June 15, 2008
Text: Matthew 9:35-10:15
Pr. Robert Goldstein
Using Our Language

"Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." Is this an average day in the life of a Christian? Perhaps, it is. Perhaps, more than we realize, it is! Or, perhaps it is something we really could be, if we only knew the meaning of such strange language. Let me explain.

This Gospel passage is officially known as, "The Mission of the Twelve" although that's not quite accurate, since it's actually the first mission of the twelve. As in their first mission trip, solo. Their first foray into the mission field, without their inspiring leader. Their first time out, for heaven's sake, and Jesus sends them off with a set of instructions that sound like they were really meant for Tom Cruise and the Impossible Mission Task Force. But Jesus is never that glossy. He just gathers the disciples, tells them what the deal is, and hands out the instructions. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.

Think about the ordination services you have been to recently. Have Jesus' words in this passage ever appeared in the liturgy? Have the newly ordained been charged to: cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons? I don't remember anyone charging me to cast out demons at my ordination. Nor have I read, "Must be able to cure the sick and raise the dead" on any clergy job descriptions -except in the Gospel. But I wonder if it might be a good idea.

Do you think language shapes our perception of reality? I do. The language I read on most church staffing forms is so… professional. "Must be able to manage a large staff." "Must be able to increase membership and balance a complicated budget." "Must be able to inspire members to increase their stewardship with church programs." "Must be personable, open, visionary, and decisive." "Must be perfect, conservatively liberal and liberally conservative." Most of these are important qualities for the church's leadership. But if I didn't know that most of these job descriptions were for a pastor or lay leader, I might assume they were advertising for a C.E.O. to run a very eager corporation of indeterminate size.

What I like about Jesus' language, in his instructions to his disciples, is that it's so raw and out-there and unabashedly literal. It isn't language we use to describe our work life. ("How was your day?" "Oh, you know, the usual: cured the sick, raised the dead. You?"). These aren't skill sets we put on our resumes ("In my last job, I cast out an average of thirty demons per week…"). For good reason: biblical language would be out of place in the professional marketplace. You could speak it but there would probably be a pregnant silence in that room. But in our biblical world, the world of compassion and justice, Jesus' words do ring true. They speak of things we have seen and known and believed: Christ is risen. The tomb is empty. The dead are raised; the blind receive their sight. Go and tell! In the world of discipleship, you have to use biblical language, because there just isn't any other way to talk about the Real Presence of God. And our lives are to live them as we speak that language. The biblical language is that raw and out-there and unabashedly literal. It can even make us uncomfortable….

That stretch, however, is a good one. I wonder if the wise thing, in these days, would be to set aside the "professional" language we wear so comfortably, the language that lets us blend into the crowd without sticking out like a sore thumb. That way, we could let go the foolishness of professional tendencies. We could return to the essence of who we are, as Jesus' disciples of compassion and justice.

Let's take another look at what Jesus asks of us, when the Real Presence of God is at hand.

Cure the sick. Do not ignore the poisons that intoxicate us. Proclaim the power of God to heal us from addictions -like buying what we really don't need; like having to feel superior to the homeless on the streets; like wanting to control the world that is truly mostly beyond human control.

Raise the dead. Do not leave us in our tombs. Proclaim the power of God to raise us up from our despairs, from worry and from long nurtured regrets. Free us from the fear of death itself and breathe into us the spirit to make the most of our gift of life.

Cleanse the lepers. Do not abandon the marginalized in their misery. Proclaim the power of God to restore us, yes, us, to a community traditionally called the kingdom of God but which we now call the Real Presence of God.

Cast out demons. Do not accept the demonic powers of evil. Proclaim the power of God to cast them out from their hold on us. Don't believe in demons? As Bishop Krister Stendahl would say, that's the first demon. But other demons are easily identified as spirits that are definitely not in harmony with the Holy Spirit -jealousy, greed, power-hunger, control, snobbery, getting away with it. Who says now that there are no demons? We are to cast them out in our patient parenting, in our nurturing of our family units, in our working contexts, in our neighborhoods.

So, you see. When you care for someone, when you visit or just listen to someone -you're raising the dead and curing the sick. When you feed the homeless and treat them with respect (there go I but for the grace of God) you cleanse the lepers in your hospitality towards them. When you become conscious of the dynamics of how you, other individuals and societies don't work justly, then you have begun the casting out of demons.

That's what pastors are ordained to lead us in doing. We have no special status in our ordination but that we are to remind all of us what God has done. But you are all priests in the priesthood of believers, that's what we all are called to do in many, many different, very capable and unique ways as God's Spirit leads us.

Have I made that strange biblical language come alive for you? If so, then I am raising the dead, healing the sick and casting out demons. I am joining in your ministry with you! Amen.

This sermon was written with assistance from Lectionary Homiletics.