Year C

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Christ’s Freedom Fireworks

According to one legend, at the signing of the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock, one of the signers, is supposed to have said: “Gentlemen, we must be unanimous; we must all hang together.” After hearing this, Benjamin Franklin replied, “We must indeed all hang together-or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” Whether or not this story is true, it shows the possibility of great personal loss they and their families faced in committing themselves to writing and signing the Declaration of Independence. Independence Day is picnics and barbeques and the very faint memory of throwing off tyranny like the tea into the harbor. It is the day we Americans celebrate the signing of that great article that set into motion the founding of this great country of ours. A country based on freedom.

The word freedom is a small word but it is more than just a word as it is huge in its concept and meaning. It is a whole way of thinking and way of life, a thought process that is summed up in seven letters. Paul sums up the meaning of freedom for the Christian, in his letter to the Galatian, in five letters, Christ. The freedom that Paul writes about is a freedom that comes from faith in Christ. Paul asserts that apart from Christ, we cannot know true freedom. This freedom in Christ brings healing, wholeness and salvation to those who live their lives “in the Spirit.” Living “in the Spirit” means we to choose to live our lives shaped by the working of the Spirit of God and the fruits of the Spirit make our lives complete. 

Today, in this concluding chapter of Galatians, Paul sets out to offer practical advice and summarize the arguments he has made in the first five chapters of his letter; the relations between circumcision and law, Spirit and flesh, individual responsibility and love of neighbor. Having argued for the priority of God’s gift of freedom-shaped grace, he declares that we will reap whatever we sow.” Using the image of harvest, also found in our Gospel reading today, Paul seeks to drive home the point that we have the freedom in Christ to choose, Spirit or flesh, and therefore must also accept the responsibility of our choices. The bad news in this is that we get what we give and the good news is that we get what we give.

Author John Claypool calls this the law of the identical harvest. We get what we give, bad or good! We have the freedom to choose what we give and, of course, what will be returned to us. We have the freedom because of Christ to choose to sow Spirit. “The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” Paul tells us. With this in mind, Paul states one of the crucial points of this passage: “Let us not become weary in doing good-sowing to the Spirit- for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Paul uses the Greek word, Kairos, twice in this passage which refers to “God’s opportune time.” In God’s opportune time, we shall reap the harvest.

Yet, we do hear a sense of urgency in Paul’s words as he stresses the importance of this sowing to the Spirit mission. It is about life because without the harvest, people will starve and die. It’s not always easy to sow to the Spirit instead of the flesh, but we are not to give up even if it brings the cross, as it did for Jesus because for those who sow to the Spirit…peace and mercy will be upon them as they gather the harvest that God is preparing. This same sense of great urgency we hear today in Jesus’ commission to the group of seventy disciples. His commissioning of the group follows on the heels of his setting out a very interesting mission strategy in the previous chapters in Luke.

In chapter 8, he himself goes through the towns and villages, curing people and gathering huge crowds to hear his stories and see his miracles. Then in chapter 9, it is the turn of the twelve disciples, who are given instructions very similar to those in today’s reading, but without the sense of urgency. For when they return, they get to spend some alone time ‘debriefing’ with Jesus. Now it is the turn of the larger group of disciples and they are sent off with the picture of a plentiful harvest, the fields are bursting, waiting to be harvested. There is no time now to plant-to try and win people over, there is only time to gather in which calls for a large work force to reap the crops before they spoil. The harvest won’t wait and neither will the kingdom of God.

There is no time for ordinary precautions or courtesies-they must not even greet anyone when they pass on the road. Where they get a positive response right away, they may stay and preach the gospel. Where they get a negative response, they must move on immediately. Their single purpose is to prepare others to encounter Jesus; to choose life or death. The seventy come back to Jesus on a high, because of the success of their mission. They have been able to do works of extraordinary power in his name. But as important as this calling is: Jesus declares that what matters more than the earthly and spiritual successes of those who faithfully attend to our Lord’s mission, is the eternal relationship with God they enjoy through him. This relationship is freely given by grace.

As they journey to Jerusalem and see the depths to which God’s grace extends, they will be called to witness to what they have seen, confident, that regardless of the visible outcomes of their ministry, their place in God’s kingdom is secure. We, just like those first disciples, have a powerful calling as God’s messengers in announcing the kingdom of God. We are the heralds to the grace and mercy of God that is seen in Christ. One of God’s heralds of grace and mercy in Old Testament times was Elisha the prophet of which we read about today in the 2 book of Kings. Following Namaan’s healing baptism; he confessed the faith of the true God and his soul is renewed. His change of heart is so through and sincere-he is a new creation.

The new creation Paul tells us comes about through the cross of Christ. This new creation in the Spirit, calls us back to our baptismal covenant to transform lives and relationships. The laborers are few but the harvest is not burdensome slavery but freedom in Christ. It brings joy and peace to all who submit in the name of our Lord. That joy is ours as present day heralds, for we have been appointed by Christ to share the good news of the coming of the kingdom. We rejoice, not in the power of our accomplishments, but in the knowledge that our “names are written in heaven” by the one whose name is the most powerful of all. And we rejoice because we belong to the company of those who are gathered at the harvest. That’s the kind of freedom in Christ we celebrate today. There’s enough fireworks power in that kind of freedom for everyone to enjoy.