Last week's sermon

I picked up this little ceramic plate in Jericho. (Sorry, those of you reading this can't see it) It says ‘shalom y’all’. I don’t know how our sayings got into the Israeli language for such objects, but I thought it was cute. And apropos for my office.


Shalom is the greeting as you meet and as you leave – in actuality it is asking the peace of God to be in that place. This is what the sent ones are to say to the townspeople. Shalom, peace of God, be with you.

What a great way to greet people – oh, yeah – we do that when we say ‘peace be with you.’ Do we ever take it back? hmmm

We spent a few hours on the Sea of Galilee in a fishing boat - and in just the short time we were in the boat the winds from the Mediterranean came blowing across the land and whipped up waves, the sea was teaming with life, fish of many kinds, the water came pouring into the sea from the Jordan River in the north and flowed out the bottom as the Jordan River – watering the land, flowing by Jerusalem, and flowing into the Dead Sea.

Both seas were remarkable and yet one was so alive and the other dead – not growing, just making dark black mud and salt.

These 70 that Jesus appointed were like the Sea of Galilee. They had followed Jesus and listened to his teachings. They had followed Jesus and watched him heal the sick and even do exorcisms. They had listened as he refused to call down fire for vengeance over Samaria.

These 70 watched as Jesus stretched out his hand and touched a leper, immediately curing him. They watched as Jesus said to the man with the withered hand – “come and stand here,” by me. Then Jesus without ever touching him said, “Stretch out your hand.” And it was restored.

The 70 heard Jesus’ sermon on the plain where he said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” And as he admonished all to love their enemies and do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who abuse you.

The 70 saw him raise the widow’s son outside the gates of Nain, just down the road. They saw the sinful woman anoint him with an alabaster jar full of ointment on his feet – and he forgave her all her sins. They saw him heal the Gerasene, the other, the gentile, of a legion of demons by sending them into the pigs.

The 70 were filled with who Jesus was and could be as disciples should be, then were sent out and they went.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 says

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.



For everything there is a time. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;



This lesson is seen with the Sea of Galilee and with the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee receives water from the Jordan and is teaming with life and fresh water because it goes out. The Jordan River continues its trek south. A disciple receives all the training and at one time or another it is the time. For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven, A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. The time for a disciple is when he or she is sent out – and thus becomes an apostle. Apostles are disciples who are sent out. Note, by the way, none of these 70 had anything special to speak of, none were priests or scribes or nobles. They were regular people.

On the other hand, the Dead Sea receives all the water from the Jordan and keeps it. There is no ‘out of the Dead Sea.’ It is like a disciple who learns and learns and sees and sees, but never gives it away, never says anything to anyone about what he has heard or seen or experienced. It becomes a dead faith.

Discipleship without apostleship leads to stagnation – however to take this analogy even further – if the Sea of Galilee just flowed into the Jordan River without taking in more of the Jordan from the north – well, it would die as a sea. Apostleship without discipleship leads to burnout.

That is - how can we express our faith to those who meet us if we are not taking in the life giving waters of God’s word? How can we express our faith to those who meet us if we are not in constant contact with God through our prayer life? If we aren’t, it is like a dam was put at the northern point of the Galilee and all the life giving water sucked out of the sea.

A life-giving faith requires both – the inflow of discipleship learning and the outflow of being sent into the world with a message.

Jesus tells us clearly, “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

How is your disciple life? Do you hear the call to be sent out? Jesus calls all walks of life, all manner of intelligence, all sizes of people, all ages of people -  to tell the story of his life, death, and resurrection, a story we love to tell, a story that is life-giving to so many. Do you hear the call? If so, shalom.