Mark 6:6b-13, NIV - Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the
journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until
you leave that town. And if any place
will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off
your feet as a testimony against them.”
They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many
sick people with oil and healed them.
This story forms the
basis for the now common arrangement between Christian leaders and the people
they serve. The leaders depend on the
resources of those they serve. Pastors
and even some other church staff often live in accommodations provided by the
church they serve and they are compensated by the tithes and gifts given by
those same congregation members. It is
interesting, given that the leaders are challenged to depend on the resources
of those they serve, that they are also instructed to challenge those who support
them to repent or change their ways. It
is quite the delicate dance that Jesus sends His apprentices into – expect support
from the same people they are charged to challenge.
This is not an especially
innovative arrangement, for most businesses operate similarly; those in
business depend on their customers’ resources.
The argument could even be made that often businesses have the added
task of convincing their customers to change their ways in order to purchase
the business’s product or service. However,
Jesus takes it to a higher level. Not
many business owners stay in their customers’ houses. Further, it’s one thing
to convince a customer to part with her money so that she can buy the latest
product she didn’t think she needed. It’s
quite another to stay in someone’s house, call into question the morality of
your host, and expect that the host will still house and feed you. This is why it is generally not a good idea
to talk religion and politics at the annual family Thanksgiving.
However, this is
indeed the task Jesus gave His apprentices.
He confers upon them His authority over impure spirits, but He knows
that, even with that authority, the disciples will sometimes still be
rejected. He prepares them for that with
the instruction to, when that happens (and it WILL happen), “shake the dust off
your feet.” This instruction forms the
basis of itinerant ministry. Do the
dance of hospitality and challenge until you are rejected or the support runs
dry; then move on to the next place.
As one who has been in
itinerant ministry for three decades now, I have come to realize that this
dance is not just the dance of ministry. It is the dance of love. When you serve others out of love, that love
often garners support. After all, who
doesn’t want to be loved? However,
loving someone sometimes requires us to challenge the very people we love, even
at the risk of being rejected. Looking
at it from the other side, sometimes love comes to us in the form of challenge;
we need to change. Sometimes, the very
people we would like to “throw out of our house” are the people to whom we need
to be listening. Real ministry and real
love are not “soft.” If you’re doing it right, you’ll find that both are rather
risky. They are both our call nonetheless.
Questions: Is there a challenge from someone that loves
you that you need to hear? Is their a
challenge you need to make to someone that you love?
Prayer: God, teach us
the dance of ministry and love. Even when we don’t get the steps right, keep us
dancing. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Spend some
time asking God to place on your mind specific people to pray for.
Song: Bold as Love –
John Mayer (Jimi Hendrix cover)
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