Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
II Kings 5:1-14; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20; Galatians 6:1-16
It is the question you are not supposed to ask in polite society, yet every child blurts it out. Sitting at table, usually in a stranger's home, an item is served and the child looks at it, wrinkles their nose and declares more than asks, "What is that?" The smiling parent usually replies quickly, "Something very special that I think you will like if you try it." To be honest, though, every parent knows that even before the words are out of their mouth they are quite certain that there is no way the child, having once asked the question, will ever try the food item before them. And even more likely, is the probability that once the item is named, the child will declare that they have never liked and never will like said food item. I was well into my teenage years before I ate a lettuce salad because my father did not eat lettuce. We had lots of cottage cheese and fruit or Jell-o and fruit at our house, but never a green salad.
I am married to a very good cook who enjoys the rich variety of foods and tastes that make up our daily culinary experience. I suspect that my life today consists of more food items that I never had as a child then items that I did have. Part of the explanation, of course, is that more varieties of food are available to us today than were ever available 40 or 50 years ago. The harvest season for Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, asparagus and broccoli was too short and the market too limited for such items to ever make it to the grocery stores of rural farm communities in southern Minnesota. If you or your neighbor didn't grow it, you probably didn't taste it. So I have my list of food items I never tasted until I was an adult. It is a list that I thought would have a certain finite quality, but the truth is I continue to find it to be ever expanding. We are fortunate to live in a community where the global food market comes to our local stores. I still may ask the question, "What is this?" at table but that is usually because I have already tasted the item and am attempting to determine where I will file it in my gastronomic library. The best, of course, is when the question is followed by the acclamation, "We will need to remember this recipe."
One of the peculiar characteristics of our American culture, not found in most parts of the world, is the possibility of learning to appreciate the varieties of food. Most of us take a certain pride in the developing palate of our children. To be sure, we are still occasionally asked by one of our sons when we are out to eat, "Do I like this?" as they point to some item on the menu. But in most cases they know what they like and their tastes have grown to embrace the rich variety of the world. This has not always been the best news. It was not the most happy day for my wallet when my sons decided that they liked crab legs better then burgers or chicken. Yet, being willing to try something new, to eat what is placed in front of you even if only to be polite, is one of the marks of maturity. It is also Biblical. In our Gospel lesson for today, not once, but twice, Jesus admonishes the disciples he is sending out to "eat what is set before you."
I am happy to say my parents, and especially my grandmother, never noticed this Bible passage.
Otherwise I am sure I would have heard it repeated every time some unattractive vegetable or new recipe was placed before me as a child. "Eat what is set before you." Most of us do not pay much attention to such instructions as we hear them read in our lesson for today. They are simply too common. In the scope of our reading, these instructions are almost lost, but I would suggest they are actually the center of our lesson. Last Sunday our scripture was the verses immediately before our passage for today. It described how Jesus was rejected by some of the local communities and then, when he attempted to invite various individuals to follow him, Jesus was given a number of excuses, some of which sounded fairly reasonable to me. Our text for today continues the story describing how Jesus appointed seventy to go ahead of him in pairs to various towns and places. Jesus creates a certain urgency for their mission by comparing it to the harvest time when laborers must enter the fields in a timely manner or all will be lost. He stresses that the task will not be easy as they are sent into a hostile world, "like lambs into the midst of wolves" is his analogy. And then to hasten them on their way, he directs that they take no supplies or get distracted by those they meet, but focus on the task of entering the communities to which they go as bearers of peace, open to manifesting the kingdom of God.
One of the greatest challenges in our world today is learning to enter the global community as Jesus would have us journey through life. These directions to the seventy have been embraced over the centuries by many a devout follower of Christ as instructions for a simple life, a guide to creating a monastic order or a disciplined spiritual life. As we hear his instructions, it is easy to be distracted by things or in this case by the things we are not to bring along. It is tempting to get caught up in the "carry no purse, no bag, no sandals" language and see such words as a condemnation of our materialistic life styles. But the real heart of Jesus' instruction was his directive to "eat what is set before you." What was most important for those who were sent forth in Christ's name was not what they brought with them but what they found when they got to where they were going.
Some of you may remember that last year about this time, Chris and I were visiting our Peace Corp Volunteer son in Togo, West Africa. We lived for more than a week in the community of Tchebébé where Tim serves with no electricity or running water which means no refrigeration, and a water supplies prone to parasites and amoebas. Every home we visited, and we visited a lot of the local homes, insisted on serving us something to drink and eat. While there were a few risks, we had decided that we would follow Tim's example of living among the people, and that meant accepting their hospitality and eating what was placed before us. Each home we visited, whether it was a tribal chief or local peasant, was honored that Tim would bring his parents all the way from America to visit them. It became quickly apparent that those we visited felt that the least they could do was offer us a calabash of tchok and a serving of pâtes with red sauce or a plate of foufou. On numerous occasions we were also blessed with a small container, about the size of a fruit cup, filled with meat for the three of us to share. Meat, like pork with the skin and hair still on it, sun dried fish like that we had seen laid out along the road, or boiled chicken consisting of mostly the bones we were to suck clean. What is hard to describe is the gracious enthusiasm and smiles that was served to us with the food offering. We struggled at times to eat, as we knew that the half dozen or more children peaking at us around the corner of the building or sitting patiently in the cooking hut were waiting for a sign that we had eaten our fill and they would now be served what ever was left over, including any food that we left on our plates. These were children who would truly eat whatever was placed before them. At most, if not all of our meals, I know that we ate better than anyone else in the family that day. Such hospitality and generosity must have been what Jesus expected the 70 to find as they went forth into the world.
Surprised by the generosity of people opening their homes and themselves to the stranger, we listened to their stories translated for us by our son. We wondered at their hopes and their joy at hearing us speak of a world beyond them. Again and again they asked that we tell others about them. About their gentle, friendly, happy warmth without benefit of all the things that we have. About their hopes and dreams for their children in a country with a life expectancy of 48 years.
Jesus sent the 70 out with nothing but their word of peace and the power of his presence. Jesus said, enter each place in peace and sit open to what the people of that place have to offer. "Eat what is set before you." Be nourished by the people and then offer them your gifts given to you by God. Discover in each place how God draws close to these people. Receive their blessing and give them yours. And if you enter a place that does not welcome you, shake the dust from your feet and move on.
I am not sure if the problems we have in the world these days are that we are unwilling to eat what is being set before us or if we are just too quick to shake the dust from our feet and move on. We have learned about philanthropy, the giving of wealth to help others, but I am not sure we understand discipleship, the giving of self to serve others. We have learned about charity, giving to help the poor, but I am not so sure we understand striving to achieve justice for the poor. We need to consider carefully what has been placed before us and what power Jesus would send with us into the world. Last fall, as part of our Sunday adult forums we looked at the 8 Millennium Development Goals that have been affirmed by our President, Congress and our national church body to be achieved by the year 2015.
They are 8 very simple points.
• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
• Achieve universal primary education.
• Promote gender equality and empower women.
• Reduce child mortality.
• Improve maternal health.
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
• Ensure environmental sustainability.
• Develop a global partnership for development.
Eight points to change the world. And we're talking about a big change.
In Togo, West Africa, half the people live on less than a dollar a day. They are part of the more than one billion people world wide with incomes of $1 a day. In our world, right now, one child every three seconds, --30,000 children a day, 11 million children a year-- dies of preventable diseases. Right now somewhere in the world one woman dies every minute while giving birth. Right now, 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation that would allow them to stay healthy.
It's what Bono, U2's lead singer, calls "stupid poverty," because it could be eliminated if just seven-tenths of one percent more of the wealth of the richest nations went toward sensible development in the poorest nations. Stupid poverty. It's stupid because we let all of this heartbreak happen when it wouldn't happen if we put our hearts and our heads together. All we have to do is see clearly what is being set before us. If we could conquer our anxiety of the unknown, our fears of the alien. If we could but open our mouths and taste the goodness God would have us to know. The 70 returned bewildered by the miracles they had wrought. The power they had found that they had. The power that we have been given.
It has been estimated that it would take 19 billion dollars a year between now and 2015 to eliminate starvation and malnutrition from this world. It has been estimated that it would take 12 billion dollars between now and the year 2015 to give every child in this world an education through elementary school. It has been estimated that it would take 15 billion dollars from now through the year 2015 to provide access to clean water and sanitation for everyone in this world.
19 + 12 + 15. That's 46 billion dollars a year for the next 8 years. That sounds like a lot until you divide it out by 300 million Americans and find that it is less than $3.25 a week. True. One third of those 300 million Americans are children and seniors so that means that some of us would need to consider as much as $10 a week, about $500 a year to end hunger, ignorance and disease in the world by 2015.
God is serving up something very special for us. We are more than 70, consider the miracles, the wonders we have been invited to perform. The kingdom of God is drawing near. In a few moments we will be invited to taste and see once more the miracle of God's grace. We have been blessed to be a blessing. Maybe it is as simple as eating what is set before us.
Amen