Leave the Baggage Behind: A Sermon for 3A Pentecost

 There were a few choices this week for what I could preach on, but in the end, it was the instructions about the disciples preparing to go out to the masses without a staff or two tunics, etc. that caught my attention. And as I read through the commentaries, I found that the practical advice had another underlying thought that was relevant to so many people who I encounter. I have had way too many conversations with people who think they're being helpful to me, but in reality, they're projecting a lot of their own stuff onto me. 

Projection is normal, and it is important to be aware that when we take something from our own experience and try to universalize it, we may be compounding the concerns of the person or group we're addressing. Because they are not us, and we are not them. 

Surprisingly, this sermon seemed to hit a chord with a number of parishioners. Further confirmation to me that the Spirit loves all the commentaries...and still has more to say!

Text: Matt 9:35-10:23

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Anybody who has had to fly on a commercial airplane in the past 20 years knows that it’s a hassle.

Once you’ve dropped off whatever bag you want sent through to your destination…you then have the fun of going through the T-S-A checkpoint.

There… you have to take off your shoes…or not…that seems to keep changing. You have to take off your belt…or not. Again… who knows.

If you have a carry-on bag with any kind of electronic anything…that has to get unpacked and placed in a tray…along with your phone… your keys… your whatever other items in your pockets.

Hopefully…you won’t leave any of that stuff behind as you redress yourself on the other side of the screening machines and conveyor belts.

Then it’s the rush to get to your gate which seems to be on the other end of everything…the getting onto the plane… cramming your one bag into an overhead bin or under your seat…robbing you of whatever leg room the airlines are offering these days.

What was once advertised as an exciting adventure to “fly the friendly skies” is now a gauntlet of misery.

Jesus’ advice to the disciples not to carry too much with them on their journeys sounds like sound reasoning for flying today, doesn’t it?

Of course, flying…and the T-S-A… wasn’t on Jesus’ mind when he was giving his instructions of mission to the disciples.

And it’s interesting that it depends on which Gospel account of this speech we read that we learn what exactly the disciples can or cannot have with them.

For instance… in the Gospel of Mark…Jesus lets them carry at least a staff and one pair of sandals as they go about the villages of ancient Palestine.

Eugene Boring… a noted New Testament scholar… notes that Jesus’ message in giving this directive to the disciples is about the fact that at any moment…those in Matthew’s community might be called upon to go out as the prophets did in the Old Testament.

And like their prophetic ancestors…they were to count on the presence of God among those they were going to to show the hospitality expected of God’s people.

Come as a guest to the village with nothing more than the power to heal and care…and let those in the village show you hospitality.

And if they don’t… then move on.

I think there’s another way we can look at this passage…one that relates to the beginning of our Gospel.

Jesus has gone out.

He’s doing his mission of heading to the people who are sick… the friendless… and the needy. And as he looks around… he sees that the needs are enormous. There are crowds and crowds of people…sheep with no shepherd.

That phrase… “like sheep without a shepherd” has a lovely poetic ring for us.

For the original hearers of this Gospel… it was a reference they’d remember from the Book of Numbers as Moses was nearing the end of his life and preparing for his successor.

Jesus sees the crowds and has compassion for them.

That word “compassion” is more than just a feeling of “Awwwwww…these poor shepherdless sheep.”

“Compassion” conveys that Jesus not only sees the troubled people of these crowds… he’s willing to enter their experience…and truly meet them in their place of sorrow and hurt and illness.

This is a matter of true engagement with wounded people….being fully present with those in need.

Jesus does that work so well.

But the harvest… meaning the vast expanse of humanity before him… was huge. And this is when Jesus looks to the twelve…those fishermen… and hotheads… and well-meaning if confused followers…and asks them to pray that God might find those with the God-given abilities to help.

And…as it happens…those prayers were answered.

The qualified…the right people for this mission to the masses… were those very fishermen…hotheads and well-meaning if confused followers!

Jesus makes them apostles…meaning “sent ones” and they are empowered to go out and do the work among the wounded of the harvest.

There’s some risk in this mission.

Some of these apostles are…as I said…kind of hotheaded…most notably Judas Iscariot.

But still they are “the sent”… the apostles…with a mission to do God’s work among God’s people.

Today…those apostles are you and me.

We’re the ones directed at the end of this worship service to leave here and take the experience of being re-membered as children of God…through word and sacrament…and move back out into the larger community.

And Jesus tells us “Don’t take any baggage with you”…both literal and I would argue…figurative.

Because when we go and enter the space of another person…when they welcome us into their world… we need to remember to leave our own baggage at home.

Whatever our concerns are… even if they seem to be relevant to the encounter we’re having with another person… those experiences are our experiences…not the other person’s.

Some of the most unsatisfying… and hurtful conversations happen when someone who thinks they’re coming to help another… instead burdens them by bringing their own baggage to the situation and spilling the contents of that proverbial suitcase all over the floor.

Being fully present with another person is not easy.

It takes a lot of work.

It takes patience.

It takes listening without judgment to another person’s experience…imagining what it must be to live life through their eyes.

Yes—we might be able to empathize.

We might resonate deeply with that experience.

We might hear in their words the same words we’ve spoken.

So, we know…really know at a cellular level…what a person is going through.

And—still—it’s their experience, their baggage. Not ours.

This type of mission work takes prayer.

A prayer that God’s presence be known and shown through us.

That when we speak, we don’t have to worry about how we “speak or what we’re to say; for what we’re to say will be given to us at that time; for it is not us who speaking, but the Spirit of God speaking through us.”

The author Anne Lamott says she has some very simple prayers.

In her book Traveling Mercies…she said her prayers to God boiled down to: “Help, help, help” and “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She’d later add “Wow!” to the list. “Wow!” is always a great prayer.

It’s a wonderful prayer for that moment when God’s presence becomes obvious in the giving and receiving in relationship with one who has been hurting.

Just as in the days of Matthew’s Gospel…we’re in a time where showing up and patiently listening to another’s story is so important.

We have opportunities to do that with our sister Episcopal Churches here in Valdosta.

Whether we’re gathering with them to make meals for medical students treating migrant farmworkers… or putting together PB&J sandwiches for the children at Ora Lee West and Hudson/Dockett…we can use that time to reach people who could stand to have an empathetic ear.

The key is to remember to leave our own baggage at home and tread lightly into those spaces…and follow in the path of Jesus…that path of health, healing, and hope with unconditional love.

In the name of God…F/S/HS.