A sermon preached at Kowloon Union
Church on Sunday 7 July 2019, the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, by the Rev. Dr. Judy Chan. The scripture readings that day were Psalm
30, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20.
Good morning. Last November, there were
stories in the international media about a 26-year old Chinese-American named
John Allen Chau. In case his name is not familiar to you, let me share his
story. Chau was a fervent Christian with keen interest in missionary work. He
had spent time in mission in South Africa and northern Iraq. But his passion
was to bring the Gospel to a place that had never heard of Jesus Christ, much
like the heroes and martyrs of faith. His destination: North Sentinel Island in
the Bay of Bengal. The Sentinelese are considered one of the last uncontacted
people that remain isolated from modern civilization. They wish to be left
alone, and the Indian government has respected their wishes. To protect them,
there are laws that make it illegal to come within 5 miles of the island.
Besides, these people have no immunity to disease, so there is concern that any
kind of foreign contact might wipe out the entire tribe.
John Allen Chau had trained with a U.S.
mission organization, but ultimately he chose to go to the island by himself.
He hired some Indian fishermen to take him by boat within a mile of North
Sentinel, and used a kayak to get himself the rest of the way. It appears Chau
knew it was an illegal and dangerous thing to do. But he was determined to go.
He prepared picture signs to communicate and simple gifts to offer. To lessen
the chance of exposing them to disease, he quarantined himself for 11 days
beforehand. The first time he approached the island, the islanders began to
string their bows. Chau retreated. The next day, he came ashore and shouted,
“My name is John. I love you and Jesus loves you.” Someone shot an arrow that
pierced his waterproof Bible. They took his kayak, so he had to swim back one
mile to the fishermen. The third time he returned, he was fatally wounded by
another arrow. His body was never recovered. The Indian government considered
it too risky. The fishermen who took Chau near the island were arrested, but no
charges were brought against the Sentinelese people.
What are we to make of the short life
of John Allen Chau? Was he a courageous disciple of Christ willing to take the
Gospel to the ends of the earth? Or was he an idealistic but foolish young man
who sacrificed himself needlessly without bringing the Gospel to anyone?
It might be too early to say, but for
the most part, secular media called him a fool and worse. Even among the
Christian community, there were mixed opinions. All believed he was sincere.
All were sorry for his death. But none that I read were comfortable endorsing
his model of Christian mission 100%.
Which brings me to today’s Gospel
lesson. In Luke Chapter 10, Jesus appoints 70 more disciples to go out in
mission. To go ahead of him to the places he intends to go himself. He sends
them out in pairs and tells them what to expect and how to handle themselves.
Is there anything we can learn from his instructions to some of the earliest
evangelists in the New Testament? And are those instructions still relevant to
the church today in a post-colonial, post-modern world? Let’s see.
There’s a lot of information in the
opening 11 verses of Luke Chapter 10. What we may not realize is many of those
same instructions had already been given to the first 12 disciples in Luke
Chapter 9. What I find most interesting then are the expanded instructions to
the 70 – particularly what’s their Gospel message and how to get it
across. This morning, I want to focus on
three of those instructions. 1. How do you start? 2. Where do you stay? 3. What
do you do?
First, how do you start? Jesus says,
you start by reaching out to the people in their homes. Success in mission requires personal contacts
before you start making public proclamations. Jesus says: Whatever house you
enter, say: “Peace to this house!” Peace to this house . . . we are first and foremost
messengers of peace. The Greek word here for peace is eirene. It literally means to join or bind together that which has
been separated. So peace is not just the absence of war or conflict. It’s much
more. It’s fullness of life, restored relationships, security for everyone. Eirene is closely related to the Hebrew
concept of shalom. It’s both a
greeting and a blessing. One scholar expresses it this way: “Peace to this
house and family. May it complete its purpose and tell its tale to the end. May
it fulfil itself in surrender to the Holy One.” That’s what we should take to
every home we enter in Jesus’ name. A prayer for God’s wholeness and salvation
to rest on another person. The precious blessing of the peace of Christ.
After a greeting of peace comes the
second instruction. If the household welcomes you to stay, Jesus says, stay!
Accept their hospitality and whatever food and drink they offer. If you’ve ever
been a stranger somewhere, you know what it means to find a safe place to rest
and something to eat. So, says Jesus, stay where I open the door for you, and
eat what’s on the table because that’s a sign of respect for the family and
their culture. Success in mission requires that we understand and appreciate
those who are different from us. And what better way to learn than to stay in
someone’s home and sit down at the same table? That’s God’s way of providing
for you, Jesus says, not just shelter and sustenance, but more laborers for the
field. Because in reality, a missionary is more than just a guest, and those
who receive them are more than just the host. They are partners in this
mission, equal in God’s eyes, each with a role to play. Don’t take each other
for granted.
Third, after a wholesome welcome and a
full stomach, Jesus says, you’re ready to go to town. If the people in the town
welcome you, accept their hospitality and then get to work. Note that before
they preach the Gospel, Jesus instructs them to “cure the sick”. That’s right,
action comes before the spoken word. And the action called for here is to heal
in Jesus’ name. I think there are many ways that followers of Christ can do
that – from healing individuals with a particular disease, to mending broken
relationships in a community, to bringing down whole systems that are evil and
corrupt. Whatever the cure, success in mission requires deeds of power and
love, not just words. Then and only then, can we declare that the “Kingdom of
God is near”.
Peaceful entry, mutual hospitality,
ministries of healing, proclamation of the Word.
Not
all mission, of course, takes place on those terms and in that order. But in
Luke 10, v 17 we read the 70 returned to Jesus with joy. It worked, they said!
And I believe those mission instructions and God’s power still work that way in
our day and age. And that’s important because symbolically you and I are part
of those 70 disciples Jesus sent out. You know, 70 wasn’t just a random number.
In the bible, it’s a complete number, representing all the nations of the
world. So, every disciple of Jesus Christ is sent out in mission to be Good
News wherever we are, wherever we go. And by God’s grace, may we safely return
to Jesus with joy.
I
began this sermon with a tragic story, so let me now tell you a more hopeful
one. It comes from a Brazilian woman named Braulia Ribeiro
(1). She was only 19 at the time, out on her first mission to a remote tribe in
the Amazon called the Paumarí. She was part of a team of four to plant a
mission station. Even though she was young, she was chosen because she had
studied the tribal language in a summer institute. Getting to the place was an
act of faith itself. It was very remote. They ended up spending every last
dollar they had for transportation and the final boat needed to get there.
When they arrived, they didn’t know
what to expect. But they knew the Paumarí culture was looked down on by the
locals and ranked at the bottom of the pile. The Paumarí people needed help but
didn’t know anyone who would bother.
The team got off the canoe in front of
the first hut. They were greeted by an old woman who treated them like she
already knew them. “Welcome,” she said. “You came a
long way. Are you tired? Have you eaten? There is fried fish.” After a
delicious meal and an hour of conversation about the trip, the old lady asked
why they had come.
“We are missionaries,”
Ribeiro answered. “We want to help you
to know Jesus, the Son of God, and if you want, we can also help to set up a
school to teach everyone to read.” The lady looked puzzled and started shouting
for her grandson. “Come over. The missionaries have arrived. Take them to their
home.”
Their home? She pointed to
an empty hut nearby. “We built this hut two summers ago, preparing for your
arrival. We heard in the radio about the Creator God, and how his Son, Jesus,
wants to help us. I said, ‘If that is true, he will send us his people.’ So we
built the hut for you.”
The missionary team stayed for 6
months. They set up a school for the children. They brought medicines for a
basic clinic. They taught the adults simple math so they wouldn’t get cheated
in trade. Ribeiro says they didn’t solve all their problems, but they did
change their lives. The fact that the Paumarí people
had to take care of this group of outsiders provided the entire village with a
sense of dignity and value. They were not the poor receivers of aid; their
relationship was equal, and the dependency was mutual.
Even more, the villagers
began to see being Paumarí as a point of pride again. Their language gained
prestige because foreigners studied it, taught it in schools, preserved it in
books. To this day, 30 years later, the Paumarí in the village speak their
mother tongue. And by God’s grace, says Ribeiro, they are a productive
Christian community who escaped the toxic self-hatred that suffocates many other
indigenous villages along that river.
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off
my sackcloth
and clothed me with
joy,
so that my
soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever. (Psalm
30:11-12)
May the Kingdom of God come
near indeed to you and me, through you and me, wherever we go, wherever we are.
As the 21st century church finally realized, mission is from
everywhere to everywhere, whether it’s to the other side of the world, or even
right here in Hong Kong. Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to us. O Lord, be our
helper! Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, July 07, 2019
