You Are the Equipment!

Ann Beaty
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

July 5, 2009

Text: Mark 6:1-13

Today, I want to consider mostly the second part of the scripture read a few moments ago from Mark’s gospel.  This is the part of the story where Jesus sends the disciples out two by two with authority to do ministry in his name.  But, before we get there, I think it is important that we understand the context of what has come before and led Jesus and the disciples to this moment in the story.

Jesus has been traveling around with his disciples involved in acts of ministry.  Just last week in the scripture read in church from Mark’s gospel, we witnessed Jesus raise a young girl from the dead and heal a woman who had suffered with a hemorrage for 12 years.   There have been stories of preaching, teaching, healing, and miracles.  The disciples have been traveling around with him witnessing and assisting in these events. 

Now, they have arrived in Nazareth, Jesus’ home town and he has given a lecture on the Sabbath, in the synagogue. 

Apparently, this “hometown crowd” is at least at first impressed with his ability.  They really sense his power and authority and I suspect on one level know they are in the presence of something truly authentic and sacred living in him.  But, rather than come to him for more preaching and healing as has happened in other places, they begin to question him:  “What is this wisdom that has been given to him?  Where does he get this ability and the power to perform this way?”

You see, they know Jesus in a way that is different than the people in the other villages.  They know Jesus the human being– the one they knew growing up as an ordinary kid, the son of a carpenter and Mary’s boy.  They sense that something has taken shape in him and taken hold of his life – something powerful, but they don’t know what to do with this “new” Jesus.  So, they do what many of us do when we are confused and threatened by an authority we cannot name, they take offense.

Jesus is amazed at their unbelief, but he understands.  As Eugene Peterson says in “The Message”…a Bible translation written in contemporary, conversational language, Jesus says something like this: “A prophet has little honor in his home town, among his relatives, on the streets he played as a child.”  So, in Nazareth, Jesus healed a few people, but realized he wasn’t going to be able to do much else there.  So he left and made a circuit visiting other villages.

It is then that we come to the second part of this story.  Jesus calls the disciples to him and sends them out in pairs.  He sends them out “with authority” over unclean spirits.  In other words, he sends them out to minister to others and to deal with any kind of evil opposition to his ministry. 

Now, why did Jesus pick THIS time to send them out?  Maybe after his Nazareth experience, Jesus realized that he wasn’t going to be welcomed everywhere and that it was time to multiply the ministry.  Maybe he knew the disciples were ready for this next step in their journey.  They had been traveling with him, witnessing and learning, and now it was time for them to go out on their own.  Surely he knew he wouldn’t be with them always and there was a sense of urgency to begin to spread the ministry further so that it would expand and continue.  But, for whatever reasons – at this point in Mark’s gospel, he sends them out.  And the instructions he gives them are intriguing!

 “He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.  Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.  If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

I can only imagine what they must have been thinking and the questions they must have asked:  To be honest, I can imagine they might have stood there in silence thinking…what?!  Jesus, are you sure we’re ready for this?  You’ve got to be kidding…we’re going out to do WHAT and you won’t be there?  Maybe they were already stewing over their “packing list” of what needed to go with them and this would have totally disarmed that.  No money bag, no extra clothes, no sandals – only a walking stick?! 

OR…maybe they recognized that after being in relationship with Jesus for all this time and witnessing his ministry and learning from his teachings, they DID already have what was necessary for this journey.

I love the way Eugene Peterson continues to translate this scripture in “The Message”.  Where Mark writes that Jesus ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, Peterson says:  ‘Don’t think you need a lot of extra equipment for this.  YOU are the equipment.”

It reminds me of my experience on a mission trip I attended with the annual conference a few summers ago to Russia.  The main purpose of the trip was to participate with a team of clergy in leading a 3 day training seminar for Russian United Methodist pastors.  There were 5 of us on the team and there would be about 25 Russian pastors in attendance.  Our own Cindy Stone was coordinating the efforts.

To be honest, I didn’t really think about it this way at the time, but looking back at it now, I can see that just as the disciples were being sent out on a mission, we were being sent out on a mission.  I felt excited and a little self-important that I would be training pastors in Russia, and yet I also felt humbled and small, and overwhelmed and a little frightened at the many unknowns of this mission.  I’m guessing the disciples experienced a similar range of feelings at their being called out on a mission in Jesus’ name.

Our Russia team spent many weeks in preparation for our seminar prayerfully discussing what we might do with our three days with the Russian pastors.  We met many times and had hours of conversation about it, but we struggled to find clarity about the specifics of what we would bring to them and teach about life in the church.

One of the other pastors in our group, Ed Silliman, started calling it an “emergent” workshop – meaning the exact details of our seminar presentations would “emerge” when we arrived in Russia and met the pastors and heard their questions and concerns in person. 

The idea of an “emergent workshop” halfway around the world far away from my computer and books and all else familiar and known was not hitting my comfort zone!  I like to know…everything!  I like to know exactly what I am facing, exactly what I will find when I get there, exactly what is expected of me, and exactly what I need to prepare to lead. 

When being called to lead in this way, I like to be surrounded by those safety resources that I can go to so I will at least appear that I am the expert and do know what I’m doing and talking about! You see, it’s hard for me to trust that I AM the equipment that is needed apart from all my stuff.

Needless to say, it wasn’t practical to take my entire library of theological resources in a suitcase that I would cart around Russia for 2 weeks – especially when we reached Vologda where we would be staying with families in small apartments and visiting orphanages and children’s camps.   But, as the trip got closer, as my anxiety grew, I kept putting more and more “things” on the bed in my house where I was stockpiling my packing supplies.

At some point prior to our departure, it became clear to me that as much as I hated to admit it, Ed was right.  This was going to be an “emergent” workshop.  For whatever reasons, it was not to be exactly clear to us what would happen when we arrived and what would be needed in the training.

To be sure, we were responsible for doing our preparation for the workshop.  But, there was a point when we needed to let go and trust that with God’s power working in us and in relationship with Jesus who sends disciples out on missions, we already had what we would need to lead the seminar.   That was the part that was hard for me and I suspect at least some of you can identify with me.

I took a deep breath and acknowledged that we would just have to trust that we had indeed been “sent out” for a reason and in God’s abundant power and in trusting that Jesus ministry already lived inside of us, the seminar would emerge into the experience it needed to be for the Russian pastors – and for us.  We needed to trust, as Eugene Peterson says about the disciples in Mark’s text, that WE WERE THE EQUIPMENT!

So, I did my preparation, but as the trip came closer, I took more and more out of that pile of books for my suitcase and mostly focused on letting go of worrying that I wouldn’t be enough.  I tried to remain centered in the knowledge in my head at least that there was a reason I had been called to this.   I continually reminded myself that I wasn’t ultimately in charge of anything.  I was in charge only offering myself as a servant of Christ.  I would take the love in my heart and the preparation I did do and let God do the rest. 

The seminar was fine.  I had moments when I knew my knowledge had contributed to the efforts of the group and moments when I didn’t have a clue what to say or do.  But, it didn’t matter because, you see I wasn’t alone.  We had it even better than going out “two by two”.  There were 5 of us and our strengths and our shortcomings complimented each other and made up a whole experience.

It was very humbling and inspiring to be in the presence of our Russian pastor colleagues who are so committed to their “young faith” – it is so new to them - and to building the United Methodist Church in Russia.  In many ways we couldn’t be more different in terms of culture, language, and development of church and community. 

But, in many ways, as followers of Christ on a journey of faith, it become readily clear that we aren’t any different at all and in that mysterious power of God’s grace, we were connected by something greater than ourselves.  The more we opened ourselves up to them, the more we shared from our heart our experience as followers who’ve been in the institutional church a little longer than they have, the more we experienced our common mission of furthering the message of Jesus’ preaching, teaching, and healing to the world.

I do believe the church was served and discipleship deepened for both the Russians and the Texans.  My own faith was definitely bolstered and I was reminded again of the joy in knowing God’s abundant grace – especially when my need for knowing everything can step aside and receive.  And I realized something else really important…  the only way to learn to trust and I AM the equipment is to be willing to go out and BE the equipment.  I can’t gain that trust and assurance by wishing for it from the comforts of my familiar surroundings.  I have to practice being the equipment.

We don’t have to go all the way to Russia to recognize that we ARE the equipment called for in being sent out on a mission as disciples.  We have opportunities all around us and right in front of us every day to step out with “joyful urgency” to spread the good news about God’s love to those we meet.  It may be something as simple as a kind word to a person in the grocery store who we never even knew was hurting.  It might mean sending an encouragement card to someone having a tough time.  It might mean teaching Sunday School, bringing refreshments for a funeral reception, serving food to the homeless or helping to build a habitat home.  It might mean working with animals or bringing beauty into the world with flowers or serving children or older people.  It might mean being on a prayer team and caring for others from the comfort of your own home.

Whatever it does mean in terms of specifics – I’m pretty sure Jesus is telling us here we already have within us and within the power of two – the power of the community – all we need to go forth in ministry in his name.

We are children of God.  We are children of God who were created with gifts and graces for a ministry of love.  We are children of God in relationship with Jesus Christ who through the disciples has given us authority to preach and teach and heal in his name.  We come together to study and pray and learn to deepen in our knowledge and our self-understanding, but in each and every day we already ARE the equipment needed for discipleship.

Peterson translates the mission this way:

“They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.”

I love that phrase “joyful urgency”.  There are so many people and places in the world – in our own backyard – in need of the love we already carry within our being.  Just as Jesus called the disciples, we too are called to be in ministry with joyful urgency to let others know that life can be radically different.

We come today to this table of Holy Communion to be fed in that mission – to take in again and again that life blood – that life force of Jesus that frees us from all that holds us back from being God’s equipment in the world.  May we come today and be nourished and strengthened for the continuing journey of discipleship.

Amen.

Resources Used:

The Message (The Bible in Contemporary Language) by Eugene H. Peterson