What to expect from those whom the Lord has called

Mark 6:7 Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. ⁸ These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff-- no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. ¹⁰ Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹ And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them." ¹² They went out and preached that people should repent. ¹³ They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

A few weeks ago, one of our members was telling me how he was in the Friendship Room with his young daughter and he pointed to my picture and asked, “Who is that?” She replied, “That’s Jesus.”

Pretty close.

No, I’m definitely not Jesus. But as a pastor I represent Him to God’s people, and as a Christian I represent Him to the world. That’s what the child sees. I represent Jesus to him or her. That’s a good reminder as we examine today what to expect from those whom the Lord has called to represent Him in the world as His called workers into the public ministry.

Mark tells us that Jesus sent His disciples out in groups of two. “Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.” Jesus had first called Peter and Andrew, James and John away from their fishing business. Matthew was called away from his occupation as a tax collector. Jesus had called the rest away from their employment into doing something special for Him. Now, Jesus was calling them into His public ministry, to represent Him to the world.

Last week we saw how Jesus had been rejected by the people of His own hometown of Nazareth. But that wasn’t going to stop Jesus. He was going to work even harder, multiplying His ministry by six, by sending out the Twelve to carry His message to the world.

The Twelve had been sitting at Jesus’ feet, hearing His doctrine, seeing His miracles. Now it was time to not just to gain knowledge, but begin sharing that knowledge. They were to go out with a partner, so they could encourage one another when they were rejected or things weren’t going so well in their public ministry. Jesus gave them authority over evil spirits. He commissioned them to go to war and attack the devil’s kingdom.

The disciples were called and sent with literally nothing but the shirts on their backs, the sandals on their feet, the walking staff in their hands, and they were to proclaim Jesus Christ to the people. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff-- no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.” Then they went out and preached that the people should repent. They shared Law and Gospel, they pointed out peoples’ sins and they offered God’s forgiveness in the person of Jesus Christ.

What the Lord expected of His Twelve called disciples are the same things He expects of those whom He has called into His public ministry today.

Jesus said that in each town they would find those who would show them Christian hospitality, which after the shabby treatment Jesus Himself had received in Nazareth, might have seemed quite dubious. But the disciples were learning that all they needed to survive and thrive in their ministries was the Word of God.

That is what we are to expect today, as well. We may enjoy the pleasantries of an 85 year old church, with beautiful stained glass windows and paintings, with a friendly (and now cooler atmosphere with the AC working again), but it is the Word of God which is proclaimed from this pulpit, poured out from the font and feasted upon at the communion rail that causes God’s kingdom to survive and thrive at Epiphany. It is nice to have a grade school where the numbers of students appear to be increasing almost daily, where we have qualified and experienced teachers, but it is the Word of God shared in devotions, in the Christ Light Bible studies and throughout the curriculum that is shaping young lives and molding their hearts to Christ.

Our Augsburg Confession says of this: “So that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given. He works faith, when and where it pleases God, in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake” (Article V). The Holy Spirit speaks Christ’s Words to His Church through His written Word, which is both read in the Divine Service and preached by those called to do so. It is God’s Word and Sacraments that we are to carry with us out into the world. Nothing else is needed or necessary.  

It is the task and privilege of Christians to call men to serve them with the Gospel and administer the Sacraments to them. It may be the privilege of these Christians to also call men and women to serve their children with Law and Gospel in their grade schools and high schools. And it is the task and privilege of these men and women whom are called to serve you with the mysteries of God.

Jesus gave power to the disciples to perform miracles – to heal diseases and drive out demons. But the Lord didn’t expect them to continue to do that once His Word was written down to share in Bibles (1 Corinthians 13:8). However, sometimes I think we may still expect miracles of our called workers. We may expect the pastor to grow the church and the principal to fix all the problems in the school. We may expect the pastor to know if we are hurting, if there is trouble in our marriage, if we are struggling financially or if we are in the hospital. We may expect the pastor to always be witty or available or be able to say the right thing at the right time. We may expect our teachers to be able to answer all our questions, to treat each child differently as individuals, yet also bring them along collectively as a group, to be able to stop all classroom bullying or know how to get the best out of every single child.

And when these things don’t happen among our called workers, what do we do? We complain, we gossip, we badmouth and belittle. But usually not to the called worker. Ladies and moms may gripe at a meeting or on social media. Guys and dads may criticize in the stands or in the parking lot. Members may be offended and parents may be upset, but then never speak directly to the pastor or teacher about their problems. But still expect the called workers to still know how to fix all these problems.

We may expect a lot more of our called workers than Jesus does. He simply wants us to preach His Word, teach His children and administer His Sacraments. Sharing Law and Gospel. Driving people to repentance and offering Christ’s forgiveness. Doing it faithfully, making a living from what we are called to do.

You can help your pastor. Call, text, email, message – or even better, you can be old-fashioned and just talk to me face-to-face. Share your hurts, your struggles, your ailments, your despair and doubts. Let me know what’s going on in your life so I may pray for you, pray with you, visit you, hold your hand, give you a hug, share God’s comfort and forgiveness with you. Talk to your child’s teacher. Get to know him or her here at church. Open up to them. Trust them. Learn to love them as much as they learn to love your children.

And when your pastor or teacher has done something wrong, please forgive them. And when you do something wrong in their classroom, in your home, here at church, they will forgive you, too. That’s what we are all here for – offering and receiving Christ’s forgiveness.

Going back to the little girl who saw my picture and thought of me as Jesus. The pastor does represent Jesus Christ to the people. She identified me with Jesus and that is the whole point of the Office of the Public Ministry. It is not that the pastor is Jesus incarnate, but that the ministry of the pastor is Jesus’ ministry and not his. It is not the pastor who forgives their sins on Sunday morning, but Jesus speaking through the voice of your pastor. If is not the pastor’s opinion that you come to hear from the pulpit every week, but the Word of Christ proclaimed in all its truth and purity.

It is not the pastor’s table to set or decide who should come, but Christ’s table which He sets in the presence of His enemies, through which He feeds us on His own precious Body and Blood. It is not the pastor who opens heaven and closes hell, but he is the man that Christ has appointed to exercise His Keys, locking heaven for the unrepentant and unlocking heaven for the contrite. He is the one that the Lord of the Church has called to be on the front lines, going into battle against the forces of Satan.

That’s what the Lord expects of those whom He has called to serve you as a pastor.

The teacher is the voice of Christ, feeding His precious Lambs. He is the one whom the Lord has called to help you in training your child, so that when he is old he will not depart from these teachings. She is the one who takes your child to the Bethlehem manger, to the desert of temptation, to the Sermon on the Mount, to the Garden of prayer, to the cross of Calvary and to the open garden tomb. Your child gets to know, see and trust in Jesus through their teacher.

That’s what the Lord expects of those whom He has called to serve you as a teacher.

As called workers, it is not our agenda, but Christ’s; not our goals, but Christ’s; not our personality, but the person of Jesus Christ who works through your pastor and teachers, complete with all our many failings and frailties, sins and unworthiness. By the grace of God, we are sinners called to serve other sinners with the Gospel. We are cracked pots called to work with broken jars of clay so that the Master Potter may put us all back together. We are sheep who sometimes stray, called to lead other straying sheep back into the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for all of us sheep. We are prodigal sons and daughters, working among many more prodigal sons and daughters, being welcomed back into the home of our good and gracious heavenly Father.

And so, it is our task and privilege, as Christ’s called workers, to do what He expects of us. To give new life to a baby with water and words. To place the very Body and Blood of our Lord onto lips and tongues. To offer resurrection comfort to the grieving. To give hugs to 100-year-old members. To mold and shape a child in the ways of the Lord. To work at putting together lives shattered by sin. To work together as pastor and teachers, members, parents and students – talking to each other, forgiving each other, loving one another and praying for one another. To have ministry meetings with people who love their Lord and His Church and schools as much as we do. To work together as a team to encourage one another and build each other up, to share our struggles, our failures and our victories. To rely on nothing else but God’s Word and His Sacraments for the journey. To represent Christ to the world through the Word spoken and acted out daily in our lives.

We are to do all of this, so that when children see us – any of us – pastor, teachers, parents – that they look up and say, “That’s Jesus!”

That’s all the Lord expects from any of us. Amen.