Small Things with Great Love
Mother Theresa of Calcutta once said, “Not all of us can do great things but we can do small things with great love”. I think this quote encapsules the central message of todays readings. Our call is to availability and vulnerability, to respond to the needs before us with humility and love, and above all to understand that God’s ways are not our ways.
In 2 Kings, Naaman expects his healing to come in a dramatic way but instead it comes quietly. This story is characterized by irony. The people who should be in the know , such as the king of Israel, appear clueless, while the marginalized, such as the Israeli servant girl, perceive accurately what God is doing. Naaman almost cheats himself of his healing because of his arrogance. The story make clear that material disadvantages are not spiritual disadvantages. God calls people regardless of circumstances and God can empower the disenfranchised to find their own voices to work for greater justice. In fact the passage implies that those with great wealth may be at a disadvantage in perceiving the ways of God. Naaman has a preconceived idea about how Gods healing should be carried out and Elisha’s directions do not match his preconception.
Like Naaman, we too sometimes have pre-conceived ideas about how God will work. We want God to do something in the particular way that we want it to be done and on our own schedule! The irony of Naaman’s healing discourages our tendency to look for God’s work in terms of our own desires or expectations. Naaman’s healing does not occur as he expects but as God chooses.
In Galatians, Paul reminds us that the work of faith isn’t about outward success. It’s about bearing with one another, staying steady, not giving up. Paul points out that those who have received the Spirit of God display a spirit of gentleness. The true Gospel produces a church in which unity exists alongside diversity. People who may have little in common, and would not necessarily form friendships in other circumstances, form deep bonds of community as they follow The way of Jesus Christ. Some of the signs of this unlikely unity include vulnerability, humility, the ability to listen at a deep level, the capacity for compromise, and the willingness to surrender the need to be ‘right’!
In Luke 10, we witness the next stage of the early development of what was then known as “The Way” and what we now call the Church. Jesus sends out seventy: not to fix the world, but to bring peace, to depend on strangers, to witness to what God is already doing. For most of the early chapters of Lukes Gospel, Jesus has been the central figure. He has preached, taught and performed miracles throughout the land. More recently he has authorised some of his followers to do the same, first authorizing the twelve and then sending others ahead of him. At this point in the narrative, Jesus authorizes seventy followers to take his message to all those places that he expects to go.
Jeus promises that the harvest is abundant. He sees abundance where others might see scarcity. He does not commission the seventy to prepare the harvest; that remains God’s work, but to gather the harvest in and pray that others will join in this work. Our own context at St. Matthias is quite different from that of the seventy but Jesus’ commission to us is essentially the same. God is responsible for the growth of our community. We are called to be open to this growth and all that it implies.
Sometimes it can seem that the work is slow and progress has stalled. We worry about our buildings, about our responsibility to the residents of Rogers Court. We are concerned that we have an aging community and the labourers are getting tired. So I ask you this morning: can we trust that the growth and the harvest here at St. Matthias is God’s work and that God will, in us, complete the work that he has begun? Are we open to the new thing that God is doing?
There are a few things to keep in mind: first, Jesus didn’t appoint ‘lone rangers’, we are meant to travel together, dialoguing and working out differences. This may slow down the pace, but it how we are to travel. We must remember too that we are not sent to do the work of Jesus, but to prepare the way for him. Jesus sends the seventy to places where “he himself intends to go.” They are not sent to save the world. They are just getting the world ready to be saved. And that is a big difference, isn’t it? In fact, after Jesus is raised from the dead, he tells his disciples he is going ahead of them. So, maybe we aren’t even getting the world ready for Jesus. Maybe we are just pointing out where Jesus is already at work in the world. Maybe we are just being “detectives of divinity,” We are just noticing what Jesus is already doing in this world and pointing it out. But, either way, the pressure is off, because we aren’t called to save the world. Just to point out how Jesus is already doing just that. We are supposed to pray, to ask for help. We are promised that Jesus will go with us. But the way that we see that happening is through prayer. Prayer isn’t just our asking God for what we need, although it is that. Prayer also opens our eyes to the ways that God is already active, in our life and in our world. So, before you go – before you ever share your faith or do anything in the name of the Lord – pray. Invite God to be a part of that ministry. And then keep your eyes open. Finally travel light: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals,” Jesus says. Travel light, in other words. Why? Perhaps because being a missionary means, above all, trusting in Jesus.
When God’s people were wandering through the wilderness, they learned to trust God to provide their manna each day. So, too, for us. Trust God. Travel light. You can be prepared, of course, but leave room for God to surprise us! Trust that God will provide what is needed, and often much more than that. Travelling light in our case may mean surrendering who we have been to be open to what God is doing now. Amen.