Pentecost 4 Year C

2 Kings 5:1-14 Psalm 30 Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16 Luke 10:1-11, (16-20)
Pentecost 4 Year C St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. July 6. 2025.

I started writing this sermon at the airport. For those of you who don’t know, I am chaplain at Edinburgh Airport. Airport chaplains work with staff and passengers, creating time and space in a busy environment for peace and spirituality. I often sit in one of the coffee shops just before the security gates doing bits of admin and writing. Staff know to find me there and it’s a place to bump into people. It’s also a great place to sit and watch people heading for a flight. There are those with well packed bags and those with things falling out of every pocket. There are people who are organised and those who wing it, pardon the pun, running for the gates or running to find someone to help because they’ve forgotten their ticket. There are the anxious and the bored frequent flyers. I sat and watched all this and pondered Jesus sending seventy people on their way with the instructions to take nothing with them, no purse, no bag, no sandals, to not greet anyone on the journey and to rely on the hospitality of strangers when they got to their destination.

I wonder which bit of Jesus’ instructions you would find the hardest to follow, not just on a journey, but as you journey through life. Perhaps you are the sort of person who finds it hard to travel through life without the reassurance of money, without the purse. Perhaps you find it hard without the bag, without having things, possessions with you. Perhaps you struggle without being having something with you for comfort and protection, like a pair of sandals. Perhaps you struggle without people to talk to and be with. Perhaps you find it hard to trust other people to be generous and friendly. It’s a list that helps us think through where we personally find safety and security in life and what makes us insecure and vulnerable and feel vulnerable or in danger.

These seventy or seventy-two disciples were already in a dangerous situation before Jesus gave them these instructions and sent them on their way. In the previous chapter Jesus had sent out twelve people with similar instructions and they had a good time, bringing the the good news and healing people everywhere. The circumstances had changed since then. Jesus had started his journey towards Jerusalem and the inevitable encounter with the authorities that would take place there. He had then sent out some messengers to a village ahead of Him, but they had been refused hospitality. The story has taken a turn towards rejection, risk and danger. Jesus recognised this in calling the seventy lambs in the midst of wolves and by sending them out in pairs.

In this dangerous situation Jesus asks His disciples to be super vulnerable. Rather than giving them tools and protection of some sort, He de-equips them, stripping them of anything that gives any human being safety and security. Imagine being in that situation and being told that you can’t have that one thing that you rely on to help you feel less vulnerable. Imagine that you are not only going to travel but also have to rely on the hospitality of complete strangers when you arrive and, on top of that being told to stay in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they put in front of you. There’s no moving on if you don’t get on with your hosts, if the bed is hard or the food nasty or if you feel really unsafe. And even if where you find to stay is OK, we all know that being on the receiving end of hospitality, even from people who know you well, is hard. To a greater or lesser extent, it’s about checking yourself, constraining or restraining yourself so that you fit in which what is expected of you. It challenges our ego, our character, our identity, how far we will go for others and in that it is also about vulnerability.

Luke doesn’t tell us how these seventy disciples coped with being so vulnerable. He does tell us later on that they returned to Jesus with joy, pleased that they had managed to proclaim the message of Jesus in powerful ways. And Jesus counsels them that the point isn’t that they have power but that they loved by God are part of what God is doing – “rejoice” He says “that your names are written in heaven”.

I want to suggest that we are very easily distracted by this storyline of vulnerability and power. What it means to be vulnerable, at risk, unsafe, helpless is one of the big issues of our times both in terms of international relationships and in terms of individual psychology. It’s something we are programmed to look out for and notice. But notice this instead – look at how Jesus tells these disciples to be whenever they meet people. “Whatever house you enter, first say peace to this house!” Peace is the opening word, the first word, the announcement, the message in relationships. And notice that Jesus tells His disciples to do this before they know how vulnerable they are in the situation and how they internally feel about that. He doesn’t ask them to do a pre-assessment before they proclaim peace or pre-judge what their hosts are like. He doesn’t find a way to reassure them that however risky the situation they are in, they can have an internal feeling of peace and can therefore be a non-anxious presence. He simply asks them to proclaim peace wherever they are and whoever they are with.

For Luke, peace is all tied up with God’s story of salvation. It’s there at the start of the story of Jesus in the angels greeting when He is born and it’s there at the end in the greeting used by the resurrected Jesus to His disciples. For Luke, people who are full of peace, or who are peaceable are people who have brought into this story, people who are inclined towards or characterised by an openness to the salvation, the restoration, the wholeness that God brings. So, in some versions of the Bible the description “anyone who shares in peace” is translated as “a child of peace” – someone with nature or a character of peace. And if the people you greet with peace aren’t people of peace themselves, no matter, Jesus says to His disciples, your peace will simply come back to you. It’s so not a feeling or an emotion that is diminished by rejection.

So, this is what it’s all about; it’s about being part of God’s story of salvation, being people who are naturally disposed towards restoration and wholeness in every situation. Those daily decisions big and small and those that sometimes we don’t even know we are making, about how to behave and what to do at work or at home. How we are with work mates or family or friends. Those moments when we can choose to take a deep breath and show understanding and find a workable compromise. Those moments when we can choose not to get involved and stoke a fire of rumour or animosity. Those moments when we can simply love and then love some more. And it’s in those decisions about how we spend our time and our money and our other resources. What we do with our talents and our gifts. And if we have stuff to give how much we use it to raise up those on the edges of society, those in our communities and around the world who are poor and in need. And, yes, what we do at those times in our lives when for whatever reasons we are incredibly vulnerable and anxious and the impulse to dominate at whatever cost and get power and control is very strong. In everything, it’s about being intentional, being characterised, by doing what we can to bring about restoration and wholeness in the world around us.

The declaration of peace to this house, in words and actions, that’s how the Kin-dom of God comes so near and how names are written in heaven. Peace be with you.