February 18, 2021
Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. – Luke 10:3
We often view the season of Lent as a time to ‘give up’ something that might draw us closer to Jesus, but as we flip the page from our Ash Wednesday text (if you haven’t yet watched it is available at stmarkknox.org/sermons) we find that Jesus is asking the disciples to take on a new task. To go, and to do the work that Jesus has given them to do.
This analogy is quite disturbing, however. For those who may have been accustomed to the work of shepherding lambs, they know that the job of the shepherd is sometimes dangerous. Lions, wolves, and the like were not the things any shepherd wanted to face. Yet, they would fight one off if they had to. I imagine, that was not a desirable part of the job, of working with lambs. The disciples, though, are not being compared to the shepherds who fought off the wolves, but the lambs themselves.
Lambs are mostly defenseless, especially when they are young, and especially if they have recently been sheered. Jesus looks at these who have followed him, and as a shepherd, he sees them as little lambs, precious, valuable, but potentially unable to defend themselves. Wolves don’t travel alone, they work in packs, and typically try to separate a potential victim from the heard and from the shepherd, it’s not a single wolf one needs to watch out for, but the entire pack.
So, as Jesus sends out these seventy-two disciples, he sends them out in pairs, that they would rely on one another, that they would encourage one another, and these pairs are able to do a great many things. They go and teach, preach, heal by the power of the Holy Spirit. Demons are cast out, the sick are made well, and everywhere these disciples go, people are amazed, and the disciples themselves are amazed at what is happening. Though the took with them only the essentials Jesus commanded, they are able to do a great many things in Jesus name.
Jesus reminds us as disciples today, when we take away the distractions, the excess from our lives, we may seem vulnerable, but this vulnerability, that of a lamb amongst wolves, is a path towards humility, and in our humility, we find the strength and authority of Christ’s greatness.
I believe that lent allows us to take away the distractions of life, if we can, to focus on the most important, and the hope is that we keep our focus on that which is most important well after the season of Lent is ended. May we focus on the mission Jesus has called us to today, to love and care for all God’s children.
Grace & Peace,
Sam