Pentecost 5
“Getting Over
Ourselves”
Text: Matthew
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father,
and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
You’ve got to be
kidding! I think that had to be one of the first
thoughts to race through the minds of the twelve when Jesus told them what He
was sending them out to do. Because did
you hear that list? Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Sure, they had seen Jesus do these things, but . . . we can’t do that!
Well, they were right. They had to learn what every pastor has to
learn and what every Christian has to learn: to get over yourself. It wouldn’t be them doing these things. For it would not be anything in them that
would qualify them or enable them or empower them to be disciples or
apostles. Not their learning, their
scholarship, their leadership, their charisma, their dashing good looks, or
anything else in them. All those things
are good and useful, but it is only the power and authority of Christ that
would accomplish these things. The very
power and authority Christ had given to them.
But this they had to learn. To
get over themselves, their doubts and fears, and do what had been given them to
do . . . and have Christ work through them.
And so as if to emphasize that point, Jesus
continues with a description of how they are to go, and what its going to be
like out there. Don’t take any supplies,
He says. Rely on what you are
given. I am sending you out as sheep in
the midst of wolves. You will be dragged
into courts. You will be flogged. It just keeps getting worse and worse! First, a list of impossible tasks to do, and then
do them in the midst of an impossible situation. What had they signed up for? Discipleship never seemed so . . . so deadly.
Precisely. For if they are to be followers of Jesus,
where are they following Him to? The
cross. They too must die. They must get
over themselves (or in other words, die to themselves), so that they live
in Christ. In Him and His Word
alone. Relying solely on Him. For it is His work, not theirs. His Word, not theirs. His authority, not theirs. His mission and harvest, not theirs. And
the less of them and the more of Him, the better. And so Jesus sends the twelve out with
nothing, to do what they themselves are unable to do, to teach them. It will be Christ and His Spirit working and
speaking through them. They need only
go.
Pastors need to learn
this as well. To get over
ourselves. For we are not in
control. The Word and work and power is Christ’s. Pastors
need simply to do what they are given to do, speak what they are given to
speak, and give what they are given to give.
God alone grants the growth, gives faith, and changes hearts and
lives. No pastor can do these
things. For only the Word and power and
authority of Christ can use water to cast out demons and raise a person dead in
sin to a new life. Only the Word and
power and authority of Christ can heal those who are leprous and sick with sin
through the word of absolution and forgiveness.
Only the Word and power and authority of Christ can make bread and wine
the body and blood of Jesus to feed and strengthen us Christians with the faith
and forgiveness we need for this life.
Only the Word and power and authority of Christ can fill preaching with
the power to grab hold of a hell-bent sinner on the
road to
But not just disciples, apostles, and pastors need
to learn this – so do you. You as the priesthood of the baptized. You have not been given the same task list as
the disciples or pastors, but what has been given all Christians to do? It sounds something like this: Love your enemies (Mt
We too need to get over ourselves. And if pride is to be full of ourselves, then
it is repentance that empties us of ourselves.
Repentance is the road of discipleship that takes us to the cross and
kills us. To confess that we are that bad. We
are the persecutors, not just the persecuted.
We are the wolves who bite and
devour one another. We put people on trial in our own courts with laws and standards of
our own making, and sit as our own one-man judge and jury. We
don’t drag people before kings – we take on that role ourselves, with our
condemning thoughts and words, assuming the worst about others, and taking
delight in our superiority. Yes, Jesus
sent the disciples out as sheep among wolves because He sent them to people
like us.
But if He sends apostles and pastors to people like
us, it is because He came for people
like us. He sends them to us to give Himself to us. For He
is the Lamb of God who came into the midst of a world of sinful wolves. He
is the One hauled before Governor Pilate and King Herod. He
was the One flogged by men and then devoured by death on the cross, that in His
resurrection from that death, He defeat all that
defeats us. Our sin, our enemy satan, and our death, all
swallowed up in His victory. That His life become our life.
To make us wolves into sheep and sinners into saints through the resurrecting
forgiveness of our sins. To be for us
what we could never be for ourselves: a perfect son of God. And then to give that perfection to us. A free, undeserved, gift of grace.
And while some hear this and say: You’ve got to be kidding! this is what
That is the gift Jesus sends His disciples to
give. That is the gift through which the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. The
healing, cleansing, casting out demons, and raising
the dead were not ends in themselves, but signs that the kingdom of heaven was
at hand. That the forgiveness of Christ
was a full and complete forgiveness and triumph over all that effects us in this body and
life. Little pictures of, and pointers
to, the resurrection that is ours in Christ.
And so the disciples went, following in the
footsteps of Christ. And so we go,
following those same footsteps. And you
know what? The disciples did those things they thought they couldn’t do. Because they were not alone. And as we go, it is the same for us. And as you live in Christ and Christ in you,
you begin to do those things you thought you couldn’t do. Those things Christ has given you to do: helping, praying, forgiving,
serving, loving.
Never completely perfectly in this life (to be sure!), and so also following
in the footsteps of your Saviour to His cross, to die and rise with Him. To repent and receive His perfect
forgiveness.
So follow those footsteps now again today to this
altar, to your Saviour, to eat and drink His body and blood; to live in Him and He in you; to receive the faith, forgiveness, and
resurrection you need to live this life you have been given to live.
In the name of
the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Amen.