The Word of Luke 10
By Jerry Wolfe

Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site.

“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.”

I didn’t set out to memorize this passage that we have been immersed in for the last 10 months or so. Here at Federal Way Church of Christ it has just kind of gotten under our skin. And different words and phrases of the passage keep popping up in our conversations. Words and phrases that we don’t necessarily know what to make of, but we sense there is a power in them that offers us hope in this call to be the Church.

The text of Luke 10 has created a new world for us. I guess that shouldn’t be surprising. God spoke into the void and created most of the things in the world with the words “let there be.” It seems that Luke creates in the same way. Luke has spoken its word into the void of our lives, of what we have understood as church, into the void of Christendom and has created a new world for us to explore.

And it has been exciting to consider that new world, to look over into the Promised Land as it were. But we’ve found that the real challenge is living and acting in ways that moves Luke 10 from being the mystical land of Far Far Away, the world of Shrek, and Donkey, and Fiona, a world of make believe, and brings it into the land of Here and Now, of everyday life where we actually make our homes, and work at our jobs, and raise our families, and live with our neighbors, and worship as a church. We’ve come to realize that it is easier to read Luke 10 in church than it is to live Luke 10 on Tuesday morning.

It would probably be easier to walk away from it, to continue business as usual. But Luke 10 won’t let us go. Its images keep popping up in our minds and stirring our hearts with sobering questions. Questions like, “Are we humble enough to go in pairs, to learn from others, to partner with other churches to go where the Lord has sent us”? “Can our churches learn what it means to live as lambs among wolves…to become risk-takers for the Kingdom of God and yet at the same time be gentle and defenseless in the midst of a violent world”? “Can we find the courage to leave behind some of the purses, bags, and sandals of our faith tradition that keep us from being effective workers in the Lord’s harvest”? “In a tradition that has struggled with unity, won’t we need to find peace in our own house before we can extend peace to anyone else’s house”? “And do we have the patience to stay in one place long enough to have a ministry of presence that brings healing and wholeness”? Those questions disturb us. Sometimes they convict us. Sometimes they create anxiety among us. Sometimes they just plain frighten us.

Luke 10 has gotten under our skin. What are we supposed to do with it---or better yet, what is Luke 10 going to do with us? And that’s just the elders, ministers, and steering team.

Then the congregation asks us, “What have you gotten us into? Where are we going?” And we say things like, “we’re not sure yet.” And we borrow Patrick Keifert’s phrase, “‘We’re following the holy gust into God’s preferred future’ wherever that may lead us.”

And beyond the puzzled looks we receive, that response doesn’t seem to offer them much comfort, because what Luke 10 calls us to is not comfort, but first and foremost, to a journey of faith.

We may not yet have the answers to all of those questions. And because in our tradition we are fiercely independent, each of our congregations may have to answer them individually and in slightly different ways.

But one thing is becoming clear. The way we are sent is an imitation of the way Jesus himself was sent. Jesus went as a lamb into the midst of wolves for the sake of others. He went in faith, emptying himself, leaving behind the purse, bag, and sandals of his own desire. He risked rejection, and offered peace to those who would hear him. He sat at the table with all who might receive him and ate the food and drank the cup that was set before him. With a word or with a touch he healed the sick and he announced that in his ministry the Kingdom of God had come near. Regardless of any other questions Luke may leave us with, he is exceedingly clear on this point: If we are going to go to the towns and places where Jesus himself intends to go, then we will have to pick up the cross that Jesus carried and take it with us as we go. Our churches will have to be the very imitation of Christ. Then, and only then, like Jesus, our ministry will be a sign that the Kingdom of God has come near.

Jerry Wolfe is an elder with the Federal Way Church of Christ, Federal Way, Washington.