of various food, and it may not even occur to us that everything we see and buy to see began as one small seed. But if that one seed were not planted, imagine where we would all be.
The ancient world understood the importance of the seed. Even those that made their living doing something other than growing crops, depended on local farmers to bring their goods into market. When Jesus went out that day and sat by the sea to teach, they could see the fields in the distance. They may have even walked by or through one of the fields as they walked to the sea. And when Jesus began to teach, they could see the words being done all around them. The seeds were being scattered. Those seed would become the source of their daily bread for the next year.
Jesus focuses their attention to the sower. The sower is walking through the field carrying a bag of seed. As they walk, they reach into that bag and they pull out a handful of seeds, and they scatter that seed along the ground. It sounds like a simple process, but it takes skill and technique. I grew up on a farm and I have used my hands to spread many things, but scattering seed is not a skill that I developed. I have tried to scatter chicken feed in this manner only to attempt to keep chickens from pecking each other, but unfortunately, I tend leave most of the feed in one spot.
We often focus on the sower, but the parable focused on the soils. Jesus says that some of the seeds falls on the path, some fell on rocky ground, some fell among the weeds, and some seed fell on good soil. We might ask why this sower, if his livelihood is based on getting the seed in the ground, would be so wasteful? Remember sowing seed takes skill, but it is never precise.
A farmer will first prepare a seed bed. This means that they will go into the field with a plow of some sort, to open the soil. This tillage will cut the roots of the weeds so that those unwanted plants will die, leaving the field clear for the crop. The way and the tools that farmers have used to do this has changed over the years, but many of the tools we use today are like the tools that farmers have used since the stone age. Shapes and materials have changed over time, but the concept remains. As a farmer does this, either with a hand tool or a plow pulled by a beast of burden, the soil will be left with little ridges. It is these ridges that will allow the spacing of the seed. Once the seed bed has been prepared then sower will walk through and as the seeds are scattered, they will largely fall along the rows left by the tool used to prepare the soil.
That prepared field is the area that Jesus calls the good soil. But again, sowing seed is not precise. Along the edges of the field are areas that were not prepared. It is difficult to get the edges prepared to the same degree as the middle of the field. There are usually barriers of some sort that caused people to stop the field preparation where they do. Maybe a stream or river, a roadway, or rocks near the surface. Maybe the ground was too hard, or the weeds were just too thick to get the tools in deep enough. But that edge is unprepared. When the sower is out there tossing the seed, they cannot completely control where the seed will fall, and some of that seed will fall in areas that are unprepared.
Jesus tells us that some of the seed falls on the path where birds come and eat it. Some of the seeds fall among the weeds and they sprout and are choked out by the other plants. Some of the seed falls in stony soil where it sprouts quickly but it soon withers because there are no roots. And some of the seeds fall on the good soil. I love this story. I love it because of my heritage. My sweat is in this story, and this story is in my soul. I want us to really consider this story, but I want us to think of it in a way that we might not have before.
Imagine you have just moved into the area. You have obtained some land and it is untouched, and wild. What will you do? You have this land and you know that if you are going to keep the land you must use it in some way. You stand on your property line and you notice the slopes, and the trees. You can see areas that are open meadows and you can see some rocks. You like the shade of the trees but know that the shade it gives would not be beneficial to foster the growth of a crop. So, you begin to walk to the open areas. You begin to cut away the grasses and the weeds and find that you have a nice area that could make a good field. Then you dig. Hour after hour you cut through the roots of those untouched grasses. You labor for the entire day, you dig up rocks and chop out roots, and it looks as if you accomplished nothing. You rest and get back to work the next day. This goes on for a while and finally you have your field. You have prepared the bed and now you begin to sow the seed. And as the plants grow you remember the labor you put in, and what you found in the soil. You watch as the plants continue to grow, and you notice something, some areas are greener than others, and you remember that area.
The first year, you have a harvest and once that is in you begin to prepare for the next year. You go back to the areas that did not grow well, and you dig deeper and find that there was a large rock just a bit deeper than you dug the previous year, so you remove the rock and carry it to the edge of your field. You prepare the same field as you did the previous year, and this time it gets easier, and you decide to extend your field a bit more this year because you have some more time. The edges are moved out and more land is prepared, and again you sow the seed. You watch your field as the seasons change and you notice more areas that need attention. The pile of stones along the edge of the field begins to look like a wall as the stack get larger. Each year the soil is easier to work, and each year you can prepare more land until all the open space is being used.
Each year you prepare the soil. Each year you put in work. Even the good soil requires work. And each year there are improvements. Jesus speaks of good soil, but even good soil requires work. What would happen if you were to not work the soil for one year? It is a common practice to let land sit for a year without a crop, but while it sits the weeds return. And every year that the soil continues to return to it wild state. And within a few years the field you spent so much time preparing looks like an untouched meadow once again.
We often look at this story and we see it from a seasonal perspective. Jesus tells us that the seeds the sower scatters is the word about the kingdom, and we understand that at times the seeds fall in many places. We look at the fields as being the people around us, and we make a few judgements based on the interpretation Jesus gives us. What we often miss is that God is working the soil, and we are there to help.
If you were to read the writings of some of the first Quakers, you might see a concept called a day of visitation. This phrase was developed out of the observation that there is a moment where an individual is at a crossroad in life and they can turn one of two ways. One direction is toward God, and the other is to the world. Those first Friends would observe themselves and those around them during these moments and would say that God was visiting you on that day. I like the concept surrounding this. To be able to recognize that God is at work is amazing, but there is one aspect of this that I do not care too much about. Many times, those early Friends would regard this as a singular event, and if you did not turn toward God in that moment they would stop. To me this is like preparing the field once and expecting it to continue to yield fruit without any more management.
I do like the idea of multiple days of visitation though. There are moments within all our lives that we have trials, and in that moment, we can respond in multiple ways. Those trials are weeds growing in our soul, a worn path, or maybe hardening. God is visiting us in those areas. Are we tending the field?
We look at the world today, and we see young people leaving the church and we wonder why. Could it be that they have had so many people walking all over them, compacting the soil and wearing them out that they become hard? Jesus says that the seed cannot grow because they hear but do not understand and the evil one snatches the seeds of life away before it even has a chance. A path is developed over time. Constant traffic in one area slowly turns the soil hard. Constant traffic, but no understanding. No one is taking the time to encourage understanding. Sadly, the church has contributed to this. We often hear of the legalistic church. This expression is focused on performance over understanding and relationship. A generation is leaving the church, because they are being trampled, and they do know why, they hear the gospel but all they see is judgment and they have already been trampled enough so they leave.
We look out and might say there is not the commitment to the church in this generation as there was in previous ones. This is like the weeds choking out the seeds. When we consider the emerging generation what do we really expect? When those that graduate from college, have fifty to one hundred thousand dollars of debt that they are trying to pay off with a minimum wage job how are they going to survive? We can argue opinions in this matter, but the reality remains that our society pushed for college education, our companies require college education, and we are no longer willing to pay wages on par with previous generations with college degrees. The worries of the world are choking out the emerging generation, what are we doing to encourage them?
Then the stones. The response to the gospel but when trials come there is no root so the plant withers. I speak about the emerging generation, but I want us to remember that we are all fields. Each of us are within our own day of visitation every day of our lives. It does not matter if we have been a Christian for sixty years of two weeks, at any moment the word of God might visit us, and we may respond or reject the one we love. We might be worried, we might be worn and trampled, and we might have a rock under the surface restricting the growth of our roots. This stony problem is a plague in the American Church and culture. When we hear an opinion different than our own the relationship withers. When a decision is made within a church that we might not agree with instead of working through the issue, we leave and go to a different church, or start a new church.
Jesus is telling a story of a sower scattering seeds, but how is the field? We all go through seasons of life where we might not be open to the word of God, and seasons where those words will grow and bear fruit. Are we willing to listen to God? Are we willing to allow God to word in us so that we can encourage those around us?
Jesus took the bread and blessed it and said this is my body broken for you. Bread the most basic staple of our diet. Bread made from the flour and water. Flour derived from the grinding of grain, that came from one seed that fell in good soil to bear fruit. We can look at the world and see everything that is wrong with it, or we can look at it and see where we can help. As we enter this time of open worship and communion in the manner of friends, I encourage us all to examine the soils of our lives, and that of our church. Is the way we respond to the trials we face assisting others in their day of visitation or are we contributing to their destruction?
School Yard Squabble
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
July 5, 2020
Matthew 11:16–19, 25-30 (ESV)
16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17 “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
But what shall I compare this generation? This is one of the oddest statements I feel Jesus spoke, yet it is a statement that sparks my imagination. It is as if Jesus is gathering all of history to this very moment and distilling all that occurred into one single sentence. Is that something that we could do? Could we even attempt do that with the minimal history of our nation? I say minimal because in the scope of history our nation is young. The two hundred and forty-four years of our nation pales to the history seen in Europe. There is a bar in Ireland that has been in continuous operation for over one thousand years. A bar, a single business has been open five times longer than our country has been in existence. Imagine all that we have seen and heard, every accomplishment and every disaster and describing it in one single sentence.
We try to do this when we think of statements to place on grave markers. We are asked questions by psychologist, wanting us to determine how we would like the world to remember us. I do not spend a great deal of time walking through cemeteries but when I was in school one of my jobs was to mow for the township, this mowing job included mowing the various roadsides as well as one of the cemeteries. I would go out one day and ride back and forth between the various markers, and then I would get out the weed eater and would trim the grass from around these stones. I would look at the names, I would read the statements and the dates. I would wonder what disease might have swept through a community when there were similar dates. I would be saddened by the stones of children and was surprised when some of those children were the children of people I knew, yet never knew of the child. Stone after stone, I got to be familiar with these stones, I would build stories of various adventure the people may have had. And remember this would have been in the 80’s and 90’s so most of the stories I imagined were based in the computer game the Oregon Trail, so most everyone there probably died of fever or dysentery. But there were words that could be found on most of the stones: Husband, wife, father, mother, grandmother, grandfather. All of history distilled into one single statement and that statement by in large revolves around our relationships.
As I thought about this week’s passage I thought about this cemetery. I do not really know why, probably because the memorial stone is the last statement, we make to those yet living. Jesus says, “How shall I compare this generation?” How would he describe the culmination of history to that point? He says, “it’s like children calling out to their playmates in the marketplace.” I want us to stop and consider this. “I played a flute and you did not dance, I sung a dirge and you did not mourn.”
Have you ever really considered what Jesus might be saying? Jesus spoke these words as the crowds were asking questions about the coming Messiah. A group of John the Baptist’s disciple approach and ask Jesus if he was for sure the one that John spoke about. This is one of the few times we can see John the Baptist as vulnerable, he boldly taught on the banks of the Jordan, but at this moment he is in Herod’s prison awaiting his execution. He is facing death because he prophetically spoke the truth of the kingdom, and now as the time draws near, he himself is wondering if he invested his life well.
It is ok to have questions and doubt. The world around us is changes rapidly and at times it does challenge our faith. We can live our entire lives thinking we understand God, and then in a moment something happens in our life that causes us to question the very existence of the one we believed. When terrorists flew airliners into the world trade center, it rattled my life. That event started me into a crisis of faith, and I began to question things. I thought that God would protect a Christian nation, I thought we were a Christian nation, and suddenly I had to question our Friend’s testimony of peace because some people that reject the God I know are attacking us. That event started a war, a war that has been raging for most of my oldest son’s life. And as it has continued, I have gone through other seasons of doubt. The thing about doubt in discipleship is there is a place to seek answers.
John’s disciples had whole heartedly followed their teacher. They loved their teacher and their teacher boldly preached. He was not afraid to challenge those that held power in the seats of government or religion. Yet even that bold teacher had seasons of doubt because each of us have ideas about God. Each of us have a box we like to put our understanding of God into, and when something happens outside those confines, we get nervous.
“What should we compare this generation to,” Jesus asks, “it is like children calling to their playmates saying we played the flute and you did not dance, and we played a dirge and you did not mourn.” What do we see when we read this passage? Usually I imagine kids playing in the playground, but this week as I reflected on this passage, they were not playing but arguing about what they wanted to play. I see two sets of kids dividing over what they want to play some want to dance and are upset that the others are joining them and the others I guess want to play funeral and are upset that the other kids are not being serious. This caused me to think.
In life we often think in linear patterns. Meaning that there is a line stretching from one accepted idea to another accepted idea, and we fall somewhere on that line. Nearly every aspect of life that we believe we have choice in has some linear formulation. Our politics has a linear construct, education is linear, success and wealth are often measured in a linear fashion. Sometimes we call the graduated, but it is still linear. And by in large our ethics and morality are contemplated in a binary linear fashion. There are two extremes in these thought processes, and everyone falls somewhere between them on that line. In Jesus’s example the linear construct is between dancing and mourning, or celebration and sorrow.
He says how can we describe what is going on in the generation of his day, and he says it is like children arguing on the playground. Some think we need to be celebrating and others think that the world around them should be in sorrowful. John, he said came to them, he skewed to the mourning side of the spectrum. He did not eat with the socialites; he refused to drink and was even commanded to refrain from fermented drinks by God himself. Yet this man that was sent by God, announced and conceived in a manner that should have been the celebration of Israel since it was similar to the family of Abraham, and they said he has a demon. Why? He did not fit completely on their line.
Jesus comes. Even John begins to wonder if he was right in his statement that Jesus was the lamb of God, and they look at Jesus and again he cannot be placed on the line. Jesus is different than John, Jesus came eating and drinking and they called him a drunkard and a glutton. They called him a friend of sinners. The world is caught in this linear frame of reference. You must be placed on the line and if you are on the wrong part of the line you are not acceptable. And when they finally put that linear label on you, you then become the enemy of everything they regard as honorable. All human history distilled in one statement. We are children arguing about a game of dancing or sorrow. The great achievements of a society, totally disregarded, all because of a linear focus.
Jesus concludes, “Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
I like the personification of wisdom; her name is Sofia. I have this probably unholy attraction to the personifications of Liberty, Justice and Wisdom. All these personalities are represented as feminine which I find interesting, because they are also representations of the personality of the triune God. Father Justice, Liberty being the son, and wisdom as the Holy Spirit. Yet these concepts are often depicted in female form. Last night there were televised fireworks displays around, Lady Liberty. The courthouses across our nation have statue of Lady Justice, holding the scales and sporting a blindfold. But like the holy spirit Sophia, lady wisdom is difficult to grasp. I often wonder why these are always depicted from the feminine aspect of humanity, and I think it has to do with the great care required. You cannot force liberty; it must be nurtured. You can not gain wisdom by conquest it must be developed and reared over time. And justice must be balanced with mercy.
Wisdom is justified by her deeds. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. I have a degree in crop science. I have knowledge about plants, how they function, what to do to make the best environment for them to grow. I have the knowledge, but my grandfather, he graduated from high school. He does not have a college degree, because at that time they needed him to work on the farm to feed the soldiers fighting in Europe. My grandfather has wisdom. He has years of experience. His experience and wisdom provided for his family and continued to bless through the next generations. Wisdom is taking those things we know and putting them into action. When Jesus says wisdom is justified by her deeds, he is speaking not of a linear representation of applied knowledge. Often, we think of applying knowledge in ways that will provide some benefit, but Jesus says justified by her deeds. This alludes to something greater. Wisdom is applying knowledge in a manner that will benefit all involved.
Consider some of the linear problems of today. Many environmentalist desire that we completely abandon the use of fossil fuels, and if we are honest this is not a bad idea. We know the pollution that oil can cause. But there is more to this one issue. Wisdom show us that our dependence on fossil fuels is much deeper than the vehicles we drive. Oil is used in the processing of nearly every consumer item we have today, from the packaging on our food to the carpet under our feet. Wisdom say look deeper and broader. Find different answers and ask different questions. We cannot survive today without oil, yet we need to find cleaner products. It is not linear but multifaceted, yet by my saying we should find cleaner products will often put me on the same side of a line as climate change advocates, where my saying we need oil at the moment labels me as a climate change denier.
Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. We want easy answers and clearly defined lines. We like labels and boxes. We like to know that we are right and those that have a different opinion are wrong, but Jesus does not allow for this to happen. Wisdom is justified by her deeds. How you live your life. Our words should be reflected in what we do, and our actions should resemble the testimonies we speak. Jesus calls the generation of his day squabbling school children because they were focused too much on being right instead of doing right or performing the proper action without having the proper motive.
Wisdom is justified by her deeds. Sophia is a woman of action within a community. Nurturing and encouraging growth and mutual profit and health. She lives and works all around her community, caring for those in need, and encouraging those around her to embrace a lifestyle that is not just celebration or mourning but one of hope. Being both and more. Have you tried doing this? The answer to that question is yes of course you have because we are a caring community. We do all that we can, but often we are like John. We get trapped in some linear lifestyle where our good intentions and desires get drown out by the cries of the masses. We get tossed back and forth labeled, and often ridiculed. We try to talk our way out, only to find ourselves deeper.
Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, father, for such was your gracious will.” The things that my parent’s generation struggled with are not the things that my generation struggle with. The things I struggle with are not the same that my sons’ will struggle with. There is hope, and yes, we might not be where we should be, but we are not where we were. And I pray that our children will have more of the gospel revealed to them than was even revealed to me. With each generation there is progress and growth. With each generation there is revival even within the church if we are open to the Spirit. But are we open?
Do we hold on to the past so tightly that we cut off the circulation? Are we so caught up in our success that we cannot see the afflictions others might be facing? These are the schoolyard arguments. And to be honest they are tiring. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We are caught in so many battles in our lives. Battle that history will probably look back on as being as ridiculous as kids arguing about what game to play. Jesus is calling us to something different, he is calling us out of that linear world of right and left wing. He is calling us to a different lifestyle. He calls us to his yoke or teaching. Which he showed us throughout his life. He calls us take up his yoke, to walk with him. Where he shares the burden and keeps us walking straight. What is this yoke? Worship, prayer, and service. Nothing else just do that. Encourage one another as we join in worship. Withdraw often to isolated places to pray. And allowing that time of pray to direct you into how to speak and act in the larger community. And as we worship, pray, and serve be willing to encourage others along the way.
I said when I began that it was as if Jesus was distilling all of history into one phrase in today’s passage. And I believe that to be true. Everything we attempt to accomplish in our life is just what he says, playground squabbles, unless we allow God to lead us in the building of the community. Are we focused in the right place and walking the proper path? And before we can attempt to answer for a collective, we, we must first focus on the singular you. Are you heavy laden?
Welcome
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
June 28, 2020
Matthew 10:40–42 (ESV)
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Over the past weeks, we have had to readjust our lives. We have had to hit the reset button on society in some ways. We were and still are attempting to determine what is essential and preference. We have gone through these processes because we are at risk. There is a contagion in the world that can cause illness and we are told that the more we are out in the world the potential risk of contracting the disease increases.
We all have opinions about everything going on around us. For some of us life has not changed that much. For me, I am considered an essential worker, so I continued to work every day. To be honest I have worked more during this time. But aspects of my life did change. Albert’s school was closed, sporting events were canceled, as well as social gatherings including meeting for worship. Because of the changes that we have had to do, I have thought about the events in the New Testament in different ways.
Jesus gave the disciples the authority over all diseases and ailments, and power of demonic forces. He sent these disciples out to the surrounding communities with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the passion in their hearts. He sent them to the communities that knew them, the communities that knew who they were and what they had been doing. He sent them to the very communities that could discredit everything they said.
I do not think we fully grasp what it is Jesus did at this moment. It would be easy to go to a town in a different state and put on a show. It would be easy to go where no one knew who you were and begin to speak. It is hard to go home and live down everything you have done in the past and begin to teach your former classmates about the changes you have experienced in your life. It is difficult to go to that person you have known, and possibly hurt, and teach about redemption.
I want us to think about that for a moment. The disciples were going out into the communities that surrounded their own village. These communities were not like our city, but it would be as if you were going to every family within a mile of your house. And if that community did not receive you, then you would go to the next mile radius. Consider your neighbors, and your relationship with them. Consider the people around you in this Meetinghouse, and the people in their neighborhoods.
I have thought about this over the past few days. I have considered how my neighbors might receive me. And to be honest, I do not know if they even know I live in the house. They might see me drive away in the morning, and I might wave to them as I drive by in the evening. If Jesus were to send me to my own neighborhood, I would struggle. I have been a pastor for nearly seventeen years, and I would still struggle.
It is depressing to think about it, because our society does not promote this sort of thing. We drive to work, we drive to church, we drive to shopping centers, and we do not even think about it. Our lives are spread out, stretched tight, and we do not even realize that if one thing happens to go wrong life as we know it will collapse.
What would happen to us if we could no longer travel the extent we do? Imagine that your car broke down, and for some reason you were not able to have it fixed. Could you walk to the grocery store? Could you make it to work? Could you get to your doctor’s appointment? Would you be able to get the things that you need? The nearest grocery store to my house is just over three miles away. Imagine if you had to walk nearly seven miles to get food to eat. How would you adjust your lifestyle?
This is the reality of many people within our communities. The places to work, the places to shop, the places people need to be are often too far away. Life becomes a struggle, just to survive. The nearest grocery store to my house is three miles away. It would take the average person an hour to walk that far, an hour to shop, and then another hour to wrestle all those bags back home. Three hours just to get groceries. Now imagine going that distance with a toddler. This is what it means to live in a food desert and is the way millions of people in our nation live.
I mention this because these are our communities, these are the people that live around us. These are children in our schools, and people we see as we shop. People all around us are struggling, and this pandemic has only intensified the struggle.
Jesus is telling his disciples to go back to the communities. He tells them to stay near their hometowns. Have we ever really thought about why he tells them that?
I grew up in a rural farming community. I love my hometown. I love that I know everyone there and that they all know me. The problem with my hometown is that unless you inherit land chances are you will be forced to leave to find work. Every generation the population dwindles. When my grandfather was in school my hometown had drive in movies, a grocery store, several gas stations, a bank, and a school. Today my hometown has four gas pumps and a vending machine. All the businesses are gone and all that remains is basically a place for farmers to bring their harvest.
Every generation, even in larger cities things change. Business in one part of the city decreases because people move to another part of the city, and shop keepers that once had thriving businesses either relocate or close. There is this ever-expanding city, but the core is hollow and begins to rot.
Jesus sends his disciples to their hometowns. He sends them to heal disease and affliction, to free people from spiritual bondage. He sends them without provision and directs them to live on the hospitality of the community. He sends them to their hometowns, towns that are like many of our communities, towns that are dwindling. He sends them to those towns to change the perspective and to bring hope to the hopeless.
In today’s passage Jesus speaks not of the disciples going, but of the community that receives the disciples. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” This might seem like a weird statement, but it is a change of perspective. So often communities begin to dwindle because they cannot see beyond themselves. They are either caught in the past or distracted by the present circumstances. Every little change threatens the status quo. If someone does something different, the entire community descends into fear because they do not know what to expect. Often the response is to demonize the ones that are instigating the change. They cannot see life from a different point of view, and often are unwilling to see how those around them might be afflicted because they are not afflicted themselves. To receive means that this community has turned in some manner. They have recognized that there is a need to readjust their life and lifestyle to incorporate what the disciples bring.
Jesus goes on to say, “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.” This statement is one that bothers me. I have read about the prophets and usually they are not received well. If we look at the life of the prophets it is a life filled with constant struggle, because a prophet is often telling the people that if they do not repent or turn then consequences are going to follow. A prophet brings the word of God to a community, the prophet is often regarded as a threat to those in power, and those in power threaten their lives. But what happens when people listen to a prophet? Consider Jonah, he was sent to Nineveh the seat of the Assyrian empire. This was an empire that threatened the very existence of Israel, yet God commanded his prophet to go to this place to proclaim the word of the lord. When Jonah finally made his way into the city, he proclaimed that in eight days God was going to destroy the city unless they repent. Unless they turn from their current trajectory and align with God. Jonah hated Nineveh, he wanted them to be annihilated, yet they received the prophet and received the prophet’s reward. They repented, they turned and readjusted their lives, and as a result God preserved them.
The prophet is sent to plead with the people to turn to God. They cry out to the people to turn away from lives and lifestyles bent toward destruction and to refocus on the things that God values. When God preserved Nineveh, he told Jonah that he was angry about the things he did not labor for, and was upset about God having pity on 120,000 people that did not know their right hand from their left. They were unaware and ignorant, and God had pity and sent his prophet to show them a better life. Often, we are ignorant, we fail to see because we are focused on things outside of God’s desires. God cared for the people, not the empire. God sent his prophet from Israel to Nineveh.
Jesus goes on, “The one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.” Again, this is a statement on repentance and turning. Recognizing that a lifestyle that is being lived is not focused on the proper things and adjusting. And finally Jesus says, “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
These three verses are all based on some form of repentance or turning. Jesus is sending his disciples back to their hometowns, their own communities to encourage them to turn. He is sending them with the power to heal illnesses and to relieve affliction, and to liberate those that are struggling with the bondage of evil. Jesus is sending his disciples to rebuild the community. He is sending them back to their hometown to inspire them to focus on what can make them better as a whole instead of their own personal profit. Communities diminish when those within turn away and focus on themselves. Those within the community no longer seek what can help them all and instead focus on their personal desires. Jesus is encouraging the disciples to go back to their hometowns to become community builders.
He sends them with nothing. He sends them only with the power to heal, relieve, and to liberate. We often look at our communities and we think, if only I had this or that I could change the community. But God has given us all we need. What needs healing, what needs relief, what needs liberated? We can turn on the news and we are shown areas of ministry if we are willing to go. There are protests throughout our cities and some of us wonder why. Are we listening? Are we receiving and welcoming the prophets of God? I mentioned the food deserts and what we would do if we had to walk to get groceries, many of those that are protesting live in that place, are we receiving them?
This pandemic has caused us to press the reset button in society. It is forcing us to reconsider many things in our lives. We must be mindful of where we are and who is around us. We come to terms with the concept that my actions could directly affect the very lives of those around us. It is reminding us that community is based on helping those around us. Community is hospitality. Community is making a place for the afflicted to find rest. It is sacrificing oneself for the good of another. Are we listening or are we dictating? Are we helping or are we burdening? Are we encouraging or discouraging?
We have the power to heal disease, relieve affliction, and to liberate those around us from evil. We have everything we need right here within each of us to turn our world away from destruction and toward God. And it begins with offering our neighbor a cup of water and listening to what they have to say.