FROM DISCIPLE TO APOSTLE
June 15, 2008
sermon given at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, Washington

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching, proclaiming, curing. He encountered the world as it is: a place full of desperately frightened people in need of knowledge, reassurance, and wholeness. And he had compassion for them.

His ragtag group of disciples hung on his every word, absorbing everything Jesus had to offer as a teacher, a preacher, and a healer. Disciples are those who have found a reliable source of wisdom and want to learn as much as they can. They are devoted fans. Jesus made his disciples feel good about themselves, and he gave them hope for the future. But what happened next?

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

I’m sure you’ve felt like this before. There’s so much need in the world, but not enough resources or people to take care of it. Or there’s a person in your life who has given you so much, and then that person moves away. Or you’ve spent all your life learning from your parents, and then it’s time to leave the nest. You see all that needs to be done, but you don’t count yourself among the laborers because you honestly don’t believe you have the necessary skills or training.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” It’s easy enough to ask. But where will these skilled laborers come from? I myself was 30 years old before I realized that, when God is your employer, you don’t get trained first. You just start working. You learn by becoming an apostle.

Disciples are students and spectators. Apostles are workers sent out with a message. Seekers become disciples, and disciples become apostles. In Jesus’ metapor, it is the lost sheep themselves who become the shepherds.

Some of you here today are seekers, curious about this Christianity thing that may have been minor background noise in your life, not sure whether you want to learn more or bag the whole thing as a waste of a weekend morning.

Some of you are disciples, immersing yourself in the intellectual study of your faith through sermons, Bible studies, book groups, youth groups, or Sunday forums. Or maybe you went through our catechumenal process, The Journey, and were baptized or confirmed. At the very least, you are a fan of Jesus.

Well, I have news for you: ultimately, you are called to be an apostle. Like the Twelve, you are being sent out into the world with a message.

There’s nothing quantifiably better about being a disciple instead of a seeker, or an apostle instead of a disciple – no more than it’s quantifiably better to be a teenager than a toddler. It’s just a matter of taking the next step at the appropriate time. I myself moved from sheep to shepherd, from disciple to apostle, at the age of 21 when I moved to Seattle.

I had spent my college years not attending church at all, because the church on campus was painfully boring and none of my fellow students attended either. For some reason, it never occurred to me to bring a friend to church and start to change the place. That would have been a great idea.

During my senior year, a professor introduced me to the theological writings of C.S. Lewis, and I was hooked into Christianity again. By the time I graduated and moved to Seattle, I was ready to go out and find a church. I eventually landed at Saint Mark’s Cathedral, where I joined the choir, met my wife Christy, helped found a young adults group and a Bible study group, did all four years of the Education for Ministry program, and was elected to the vestry. From a home base at the cathedral, I also began volunteering as a staff member for diocesan youth events.

But even with all that, I’ve never given up being a seeker or a disciple. When it comes to hard questions like the presence of evil and disease in the world, I am still a seeker. My appetite for books, including the words of Jesus, ensures that I will always be a disciple. But my relationship with God is much deeper and steadier when I act as an apostle as well.

When Jesus calls you to be an apostle, he doesn’t want you to mimic one of your predecessors. Instead, he invites you to look at the gifts you have, learn and understand what gives you joy, and then go out and do it passionately, in the service of others. You bring your own experience to the field. And your marching orders are in today’s Gospel.

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles.” If you’re a beginner, do little things, and start in the places you know. Evangelism is about announcing the Good News that God’s Kingdom is all around us, waiting for us to participate as citizens. You don’t have to televise it worldwide. Just don’t keep it a secret!

“Cure the sick.” Be a source of healing and wholeness to people who need it. When people are suffering, spend time with them. Listen to them. The opportunities are all around you every day. Some people get better, and some people don’t. But even people who are chronically ill can be made whole by the experience of God’s love for them, and that experience may well come through you.

“Raise the dead.” Provide hope. Remind people that nothing is the end, not even death. When people mess up, give them a chance to redeem themselves. Help them see the new possibilities in their lives that didn’t exist before, possibilities that God has called out of nothingness.

“Cleanse the lepers.” Seek out the untouchables and do not allow them to be outcasts any longer. Maybe you’ll be the only one who notices them, but sometimes it only takes one touch to break the curse. More often than not, cleansing means showing people that the unclean person was never unclean to begin with. Who are the lepers of our time? I’ll give you a hint: we’re housing some lepers here at St. Thomas next month. (And—this one is for the youth—our middle schools, high schools, and even colleges are crawling with lepers just waiting for one courageous student to reach out to them.)

“Cast out demons.” Pay attention to the subtle forces at work in the system. Understand the roles you play in life: in your job, in your romantic relationships, in your friendships, in your family, as an American, as a human being. When the system is broken, dare to change the scene with a courageous act of truth-telling, even if the only person who really needs to hear the truth is yourself.

“You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff.” You have everything you need. At St. Thomas, we have everything we need, and we are being given more constantly. God is so generous with us … how can we not be generous ourselves?

“Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.” When you get to where you’re going, put down roots and then stick with that community until you are called elsewhere. A relative of mine dropped out of college in the first week because of a disagreement with a professor. Don’t give up on the first try. Assume that you have much to learn. Sometimes that learning doesn’t come from an expensive textbook. It comes from letting yourself be changed by the people you didn’t choose to be with.

“If [the house] is not worthy, let your peace return to you … shake off the dust from your feet.” Be at peace with those who are not at peace with you. If someone consistently hurts you, get out! To shake the dust off your feet does not mean to hold a grudge. It means to have confidence in the truth as you see it, and to leave the rest to God. A good prayer at this time would be, “Well, God, clearly this person has a lot to learn. I hand this over to you. And if I’m wrong, well, please help me learn from this, too.” Be open to receive what God sends you. Be ready to shake off the unhealthy influences that don’t come from God.

We’re celebrating our graduates today. Doubtless, parents believe they send their children out like sheep into the midst of wolves, and they might offer Jesus’ advice: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Learn what you need to know to take care of yourself, but don’t become jaded or corrupt. It won’t be easy. You will suffer for it. But this kind of suffering will make you stronger, and you’ll be far better than if you lived a life of fear and self-protection.

When you do all the things Jesus instructed his apostles to do, you’re not just speaking Good News. You’re embodying it. You may not need to speak a single word.

So be a seeker. The truth is out there, every day, in everyone you meet.

Be a disciple. Learn about God as you learn about your chosen major or your new job or any other experience.

And, whenever you can, be an apostle. Announce the Good News that the Kingdom of God is at hand; that love always wins; that fear is cast out; and that everything good, even though it dies, will be raised up again in a new and surprisingly joyful form. Amen.

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