Ep. 21: Seventy Apostles of Christ on the Wall or Proper 9C / Ordinary 14C / Pentecost +7

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For Sunday, July 7th
Episode 21 - Proper 9C / Ordinary 14C / Pentecost +7
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JQgGQUqGR4?wmode=opaque]

SHOW NOTES -  7/7/2013

Intro Music: Rain the Valley by the Steel Wheels (these guys are AMAZING- check out more of their music here)

Episode 21 - Proper 9C / Ordinary 14C / Pentecost +7
Luke 10:1-20
2 Kings 5:1-15

Check-in

  • Episode 21- does this mean we can have a beer during the show?
  • Robb’s amazing day- race, White Sox tix
  • Independence Day this week
  • Theme of the week- Evangelism!

Primary Scripture -– Luke 10:1-20 - Jesus send out the 70

  • Lectionary note: Sanitizes the scripture - Don’t do it
  • Seventy (or 72)
    • Even Jesus and the disciples needed help - DON’T BE A LONE RANGER
  • See Genesis 6-10
    • Gen 6: Sent out in pairs (like the remnant of animals to be saved)
    • Gen. 10: Seventy implies all the nations of the world
    • Gen. 9: Go forth and multiply, God’s command and covenant of peace
  • “Eat what is set before you” - challenges the cleanliness codes
    • precursor to Acts 10
  • Mission of 70 parallels Luke 4:18, Jesus’s first sermon and “mission statement”
    • Luke 4:18 - “The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
    • Luke 10:8b - “Cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
  • Wrath for those that do not welcome the disciples is a matter of proper hospitality.  Punishment for inhospitable cities is same as punishment for Sodom, an inhospitable city.
  • The Return of the 70
    • “I saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.”  Not a description of the past, or foretelling the future.  Satan is defeated because the Kingdom of God is at hand.  
      • John Wesley’s note “That is, when the seventy went forth, I saw the kingdom of Satan, which was highly exalted, swiftly and suddenly cast down.”
    • Do not rejoice because of the cool things you did.  Rejoice because of the Kingdom.  
      • “Triumphalism is an inappropriate spirit among disciples.  Our chief joy should be, not that we have certain gifts and powers, but that God has received and accepted us, that our names are ‘written in heaven’” (Fred Craddock in Interpretation)
  • Sermon Thoughts (with Special TY to David Lose, Lose from Feasting on the Word – Year C, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16)):
    • Evangelism - what is it to share the good news?
      • Harvest is great - this is good news to a declining church - the harvest has not changed, but perhaps we need to go out (be more apostolic) and leave our comfortable buildings behind
      • Hostile - Evangelism, sharing the good news was never meant to be easy or save, but would most likely cost you your life...like a sheep amidst the wolves
      • Great work - the work of the small group is much greater than perceived - even the little they did will lead to the fall of evil (and presumably the coming of the Kingdom of God) - God does great things through us
        • like a small seed becoming a Great Oak
        • or a small pebble creating a ripple throughout the ocean
      • Authority - is not something to relish or rejoice in, but being faithful is

Secondary scripture -2 Kings 5:1-15 - Elisha cures Naaman

  • cf. Luke 4:27 - Naaman is referred to by Jesus in defense of his inaugural sermon
  • INCLUDE VERSE 15
  • v. 7 - “Am I God, to give death or life...?”
    • war vs healthcare
    • Do we take upon the same responsibility in the same of security and power as we do for binding up the wounded and caring for the widow and the orphan
  • Slave Girl
    • a non-person (no name or title) simply the servant of the wife of a servant..
    • She is the bearer of good news!
    • Mutuality of mission, we do not simply bring people the good news from the a place of power but need to hear it as well
    • What could she have to offer?
      • Salvation
    • Slave girl has faith where the King of Israel or even Naaman does not...
  • Revelation
    • Slave girl offers salvation, but does not require conversion
    • She does not abandon or neutralize her faith and culture in order to deliver the good news, but offers them from her faith and culture
    • Interfaith relations/dialogue
      • Importance of speaking authentically from one’s faith
      • Sharing the good news of one’s special revelation, does not mean ignoring another’s special revelation or overcoming general revelation
        • special revelation - revelation of God in a specific culture of context (e.g. Christianity, Islam, etc)
        • General revelation - revelation of God in the natural world and order of life (e.g. God in nature, in general human community, see Psalm 19 or Romans 1:20)
  • Courage and healing
    • Girl has the courage to share her knowledge about Elisha
    • Naaman has the courage to go to Israel
    • Courage of Israel to accept Naaman- enemy of Israel
  • The work of God
    • incarnate in the river Jordan, in Elisha and in the servant girl
    • Not aloof or transcendent but incarnate
    • Not to convert Naaman, but to show the goodness and glory of God.
  • Sermon thoughts:
    • How might we reclaim evangelism as a way of showing God’s goodness and not about getting more members?
    • Are we willing to accept the strangeness of the Gospel in order to be healed?
      • Are we too proud or arrogant to accept healing?
      • Are we too skeptical of God’s messengers?

Closing : "Show Me " from My Fair Lady
TY: listeners, Opening music, Dick Dale and the Deltones, “Misirlou”
TY: Closing music,Paul and Storm, “Oh No”
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All, Elisha, Evangelism, Luke, PodcastEric FistlerComment