Experimenting

             ^“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’” (Luke  10:8-11)

 

            Jesus sent thirty-six teams of two out to the towns and villages that were on His itinerary. They were His street team or advance team. I’ve heard some explain that this was an experiment on God’s part. Could His power be extended beyond Jesus? That suggests to me that God isn’t omniscient. Instead, I come back to the title given to him by so many: Rabbi. Teacher. This is one of the titles we need to keep in mind whenever we’re dealing with God. When we are dealing with the kingdom of God, we’re dealing not just with the King, but also with the Teacher and the Father.

             If this was an experiment, it wasn’t His experiment. It was His guiding His disciples to experiment or to step out in faith. He knew what they could and would do, and what the people could and would do. They didn’t. They needed to gain some experience. What’s more, the people needed to experiment. Could these folks who came in Jesus’ name to proclaim the kingdom be trusted?

            As I read this passage, I cringe. Am I supposed to go out and preach in the streets that the kingdom of God is near? That might have worked then, because there were lots of Jews who were hoping for a kingdom of God – not necessarily the one Jesus and the disciples were offering, but some form of a kingdom of God. In America in the Twenty-first Century, kingdoms aren’t good talking points. Is that the message we’re to bring? I think it is, but perhaps not in those words.

            There are other factors here. Jesus didn’t send them alone. He sent out thirty-six teams of two. And He only sent out thirty-six teams of two. Was that everyone present? Can we be absolutely sure that all His disciples were sent to do this task? Maybe the women stayed behind because their going out would create scandal in that culture. Maybe the very young or the very old remained behind, along with whatever caregivers they needed. Only seventy-two were sent. Jesus may have given those who remained behind other tasks. But those who were sent went.

            Those who were sent had a message but also a task. They were to heal the sick. We already know that God didn’t give everyone the gift of healing. In His command that we love our neighbors as ourselves, however, we can also bring the kingdom near  or into their lives by serving/helping them in some other way. We may not think about it in this way often, but this is the purpose of our gifts, to bring God’s kingdom into the lives of another. And maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be afraid to experiment.