History is full of people who believed an idea so much that
they felt justified in utilizing force to get other people to accept it. From Tomas de Torquemada with the Spanish
Inquisition, to Vladimir Lenin’s dream of a worldwide Communist revolution, to
Osama Bin Laden’s vision of a global Islamic Caliphate. These men, and countless others, utilized
coercion, manipulation, and outright violence in order to advance their
cause. As Jesus prepares to send out his
72 followers to spread the Gospel, he tells them that their methodology will be
far different, they won’t utilize for or power at all, but rather be “like
lambs among wolves”, and they won’t have vast resources at their disposal to
accomplish the mission, rather they will rely upon the generosity of strangers.
The
Church learned the hard way that the corrupting influence of power and money
are extreme hazards to our ability to fulfill our mission. As a Church, or as an individual Christian,
our ultimate battle is not in the physical realm, we do have to account for it
by planning and prudent stewardship, but are true battle is in the spiritual
realm. If God has people filled with
love and compassion, living pious lives and dedicated to his service, he will
accomplish an amazing harvest no matter what resources they have to work
with. Conversely, if God’s people fail
in the spiritual realm through lack of prayer, immorality, or complacency, it
won’t matter how much money is spent in our ministry.
After
telling his followers what to do when they’re received with generosity, Jesus
continues by telling them what to do when they’re not even welcomed in a
community. The culturally appropriate
thing for them to do is to shake of the dust of their sandals before leaving
town to show how serious the rejection of the Son of God truly is. To illustrate this point, Jesus tells them
that the city of Sodom, destroyed by God due to its excessive wickedness, will
fare better on the Day of Judgment than a much more moral city like Capernaum that
even with all of the benefits of the Law and the Prophets and Jesus’s words and
miracles, still rejected the Messiah. To
reject Jesus, is to reject the Father as well, what else is there to say?
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