Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle B

MARK 6:7-13
SOME OF YOU HAVE HEARD ABOUT RICK WARREN, THE SENIOR PASTOR OF SADDLEBACK CHURCH IN CALIFORNIA, AND THE AUTHOR OF THE BEST-SELLER “THE PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH”. HE WRITES ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHY OF HIS EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL NON-DENOMINATIONAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH. HE SAYS, “WE NEVER ENCOURAGE PEOPLE WHO BELONG TO OTHER CHURCHES TO TRANSFER THEIR MEMBERSHIP TO OURS. SADDLEBACK HAS AS ITS PRIMARY PURPOSE BRINGING PEOPLE TO CHRIST WHO ARE UNCHURCHED. IF SOMEONE WANTS TO TRANSFER MEMBERSHIP TO OUR CHURCH, YOU ARE WELCOME ONLY IF YOU ARE WILLING TO MINISTER AND SERVE. IF ALL YOU INTEND TO DO IS ATTEND SERVICES, WE WOULD RATHER SAVE YOUR SEAT FOR SOMEONE WHO IS AN UNBELIEVER. THERE ARE PLENTY OF GOOD BIBLE TEACHING CHURCHES AROUND HERE WE COULD RECOMMEND TO YOU.” PASTOR WARREN HAS BUILT AN EXTREMELY DYNAMIC, RAPIDLY GROWING ORGANIZATION PRECISELY BECAUSE HE AND HIS CONGREGATION ARE FOCUSED LIKE A LASER ON THIS IDEA, THIS PURPOSE, OF BRINGING THE GOSPEL TO PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T HEARD IT.
EARLY IN JESUS' PUBLIC CAREER, WHEN THIS GOSPEL EPISODE TAKES PLACE, HE KNEW THAT IF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WERE TO BE REALIZED, HIS MESSAGE HAD TO BE HEARD BY AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE, AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. AND HE SENT OUT HIS DISCIPLES, WHO HAD ONLY BEEN WITH HIM FOR A SHORT TIME, TO SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS. AS THEY WERE GROWING IN THE NEW FAITH, THEY HAD TO RECRUIT OTHERS; THERE WAS NOT A TIME TO LISTEN AND LEARN AND ANOTHER TIME TO GO FORTH AND TEACH; BOTH HAD TO BE DONE AT THE SAME TIME.
WHAT EXCUSES TO WE HAVE FOR NOT EVANGELIZING? I'M JUST A HOUSEWIFE. I DON'T KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT MY FAITH. WHO WOULD LISTEN TO A PLUMBER, A MECHANIC, AN INSURANCE AGENT, OR YOU FILL IN THE BLANK. I DON'T REALLY KNOW IF I BELIEVE THAT STRONGLY. THESE ARE ALL EXCUSES, BUT THERE ARE TWO THAT WE PROBABLY REALLY MEAN IN OUR HEARTS – I AM AFRAID; AND I AM NOT PREPARED.
DURING THE FRONTIER DAYS IN THIS COUNTRY, AS IMMIGRANTS SPREAD OUT THROUGH THIS LAND, THERE WERE TWO DENOMINATIONS WHICH SET OUT TO BRING ORDER TO THE WILD WEST. ONE WAS THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WHICH HAD CEDED NEW ENGLAND AND INDEED MUCH OF THE EAST TO THE CONGREGATIONALISTS, WHO HAD GROWN OUT OF THE SAME MOVEMENT IN EUROPE. THE OTHER WAS A SMALL OFFSHOOT OF THE EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH, WHICH HAD DRAWN ITS MEMBERSHIP FROM THE LOWER CLASSES IN THE BIG CITIES IN ENGLAND. THE PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARIES WERE SEMINARY GRADUATES, LEARNED IN THEOLOGY AND BIBLICAL STUDIES, AND NEEDED RAILROADS AND STAGE COACHES, BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT SEE HOW THEY COULD BE MISSIONARIES WITHOUT THEIR BOOKS, ESPECIALLY THE HUGE THEOLOGICAL TREATISE BY THEIR FOUNDER, JOHN CALVIN. THE METHODIST MISSIONARIES, ON THE OTHER HAND, WERE POORLY EDUCATED, BUT NEEDED ONLY A BIBLE AND A HORSE. GUESS WHICH DENOMINATION GOT THERE FIRST AND ESTABLISHED THE MOST CHURCHES?
DURING JESUS' TIME, THERE WERE OTHER WANDERING MISSIONARIES FOR VARIOUS RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. YOU COULD SPOT THEM ON THE ROAD BECAUSE THEY CARRIED BAGS FULL OF THEIR POSSESSIONS; THEY TOOK PRIDE IN HAVING EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED SO THAT THEY COULD BE COMPLETELY SELF-SUFFICIENT. JESUS, IN CONTRAST, DEMANDS THAT HIS DISCIPLES BRING NOTHING WITH THEM, AND ACCEPT THE CHARITY OF STRANGERS. IN THIS WAY THEY ARE COMPLETELY DEPENDENT, AND IT IS ONLY WHEN THEY ARE COMPLETELY DEPENDENT THAT GOD WORKS THROUGH THEM, THAT MIRACLES OF HEALING HAPPEN, THAT DEMONS ARE DRIVEN OUT, THAT THEIR HILLBILLY ACCENTS AND ILLITERATE SPEECHES WIN CONVERTS.
JESUS TELLS THEM THAT IF PEOPLE DON'T LISTEN, THEY SHOULDN'T INVEST ANY MORE TIME IN THAT LOCALITY; THOSE PEOPLE HAVE HAD THEIR CHANCE, AND IT WOULD BE TIME TO MOVE ON.
JESUS TELLS THEM THEY MUST GO IN PAIRS, AND THE REASON FOR THAT IS CLEAR; THE TWO WILL REMEMBER BETTER THAN ONE WHAT JESUS TAUGHT; EACH WILL BE A REMINDER TO THE OTHER THAT THEY ARE MESSENGERS, AND NOT THE MESSAGE; AND MOST IMPORTANT, THERE HAD TO BE TWO, BECAUSE JESUS SAID THAT WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER HE WOULD BE THERE ALSO.
THE DISCIPLES WERE FISHERMEN, TAX COLLECTORS, ROUGH AND ILLITERATE PEOPLE. THE PEOPLE WHO SPREAD CHRISTIANITY THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND INDEED, THE KNOWN WORLD IN THOSE FIRST TWO CENTURIES WERE MOSTLY FROM THE LOWEST CLASSES, FROM THOSE WHO LIVED ON THE FRINGES OF SOCIETY. AS THE MOVEMENT GREW, THEY WERE PERSECUTED. YES, SOME WERE THROWN TO LIONS, CRUCIFIED, DECAPITATED, BEATEN TO DEATH; BUT MANY, MANY MORE WERE KICKED OUT OF THEIR SYNAGOGUES, DENIED GOOD JOBS, ENSLAVED, AND SHUNNED BY THE GOOD PEOPLE OF THAT TIME. AND FAMILIES WERE BROKEN UP AS WELL WHEN A MEMBER BECAME A CHRISTIAN. IN THOSE DAYS, THE COST OF BEING A CHRISTIAN WAS VERY HIGH; AND DESPITE THAT, THE MOVEMENT GREW LIKE WILDFIRE.
WHAT DOES THIS GOSPEL MEAN TO US TODAY? THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM IS STILL URGENT; THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ON EARTH HAVE NOT YET HEARD THE MESSAGE OF JESUS, AND MANY OF THOSE WHO HAVE HEARD IT HAVE REJECTED IT. THOSE OF US WHO HAVE HEARD AND BELIEVED HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PREACH THE GOSPEL; AND WE HAVE TO REALIZE, LIKE THOSE FIRST DISCIPLES, THAT WE HAVE NO EXCUSE; AND LIKE THOSE FIRST DISCIPLES, WE WILL BE SUCCESSFUL TO THE EXTENT THAT WE THROW OURSELVES ON GOD, THAT WE ALLOW GOD TO WORK THROUGH US, AND TO DO THAT, WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE HOW DEPENDENT WE ARE ON GOD.
IT IS AN AMAZING THING, ISN'T IT, THAT ALMIGHTY GOD, WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHO CAN DO ANYTHING HE WILLS, HAS CHOSEN YOU AND I TO BRING THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. AND ITS A SCARY THING TO REALIZE THAT IF WE DON'T DO IT, WHO WILL?