"Campaigning for Christ"

A sermon preached on The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, July 8, 2007 at Edgemont Chrsitian Church (Disciples of Christ) , by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp. The sermon is based on Luke 10:1-11 and 17-21.

Perhaps there is no role or position in society that is more criticized or scrutinized than the role of a politician. And, it is in that light that we have difficulty accepting the fact that Jesus and politicians have a lot in common. As I said, that may come as a surprise to those who regard politics as dirty business and politicians as a bunch of selfish liars. In fact, Robin Williams once said; "The word ‘politics’ comes from the Latin word poli meaning ‘many’ and the word ‘tics’ meaning ‘bloodsucking creatures.’" But, nonetheless, Jesus and politicians have a lot in common. If you think about it, politicians get elected by promising us something better! In fact, some of you may recall that President Reagan was elected and then re-elected by asking the public; "Are you better off now than four years ago?" The first time, the people answered, "no," and re-elected Reagan for the promise of something better. Four years later they responded; "yes" to the question and elected Reagan for another term in hopes for an even better four years.
Now, I know, it is hard to picture Jesus as a politician - especially with the tainted image that politicians and the government have, as well as the long list of scandals in the White House and on Capitol Hill. And certainly, Jesus shares no similarities with that type of behavior. A little girl once asked her mother whether all fairy tales began with; "Once upon a time..." "No," replied the mother. "Today most of them begin with ‘If I’m elected.’"
Probably one of my favorite campaign speeches of Jesus’ is the one he delivered at the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, where he was called upon to offer the reading and he stood up and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and proclaimed;

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he 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."

What a message! What a campaign speech! And, if that wasn’t good enough, after Jesus read that prophecy from Isaiah, he said; "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Now, if I was in the crowd that day, Jesus would have won me over with that speech. He would have gotten my vote! But, keep in mind, Jesus was in his hometown and the people had a little trouble accepting, what they believed, was a little too-good-to-be-true message from one of their own.
But, no doubt, Jesus had come to proclaim a kingdom of peace. He came to usher in a covenant and an age of grace. For 900 years, the Jewish people had been hoping and waiting anxiously for a restoration of the glorious kingdom of their fathers David and Solomon. For 500 years they had been longing for an end to foreign occupation and a return to prosperity and freedom in their land and among their people.
And in Jesus’ time the longings and expectations were at an all time high. For Jewish people, the hopes of a better life were centered and focused on the promise of a coming Messiah - a new King David, if you will. This messianic age was often spoken of by the prophets as a time when God would reign supreme over his people, and freedom and prosperity and the good life would be enjoyed. It would also be a time when righteousness and justice and peace would prevail. And then Jesus appears on the scene, announcing that the kingdom of God is at hand and that he is God’s agent to usher in this kingdom. Not only is Jesus like politicians in promising a new and better way, but he is also like them in his struggle to get the word out to all the people. No doubt, politicians have a difficult task with trying to get people on the bandwagon with their agenda and message. Keep in mind, Jesus lived in a time when there was no media - no newspaper, radio or television. And so, his campaigning would have been difficult. And so, you have to do some recruiting. I mean, one person can’t do it all alone; you need people to campaign for you. And so, we see that, that is what Jesus is did in our Gospel Lesson this morning - he campaigned and part of his campaign was to send out delegates. In fact, Jesus sent out seventy delegates. What is the significance of the number seventy? Some scholars claim it is because at that time there were only 70 known nations of the world; and so the seventy symbolized sending out the message to the entire world. We read earlier in the 9th chapter of the gospel of Luke that Jesus sent out twelve delegates. Now, we can only assume Jesus had a reason for sending out a particular number. And so, most scholars agree that the twelve that Jesus sent out first would have symbolized sending out the message to the twelve tribes - to Israel. But in our Gospel Lesson this morning, Jesus sent out seventy, symbolizing the message going to the entire world - to all people - both Jew and Gentile – to the New Israel – what would be the Church.
The instructions that Jesus gave these men were very much the same as he gave to those twelve earlier in the 9th chapter of Luke. First, he sent them out in pairs. He sent them out two-by-two. Bruce Larson writes; "It seems to me there is a synergy, [that is to say, a spiritual energy] released when two are involved in the same ministry" – you see, two symbolizes a witness. The seventy we are told were to take no luggage and to go without delay. Jesus says their mission will be a dangerous one. They will be lambs among wolves. He says again, as he said to the twelve, that they are not to bless the unwilling. In other words, Jesus was saying; "Don’t waste your time on people who yawn or get angry or want to argue with you." Jesus advises us to tell the exciting news to those who are eager to hear it. They were to live simply; they were to heal the sick, which is to say, bring reconciliation and peace, restoration and wholeness; and they were to proclaim the kingdom of God - a kingdom of love and grace. And such is our calling and responsibility today as Christ's disciples!
I love the parallelisms that occur and can be seen in both the Old and New Testaments. And, I especially love the typologies of Christ that our found in the Old Testament. One such typology is that of Moses. Jesus is a kind of New Moses. Jesus, in a sense, is to the New Covenant what Moses was to the Old Covenant. We could spend many hours doing a parallelism of Moses and Jesus. For instance, Moses leading the people through the waters of the Red Sea to the Promised Land, is symbolic of Christ leading us through the waters of baptism to the Promised Land of eternity. Moses, some 13 centuries before Christ, complained to God, "I am not able to carry all these people alone, the burden is too heavy for me" (Numbers 11:14). And so God asked Moses to gather seventy men whom he knew to be good leaders and to bring them to the tent of meeting, where God manifested his presence. And we read in chapter 11 of the Book of Numbers, that God said; "I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit which is upon you and put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone" (Numbers 11:17). So God’s Spirit did come upon the seventy and Moses had people to whom he could delegate responsibility and leadership. Thirteen centuries later, Jesus used the same number – seventy. And these seventy men were his delegates who helped spread the news about the kingdom of God - a kingdom of peace and grace. Do you see the parallelism? Do you see the typology? Moses and the seventy elders were developing the Old Israel; Jesus and the seventy were developing the New Israel, what would become the church – the Body and Bride of Christ, to which Paul would affirm; "there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free; but all are one in Christ Jesus."
And God gives the same commission to us today. As he sent the seventy, so he sends us with the same authority and the same commission. When the seventy return, they are filled with joy. They couldn’t believe what happened to them. They said; "Even the demons are subjects to us through your name." They were delighted at the visible results of their mission and not only were they, but so was Jesus. In fact, in verse 21 we are told that Jesus "rejoiced" upon hearing the news. This is the only place where this particular word is used to describe Jesus’ emotion. He is beside himself with joy when he hears their report. Isn’t it mind-boggling to think that we have the power to make God rejoice by our faithful and fruitful ministry? But, the question is, are we making God rejoice? Is our ministry as individuals making God rejoice? Is our ministry as a whole here at Edgemont making God rejoice? I certainly hope so!
I want to close with a story that I came across this past week of an executive hirer, a "head-hunter," if you will, who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms. He once said; "When I find an executive that I’m trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm that person. I usually offer them a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, or whatever, until he or she is relaxed. And then, when I think I've got them relaxed, I lean over, look them square in the eye and say; "What's your purpose in life?" He went on to say, "You know, it’s amazing how top executives fall apart at that question." And then he said; "Once, I was interviewing this man, and I had him disarmed – he was relaxed, we were talking about football. And I leaned up and said, ‘Bob, what's your purpose in life?’ And he said, without blinking an eye, ‘To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.’" He said, "For the first time in my career I was speechless." What a purpose! Is that your purpose? Is that your goal in life? Well, you know friends, as followers of Jesus Christ – as his delegates, as his representatives that should be our purpose! Let’s make that our purpose! Let’s campaign for Christ and, more importantly, as Jesus reminds us, "[let us] rejoice that [our] names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20), and may our purpose be, "to take as many people with [us] as we can!"