Hit the Road

Imagine being a follower of Jesus. In person. Not one of the chosen twelve, but one of the many others who heard his teaching and witnessed his ministry and became part of The Way with Jesus. There were lots of those. Sometimes “his followers” can mean a crowd, or a few or even just the twelve.

So, you’re enough a part of the movement that when Jesus picks a small group, seventy people (or seventy-two, depending on which manuscript is your source), to go ahead and bring the good news, healing for the sick and God’s peace to the villages he’s coming to, he picks you. You’re chosen. Then you and a partner are sent off to do that without any food or supplies. Not even so much as a business card or a pamphlet. And no food or travel supplies. Basically nothing. 

That’s the story the Gospel of Luke tells (Luke 10:1-20) as Jesus turns from his ministry in Galilee and begins the journey to Jerusalem. It’s time to get down to business training disciples and here’s where we start: go and do.

The only social media in those days is literally social: it has to be in person. There’s no live-streaming Jesus’ message, no texting to schedule a meeting and no tour bus. Jesus can’t just phone it in, nor is he able to be in more than one place at a time. It’s up to you and your partner - a partner that you likely just met. And you’re not supposed to take anything with you, Jesus says, because you’ll rely on the hospitality of strangers. Assuming, of course, that they want to hear what you have to share. Oh, and it gets even better because Jesus says “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” Bon voyage.

That sounds like a lot of work and not a lot of fun. Is Jesus just not very good at sales or could it really be all that bad? 

Well yes, it probably could. It almost sounds like one of those reality tv shows like Survivor or, worse, Naked and Afraid. “Alone and unprepared, facing the wilderness with nothing but your wits. How will you survive?” Except this isn’t a story of survival and hardship in which you have nothing but your wits. It’s a story of life and grace and generosity, and you have everything you’ll need for that.

Just because Luke says that Jesus told them not to take any luggage or supplies doesn’t mean they went with nothing. They took the only thing they really needed: Jesus. The spirit of love and grace that was alive in Jesus went with them. The good news, the message of hope and wholeness, and the power of what the spirit can do. The same spirit that Jesus took into the wilderness, the spirit that empowered his ministry, went with them into the world.

Those seventy, Luke tells us, returned to Jesus “with joy” (Luke 10:17).  I doubt that everyone they met welcomed them with open arms, but when they were done, they had shared a mission, built some relationships and did good. In a very practical way, they built community by being both disciples and apostles: learners and teachers, listeners and messengers, followers and leaders in action.

Jesus calls us to be both disciples and apostles throughout our lives. Each of us living, breathing, sharing the spirit is what builds relationships, creates community and brings love to the world. It starts with just a few.