Every Sunday we hear readings from the Bible, typically two from the New Testament and one from the Old Testament, and it’s often hard to find a theme that runs through them.  The second reading typically seems to have nothing to do with anything else that’s being read, but this Sunday is rather unique in that there is a theme that is pretty apparent.  All of the readings talk about someone being sent.

In Exodus, Moses is sent by God to lay out the terms of the covenant for the Israelites.  If they keep the commandments, they will be Yaweh’s “special possession” he says, dearer than all other people.  How would you like to deliver that message?

In Romans, we get a glimpse of just how much God loves us.  Paul describes how Christ was sent to die for us and he talks about how we were “still helpless” and “ungodly”.  That’s quite a contrast.  We’re helpless, we’re ungodly and God decides to send his son to die for us.

In today’s gospel we hear about the apostles being sent to proclaim that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Now that’s a lot of sending going on!  First Moses, then Jesus and then all of his apostles.  And if we are disciples, and I believe that we are, that means that all of us are sent as well.  But sent for what?  Being sent is not some abstract concept.  When you’re sent, you’re sent for a reason: to do something, to get something, to witness something perhaps.  I believe that all of us are sent on the same mission that the disciples were sent on two thousand years ago.  Just as Jesus commanded his disciples, we are also sent to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  This is a marvelous proclamation if you think about it.  The kingdom of heaven is at hand.  In fact, that’s such a marvelous proclamation, I think we need to say it together so that we can connect with it so I’m going to ask the whole church at the count of three to say with me in a loud voice to raise the roof, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” and you have to say it as though you believe it because it IS true.  Are we ready?  One, two, three.

Congregation: The kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Now there are some believers right over there.  (chuckles)  Now, the question is, is the mission accomplished?  Does saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand make it a reality?  As I reflected on this, I recalled my first trip to Berkeley, California about twenty years ago along with the aging, gray-haired, a little bit overweight hippies selling their tie-dyed tee-shirts, I encountered a “sidewalk preacher”.  He was standing on a soapbox just outside the university gate.  He was reading from the Bible and he was reading in such a loud voice that one could not help but hear him.  I could hear the man from two blocks away and yet everyone ignored him.  Everyone just walked by the man as if he didn’t exist.  He was so familiar to the people there on the street that he was invisible and silent no matter how loud he was.

Now, in fairness, I believe that this brother was being faithful to his understanding of the mission to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  But it seems to me that in his zeal to proclaim the good news, he forgot the instruction manual that Jesus gave his disciples in today’s gospel.  Remember, Jesus told them to cure the sick, to raise the dead, to cleanse lepers and to drive out demons.  And if we disconnect the proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven is at hand from the mission of curing the sick and raising the dead, of cleansing the lepers and driving out demons, then we will become just as invisible and just as silent as the street preacher was to the people around him. 

So now I don’t want to see a show of hands, and physicians can count themselves out, have any of us here cured the sick, raised the dead, cleansed any lepers or driven out a demon or two lately?  How do we do that?  How do we do that in our ordinary lives?  Whatever our individual business or profession is, how do we go about fulfilling the mission in the midst of our ordinary lives?

On this Father’s Day weekend, I want to share with you a brief story about a friend who fulfilled this mission in my estimation with what I call quiet brilliance.

Father Jack was the pastor of my parish back in Michigan, and he was very active in the community.  He wore his Roman collar shall we say sparingly, so on first meeting many people had no idea that they were talking to a priest.  Well, in the early 1980s our community experienced what was called the “once in a hundred years” flood.  When the water finally stopped rising, I think we were 35 feet above flood stage at the river.  If you’ve seen the pictures from Iowa lately, that’s what we had.  It was a mess.  But the morning after the flood, Father Jack went to the local Red Cross office with one question for the relief workers.  What needs to be done?

Now since many knew he was a priest they thought perhaps he shouldn’t get his hands dirty so they told him that he could answer telephones and shuffle some papers I guess, and Jack wasn’t about to accept that.  And so he asked again, “Come on, what needs to be done?”  So then some genius in the crowd suggested that coffee hadn’t been put out for the staff yet and Jack bristled at that as well.  And finally a little angry he said again, “Come on, what needs to be done?”  And finally somebody actually heard him asking the question and they said, “Well, you know, we have some supplies here that need to go to the other side of town.  Can you help with that?”  He said, “Great.”  He said, “Great, let’s put them in my vehicle and let’s go.”

Jack proceeded to spend 15 hours that day ferrying people and supplies back and forth across that town.  He was seeing to the needs of the people without respect to their religious faith or their station in life.

I think we all fulfill the mission of curing and raising, of cleansing and exercising by living our lives with a God centeredness that directs not only our words, but our actions.  We need to constantly and persistently ask that question: What needs to be done?  When others stumble and fall we need to be the hand of God that picks them up and comforts them.  When we see the wrongs of our society we need to be the ones who drive out those demons by courageously seeking God’s words of compassion and direction.  When we witness the plight of the poor, the homeless, all of those who seem to have no hope, we are called to raise them back to life by sharing what we have to relieve their afflictions.  And in all of these things we need to be willing to get our hands dirty, we need to move out of our comfort zones to accomplish the mission that Jesus has sent us on.  And that goes, by the way, way beyond the fathers here today.  We are ALL responsible to be fathers to the world.  God is gender-inclusive.  We all share in the mission of making the kingdom of heaven a reality and we can do that by living our ordinary lives with an extraordinary sense of what our mission is and what we are really sent to do.  We need to be aware of what needs to be done.

Amen!

Congregation:  Amen.