Go and Do – Luke 9:1-10a – Justin Sytsma

Good morning. For those who do not know me, my

name is Justin and I serve as one of the pastors here at Court

Rights. And it is a privilege, as

always, to be with you this morning.

And it is good to be in a new chapter of Luke.

We made it to Chapter 9, and as we turn to a new chapter, it

feels like a good moment to just do a little recap of a whole

bunch of remarkable things that Jesus has done so far in the

book of Luke. And I promise this has a point

to it. Some of them are healings, Some

of them are the releasing of evil spirits.

Some of them are just kind of noteworthy events that took

place. So this is starting all the way

back in like Luke chapter 4 when Jesus began his earthly

Luke 4 · chapter mention

ministry. So Jesus tested, was tested in

the wilderness by Satan. Jesus drove out an impure

spirit. Jesus healed many in the region.

Jesus then called his first disciples.

Jesus heals a man with leprosy. Jesus forgives and heals A

paralyzed man. Jesus calls Levi and eats with

sinners. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and

that's where he heals that man with the withered hands.

Jesus teaches his Sermon on the Plane, which is a profound set

of teachings that is echoed also in Matthew in the Sermon on the

Mount. Jesus heals the centurion

servants. Jesus raises the widow's son

from the dead. Jesus forgives the sinful woman

who anointed her. Jesus calms the storm in the Sea

of Galilee. Jesus heals the man possessed

with many demons. And then last week, Jesus heals

the bleeding woman, and Jesus raises Gyrus's daughter from the

dead. Now, what do we notice about all

of these events? Who's doing all the work?

Jesus. Yeah.

It's like the Sunday School answer, right?

Jesus. Jesus is obviously the focal

point of the Gospels, so this makes sense that he be the one

doing all this. But at some point, even Jesus

knows that he has some of these earthly constraints, namely time

and space. He cannot, unlike, say, God the

Father, He cannot be everywhere at once.

That is a constraint that was placed on Jesus in the

incarnation. And he knows, even if the

disciples don't know, that he only has so much time before the

events that are to unfold when he is crucified.

So in our passage today, Jesus begins the process of conferring

power and authority to his disciples.

This is an act that has special significance for them then

obviously, but also for us now and today.

Before we read, let me pray, Lord, would you open our hearts

and minds by the power of Your Spirit this morning, that as the

Scriptures are read and Your Word is proclaimed, that we may

hear with joy what You are to say to us today.

Amen. So this is Luke 9 starting at

verse one, going through to the very beginning of 10.

And I don't have any tech this morning because I got delayed

for reasons I can share about later.

But I was about to, I, you know, scheduled about 1/2 an hour to

make some slides and then that half an hour went out the window

for a particular reason, which I'll explain later.

So no slides. So you use your Bible.

There are Bibles at the back if you want 1.

You can use your phone if you'd like.

Whichever you prefer. So Luke and I, when Jesus had

called the 12 together, he gave them power and authority to

drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out

to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

He told them take nothing for the journey, no staff, no bag,

no bread, no money, no extra shirt.

Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town.

If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the

dust off your feet as a testimony against them.

So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming

the good news and healing people everywhere.

Now Herod the Tetrarch heard about all that was going on, and

he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been

raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and

still others that some of the prophets of long ago had come

back to life. But Herod said I'd beheaded

John. Who then is this I hear such

things about? And he tried to see him.

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they have

done. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God, so many of us over the course of our lives.

We go to school to learn, you know, high school, and then

perhaps afterward we go to college or university or an

apprenticeship in the trades or to the workforce at some point.

And in all of these, there is a component of training.

You know, sometimes it's practical, sometimes it's more

theoretical, philosophical. But at some point, as

apprentices of various kinds, we are let loose to go and do a

good teacher. If they've done, they've done

their job well, they will show both the why and the how.

They'll explain, they'll give the rationale behind the

concepts and principles. They'll create a compelling case

for this vocation that you've chosen and they'll give you the

practical components and they'll even walk alongside you as you

begin. They'll check the quality of

your work and then make sure you've kind of understood all

the right steps and procedures. There's a like a technical

component to that, but there's also just a component of like,

if, if I'm, you know, when I was, I think back to my, my

early ministry days, you know, I, I wrote a sermon and it was

not good. And I had to show it to my, you

know, my boss, who was actually my father-in-law, which was

also, like, a little intimidating.

And I had to be, OK. This is what I've got.

Like, tell me where I've gone wrong.

Tell me what I could improve, all that kind of stuff.

It was like there was a process for learning and growing and

changing. In many ways, the trajectory of

the disciples is much like our own life and career trajectory

where we learn and grow and apply principles and then are

released to go and do. The disciples have been watching

Jesus do all that Jesus does. All these healings and teachings

are highlighted earlier, and they have been participating in

conversation with Jesus and one another about all that they've

seen and heard. These guys are now heavily

invested in what's happening here.

They are all in. They are by all accounts all in

except maybe one of them. So season 9 verse one it says

Jesus is called the 12 together. Now this is not really like

crucial to the broader point, but it's interesting to consider

that in all likelihood the disciples were not with Jesus at

all times during their during his ministry.

They'd likely go home for a few weeks at a time, tends to family

matters back home. So Jesus calls them together and

he confers power and authority to drive out demons and to heal.

He's in effect saying, you've seen me do this.

Now you go out and do. Now there's 2 words there, power

and authority. Power we translate that word

into. It's the Greek word dunamis.

Think dynamite, think explosive power.

Now, long time courtwright friends will likely be aware of

this language with our connection to Dunamis

Fellowship, which has been an important part of court rights

identity as both Reformed and Holy Spirit led.

That's where we get the word from, for those who didn't know.

And then there is the word authority, which is the Greek

word exusia. Think about permission,

jurisdiction, domain if you will, power and authority.

Now, it's hard to have one without the other, but there's

something important about Jesus conferring both of these.

Power seems to imply that they have the actual literal ability

and skills to do it, and authority seems to imply that

they have been given unique dominion over these spiritual

and physical realms. And as he gives them this power

and authority, he sends them out on this sort of seemingly solo

mission. And in this case, they seem to

go out by themselves and they go all around the region.

And the purpose of this mission was twofold.

It was to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick and

drive out demons. Again, This is exactly what

Jesus had already been doing, and he's now setting up his

closest disciples and companions to do what Jesus does.

Now, it's not random that he sends them out to proclaim the

Kingdom of God and heal the sick.

All throughout Luke's gospel, we have seen Jesus pairing these

two concepts, these two ideas that the good news, the gospel

of the Kingdom of God is not merely a spiritual state, but a

material one as well. That the God, the the good news

of the Kingdom of God is yes, our spiritual selves are saved,

heart, soul and mind. We are forgiven, we're restored,

we're redeemed by this gospel. But the good news of the Kingdom

of God is also one of justice, putting the world to rights.

The sick and the wounded are healed.

The hungry are fed, The oppressed are liberated.

The unhoused are sheltered. Jesus is beginning something

amazing. He's multiplying his efforts

here. Next week we're going to see

Jesus multiply some food, but this week he is multiplying the

Kingdom. And then he says something

curious. He says don't bring anything

with you. Seems kind of unreasonable,

doesn't it? Now, a couple of things that are

worth noting here. So there were philosophers and

itinerant preachers of various religions and schools of

thought, and they would often be recognized as they went around

by their staff and their bag, which would often be for them to

beg for money. That's what they would do.

The 12 are called to something different.

They're called to radical dependence on God and God's

provision. If this mission is going to be

successful, it is going to be only because God's grace carried

them through it and they will rely on the kindness of

strangers along the way. They're to stay at the home,

anyone who will take them in. Now the idea here is that they

don't. Jesus doesn't want them walking

into a village and then they like someone greets them and

welcomes them in and then they like look down the road and

they're like that house is bigger and has better amenities

and food. Maybe we should go see if

they'll take us in. They weren't to be tire kickers.

They were to go with the first people that accepted them and

took them in and stay there for the duration.

They were also given instruction on what to do when they're not

welcomed. They were to shake the dust off

their feet and this was a common Jewish practice.

It was a way to symbolize that this place was ceremonially

unclean and they needed to shake off literally the uncleanliness

off their feet before they would return back to their homeland,

lest they make their homeland unclean.

Now this was usually done in Gentile or non Jewish regions,

but was also adopted by early Christian missionaries like the

disciples here. Now, at first glance, this seems

a little harsh, because it is a little harsh.

One of the greatest modern critiques of Christendom,

though, and so This is why I think it's a little bit of a

mercy. One of the greatest modern

critiques of Christendom, that's colonial Christianity, is that

the way that Christians have at times forced themselves into

cities, countries and neighborhoods that don't want

anything to do with their faith. They don't just simply, you

know, insert themselves into the community, but they impose

themselves on the community in a way that goes beyond just being

a faithful witness and presence. Now, I want to be generous and

gracious and believe that the intent is ultimately good, that

Christians want the world to know Jesus.

Yes, Christians want to spread the message of Jesus the

Kingdom. Christians wants to save the

world from eternal separation from God.

And yet here BCG is saying if they won't receive you, just let

them go. Just move on.

Yes, this is an indictment and a judgment on them, but it's also

perhaps saying their hearts are not yet ready, just they need

more time. Move on for now.

The take away for me here is that the Kingdom of God cannot

be spread by brute force. It cannot be spread by brute

force because the Kingdom of God it confronts, but it cannot

coerce. Let me say that again.

It confronts but cannot coerce the Kingdom of God, cannot be

legislated or codified by government in the way that

Christian nationalism supposes that it could.

So the 12 go from village to village, doing exactly what

Jesus did, and doing what Jesus had given them power to do, to

proclaim the Kingdom, to heal the sick.

And they did this on the power and provision of God, not their

own. And they were gratefully

received by those who took them in, and they just moved on from

places that didn't accept them. And something fascinating

happens and we get this little aside that almost at first

glance seems kind of random and this this encounter with Herod

the tetrarch. So no doubt some of Jesus

actions and movements around Galilee had started to cause a

little bit of a stir and the word had gotten back to the

political authorities, namely Herod.

Now this is a different Herod from the very beginning of Luke.

That was Herod the Great, this is Harold the Great son, Herod

Antipus or Herod tetrarch. You don't need to know that, but

it's just good to know that there are two Herods in Luke.

So Herod, as a rule over the region of Galilee had been

hearing about what was happening.

He doesn't yet know much about Jesus and the blossoming

movement that's happening right under his nose.

He thinks it sounds kind of like John the Baptist.

Wait, no, I, I beheaded that guy, I think.

So it can't be him. Is this somehow like Elijah

coming back? Is this one of the other

prophets of old that have returned?

He's a little confused and and nonetheless his curiosity is

peaked. He wants to see Jesus.

It says Now we should read when he says that.

We should read that through the lens of a man who beheaded John

the Baptist, who was a prophet of God.

You could imagine the insecurity and the malice that Herod may

have in his heart when he hears about the uprising of this

so-called Kingdom of God. This man is not spiritually

seeking. And so finally, then in verse

10, bleeding into the next section a little bit, the 12

disciples return and they have a little bit of a debrief and it

feels like actually a really crucial part of the story.

Initially I I had read, you know, verses one through 9.

I was OK, great, great little package here.

But then you you kind of need to include that, that next little

half sentence there, being able to talk about their successes

and their struggles and what God might have taught them along the

way. It feels like a very meaningful

step that if you miss that, you're missing out on something

crucial. It's to learn from one another,

to learn from Jesus, to ask tough questions about the nature

of the Kingdom of God. So this passage, it forces us to

ask some important questions about how we approach our faith,

how we understand power and authority and healing.

One thing worth mentioning before we explore some of those

questions is that this is one of those classic passages where we

have a decision to make. Is this passage descriptive or

prescriptive? Is it describing an event or is

it prescribing a process by which we should follow?

So if Jesus is conferring his authority and power not just to

the 12 but to us, does that mean we must do likewise?

We have to drop everything in our life, don't take anything

with us that we should shake our feet off when people don't

accept us, that we should, you know, wipe the uncleanliness off

of our feet when they don't accept our message.

Should we bring absolutely nothing with us for the journey

except the shirts on our back? The answer is in most cases,

probably not. In most cases, I'm not gonna

stop you to do from doing what God is calling you to do.

But in general, Jesus is very specific.

Instructions are descriptive of this particular trip, not

necessarily for all time. For instance, elsewhere, even in

the Gospel of Luke, Jesus sends out other disciples and gives

them a different set of instructions.

And she says, he actually says bring some stuff with you this

time. So this was a particular moment

in time for this particular group of people.

The question that we should ask, though, is what is the spirit of

what Jesus is asking of his disciples that we might also

participate in? What is the spirit behind what

Jesus is asking? In this case?

It seems really clear to me that Jesus told them to bring nothing

with them because he wanted the 12 to rely wholly on God's

provision. They're being sent out as

representatives of the Kingdom of God, and yet they are called

to take this vow of poverty and reliance on the kindness of

strangers. This is meant to be in sharp

contrast to the opulence, the excesses, and the material

riches of these earthly kingdoms.

We should be able to get behind the heart of that.

Whether we have very little, whether we have very much, or

somewhere in between, we can all stand to grow in our reliance on

God for our spiritual and our material need.

One of the greatest challenges in the in wealthy Western

nations like Canada, where access is very much

comparatively high. I know we have our challenges.

I know we have our struggles, but it is comparatively much,

much higher than many other places around the world.

And because of that excess reliance on God feels absence.

One of the the things that it's not maybe something that is

outright said, but it is something that is implied in

what many people say and do is why do I need God?

I have everything I need. I have no felt need for this God

that you speak of. We have so much.

What do we need God for? This is true of individuals and

it's also true of churches. It's one of the tensions that we

will always face. Where is the line between enough

and too much in terms of our ministry wants and needs and

facility wants and needs? You know, our church, if you

look around, our church feels comparatively humble compared to

say, like a a sprawling cathedral or like a Costco size

mega church. But that doesn't mean we

shouldn't wrestle with it. Yeah, it also seems clear that

Jesus truly does want them making a difference where they

go. Proclaiming the good news of the

Kingdom of God is only good news if it's actually good news.

Like, if you walk into a room and you said, guys, I have some

good news, you're all gonna die. Like, not really good news,

right? And so the idea was they were

proclaiming the Kingdom, the good news of the Kingdom, and

that there was actually good news for the hearers.

That meant, in part, that a part of this mission was not simply

proclamation, healing and the driving out of evil spirits.

People were made. Well, they were restored from

their brokenness for many of them who were ceremonially

unclean and meant they were able to rejoin community and family

again. The darkness was pushed back and

the world was brought to rights. What does this sort of good news

look like today? It can and does look like

praying for healing for those in need, as we do almost every week

here. But it also looks like throwing

neighborhood parties in celebration of our food security

garden. It also looks like recovery

programs helping people with addiction and other life

struggles. It also looks like restoring

dignity for the marginalized by giving unhoused access to

washrooms and showering and laundering facilities like our

mission partner Rose City Mission did this past week.

It also looks like building large scale supportive housing

like Christian organizations like Indwell have been doing

across Southern Ontario. It also looks like liberating

modern day slaves across the world like International Justice

Mission has been doing for many, many years.

The list could and does go on and on.

Followers of Jesus around the world are proclaiming the

Kingdom in both word and deed, and we are called by Jesus to

join in. When Jesus calls his disciples

to go out and proclaim the Kingdom and heal, he is calling

us to do likewise. Now how that looks may be

different. I have not personally ever

physically healed someone that I am aware of.

I have prayed over people, I have prayed for people, and it

hasn't happened. I believe in the power of

prayer. I believe and firmly affirm that

God heals today. But for me, that hasn't

happened. But I was reminded, even in a

conversation that I had this morning, that healing can take

on many forms. We'll talk about that in a

moment. It also seems clear that when we

participate in the proclamation of the Kingdom, authorities will

take notice. In this case, Herod took notice,

sometimes in good ways, sometimes in not so good ways.

So we see Herod Antipus hearing about all that was happening and

having this little mini meltdown because it seems like his

authority and power was being threatened because it was.

What can we take away from that little aside?

In one sense, Harrod is naturally going to have a

problem if he feels as though there is a political uprising

happening. These representatives of this

supposed king are going around and proclaiming a new kind of

Kingdom, But as Jesus says, he says my Kingdom is not of this

world, but he doesn't understand that.

Harry doesn't understand that. This Kingdom does require

allegiance though, and by its very nature the powers that be

are not going to like that. Kingdom Work will naturally

confront authority because it showcases the cracks in society.

You know, we've been partnering with the Guelph Food Bank for

two years starting next month, which is amazing.

It's been a remarkable partnership and I'm eternally

grateful that we get to serve our neighbors in that way.

But it has been eye opening. It's been very eye opening.

We have begun to see in new and stark ways how many in this very

neighborhood that we call our church home are getting left

behind and pushed aside. Across our city.

We see the need for more supportive housing and

sustainable housing, for more mental health and addiction

supports. And we participate in this

because it is a part of pushing back that darkness and bringing

healing and reconciliation and restoring in the same way that

Jesus called his disciples to do.

And the amazing part is that it does open the door for spiritual

conversations along the way because Jesus is present among

the marginalized and forgotten. Sometimes the most Christian

thing that we can do is pray for and then say to our city

councillors, mayors, members of provincial parliament, members

of parliaments, say please don't forget about the least of these.

Please don't forget about the least of these.

It's easy to overlook that Kingdom language is political

language because a Kingdom implies a king of whom we have

been sent out as representatives by the very nature of Our

Calling. As citizens of the Kingdom, our

role is to confront spiritual and physical realities.

To participate in the gospel in is to participate in restoring

soul and body, bringing the world to rights.

I know I've laid a little heavy into that this morning, and I've

done that purposely. In a spiritual climate that is

increasingly apathetic of Christianity, suspicious of

Christianity, or completely ignorant on matters of Jesus,

faith, and spirituality, people will not care what we have to

say about the good news of Jesus without in some sense,

addressing our material realities.

Remember, the good news of the Kingdom is good news because it

addresses both body and soul. And as I say that that does not

negate that it is all grace and that God is the one who saves.

So it is not undermining the the the power of the gospel.

But again, it is saying that the gospel is both of these pieces,

but bad authority will be threatened by that work.

So here's a fun little anecdote. In the 4th century there was a

guy, he was the Roman emperor, his name was Emperor Julian.

And he was threatened by the charitable work of Christians in

the day. And he was threatened by it so

much that it inspired him to provide more care for the poor.

And so he said this in a letter, I love this, this is amazing.

So he said this in a letter, that he wanted more and more

resources to be distributed to those in need because this is

what he thought he said. It is disgraceful that when no

Jew has to beg and the impious Galileans or Christians support

not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our

people lack aid from us. So just to kind of recap what

he's saying there, he's saying that like, you know, Christians,

they're not only caring for themselves, but they're caring

for other people. And it's making us look bad.

It's amazing. I love that.

And so I I love that he's like, he despises the Christians and

he despises the Jews. And he's like, I'm gonna show

those guys. I'm gonna show them what's what.

I'm gonna provide the basic needs of the people.

And no one can stop me. I'm like, wait, hey, man, yeah,

we did. We did more of that.

Christianity was on the forefront of charity, and we

should continue to be today. This is the work that Jesus has

empowered and authorized us to do.

And I hope that rather than feeling threatened, that we get

some healthy competition and even support from our local and

national leaders. And we do here at the church,

and I hope we continue as well. So in this passage, we see Jesus

saying to his disciples, in effect, you've seen what I do.

I'm proclaiming the arrival of this Kingdom and I am healing.

I'm calling people to turn from their sin and a line or realign

with God. I'm restoring people back to

true life, to community, and I'm empowering you and emboldening

you and authorizing you to go out and do likewise.

Jesus confers that power to them, and he confers that to us

today. This is not simply the vocation

of the pastor or the missionaries among us.

This is the vocation of every follower of Jesus.

What would our neighborhood, our city, our country, our nation,

our world? What would it look like if we

leaned into this vocation more fully?

People would experience the abundant life of Jesus.

They would come to know Jesus because we have been Jesus to

them. People would be lifted out of

isolation and into community. People would be restored.

No one would lack food or shelter.

God, would you make us a people who wield the power and

authority that Jesus has given us?

Amen. Yeah.