Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I’m very intrigued by what our Gospel characters are wearing today! No, it’s not fashion week here at St. Matthew, but clothes do play a role in our Gospel text today.

We learn about 70 people who are sent by Jesus to go ahead of him into towns that Jesus himself is planning to visit. Jesus gives them some travel fashion advice: “carry no purse, no bag, and bring no sandals.” It sounds like Jesus is telling these 70 people to head off on a journey with just the clothes on their back, no shoes and no money.

Can you just imagine these disciples arriving into a town after their long journey? Remember, to travel in Jesus’s time, meant to walk on a dirt road because the Roman paved roads were not common in Judea and Israel. And what we might think of as minimal distances today, like 20 miles or so, would have taken much longer probably closer to a day and half.

So, these disciples would have been arriving in these towns, dirty, scruffy, grubby, with no shoes, no suitcase, and no money. They would be arriving to these towns with nothing other the message that a guy named Jesus is pretty great and is bringing about the Kingdom of God. In other words, all that these disciples had was the Gospel. To you and me, this message makes total sense to us today, but back then it probably sounded a bit odd - to say the least - especially when it came from a dirty, grubby, shoe-less stranger.

But, if you can believe it, Luke’s Gospel says they were actually successful!

In verse 17 it says they returned to Jesus some time later filled with joy and bringing news that even demons submit to them and so people must have been awed by that and they listened and believed in their message about Jesus.

These 70 folks were sent out with nothing other than a wing and a prayer and did good ministry.

And it makes me think of us here this morning as we sit outside. This story makes me consider our experience of worship today and how we are maybe a little similar to these 70 who were sent all those years ago.

This morning, we don’t have much of a roof over our head, just a canopy of cloth and some trees to help us stay out of the hot summer sun.

We have this folding table and a tablecloth as our altar. This music stand to be our lectern and pulpit. A portable, electric piano to help us with our music. This mixing bowl from the kitchen as our baptismal font. The grass under our feet as our carpet…

Now that I think about it, we seem to have all that we need! It’s really amazing what we can do with so little! Isn’t it?

So, with just the barebones’ necessities how might the Holy Spirit be inviting us into the outdoors for worship today? How might we be turned back into our daily routines later today after having this worship routine shaken up a little?

Our Psalm today says, “Be Joyful in God, all you lands, be joyful, all the earth. Sing the glory of God’s name; sing the glory of God’s praise… All the earth bows down before you and sings to you, sings out your name!”

Might we have an invitation today to listen to the earth singing praises to God today? With just our barebones worship necessities, might we hear God’s praise differently?

I invite you to look around. See what surrounds us out here in our backyard. Take a look at the yard in which we sit; the playground you all so generously constructed; the parish house and its apartment housing someone as we speak; look at our neighbors across the street and also bring to mind our neighbors up and down Lovely Street.

We’re in the midst of such abundance! An abundance of ministry opportunities! An abundance of ways we can be like the 70 disciples in our story sharing about Jesus Christ.

And all of that is with no roof, no choir, no cross, no pulpit, no carpet, no pew, no organ, no hymnal and yet, we are seeing an overwhelming amount of blessing given to us by God to share with others. We’re out here successfully proclaiming our baptismal promises with a mixing bowl and some water from the rivers around us. We’re feasting on the promises of Jesus Christ who gives all of himself including body and blood. Here we are worshiping God just as perfectly as we do when we are inside with ready access all the things we usually have.

And those 70 disciples who went out healing and proclaiming the nearness of God’s Kingdom did so with just the clothes on their back, no shoes and no money.

These disciples weren’t tasked with ‘building-up’ the Kingdom – how could they? They didn’t even have a change of clothes! No, they were tasked to use what they had - the bare minimum – and to go and proclaim the arrival of the Messiah. To go and tell people that God is fulfilling the ancient promises made to them in the covenant with Israel. They were told to go and invite people to have faith in a loving God who has come to set all of creation free, who will reconcile all of creation with Godself, and who will bring new life and light to all of creation through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

And so, I wonder how are we, the community at St. Matthew, called to be stewards of all that we have here at St. Matthew? This abundance of gifts in terms of place, building, people and neighborhood which we have been charged by Jesus Christ to use in our modern-day proclamation of God’s Kingdom? How are we invited to steward this little slice of creation so it can be a hospitable place where people can come to experience the reality of God’s Kingdom? Because I really believe that this church is a glimpse into God’s arriving Kingdom of love, abundance, community and care. That’s what we embody!

Isn’t this detail about the 70 disciple’s clothing helps to show us that we need next to nothing to do the work we are called to do as Christians. All we need is the Gospel Story to successfully proclaim who God is through Jesus Christ. Yet, we do have an abundance of tools right here to do that amazing work, thanks be to God!

Today, we are take a brief break from our typical worship to come outside with the barebones necessities to enjoy the singing of creation, as the Psalm says today, and we are called to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of God with all that we have - sometimes that’s a lot and sometimes it’s not much.

But, like the 70 disciples, we’ll return to our sanctuary happy and fulfilled knowing that God’s Kingdom comes near through Jesus Christ in all that we have. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Ryan Heckman | July 6, 2025