Your Call Matters

Summary:

Even Jesus was not welcome in his home (much to his own surprise). That didn't stop him from continuing on by way of his disciples. He sent them out in pairs to prolaim.  The good news. If they were welcome, the should stay, if they were not. 

Transcript:

Good morning everybody. My name is Jeremy. I am one of the pastors here at Journey and I get to preach today and every time we read scripture here at Journey, we invite people to identify a word, thought, phrase, or idea that sticks out to them as scriptures being read. And I've read this passage numerous times throughout this last couple of weeks and really what stuck out to me this time is this, all he could do was heal a couple of people. That's all he could do was just heal. And I just thought that's so interesting that the expectation of what was supposed to happen was many healings, which we'll read was kind of the norm for Jesus at this time. But I can't imagine on the fourth Sunday of journey when we lay hands on people and pray, if we had one instant healing, we would talk about that forever. 

And so to be disappointed that there is only a couple of healings is just such a fascinating insight into what Jesus' expectations perhaps were and what the other people's expectations were in this passage. But we are looking at Mark six, excuse me, one through 13 as the primary passage today. That's what Ms. Mary just read for us. And Mark is an interesting book. I like Mark. It's not my favorite gospel, but it is a good gospel. It's one of four, but I think it's a good gospel for us here at Journey because this gospel is interested in specifically writing about the ways to follow Jesus. That's what this whole gospel is about. How do you follow Jesus specifically as non-Jewish people? So Mark's writing to a largely gentile or non-Jewish community here. So he has to explain a lot of the rules and stuff that Jesus seems to be breaking. 

We just kind of inside the church world, they're going to be mad at him. He broke these rules and Mark has to kind of explain why they're mad, but he is not so much about the rules as he is about telling the stories of how to follow Jesus. And now that doesn't mean that Mark is an anarchist and just says, forget all the rules of what we need to have, but the idea is following the ways of Jesus and modeling our patterns after his life. So he has to teach rules about fasting and Sabbath and what to talk about in the synagogue where he read scripture and where he was able to teach Mark, he's getting the stories from Peter. So Mark is the aide to Peter. He gets these stories from Peter, he writes them down as best he can and another purpose of the book, I'm telling you this because I think it's interesting and helps set the S stage, is it helps to establish Peter's apostolic or he's a real apostle, his apostolic succession. 

So this is what we're setting up to here in Luke and before we even get to chapter six, I went through and read the verses leading up to it. This is obviously part of a larger story of Jesus's ministry in here. So he is not, we're not just dropping ourselves into, he went to his hometown and people were mad at him and wanted to get rid of him. A lot has happened up to this point in Mark specifically Jesus was baptized and then he was tempted by Satan for 40 days and 40 nights he comes out of that. He heals some people. He calls his first disciples as he's walking around Galilee, he drives out some demons, some basic Messiah type stuff. He heals more people with leprosy. He heals the paralyzed man that is drops down through the roof by his friends, right? He went to a town, there was so many people there that they had to cut a hole in the roof and lower him down and he said, your sins are forgiven. 

He got up and walked away. This is one of the first times he made the teachers mad because they said, who are you that you can forgive sins? You can't do that. After that, he goes in eat with Levi, the tax collector, and they were all mad about that, so he forgive somebody. The healing part was okay, the forgiveness of sins apparently was not okay. Then he eats with the tax collector, the worst of the worst in the society. So they're up in arms about that. Then he teaches about fasting because they ask 'em about that. They teach 'em about Jesus teaches the people about the Sabbath is where we get the saying that the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around. He eats food on the Sabbath. He heals a man's hand on the Sabbath and they're all mad about that. 

He gathers this large following, he officially appoints the 12 disciples. He appoints them as the 12. As he's teaching with these large crowds, it gets so out of hand at one of these gatherings that they call his family to come and get Jesus. They say, Hey, you need to come get your boy because he's doing too much. And so his mom comes down and his brothers come down, and while they're on their way down, the teachers are calling Jesus a demon, bu because he's driving out demons. So Jesus corrects them and that as well. His mom and his brothers get there and they say, Hey, Jesus, your mom's here. You need to go out. She's coming to collect you because you're talking crazy. And he says, who is

my mom? Who are my brothers? And then he tells the crowd, you are my mom and you are my brothers if you do work with me. 

And so that drives people nuts. He teaches the parable of the sower, which is kind of a little bit important a little later, but that's the parable where you go out and you throw the seed and some seeds will land in rocky ground, the thickets and weeds and on the pavement or the path and some will land in rich soil. He then goes on to tell the parables of the lampstands, the growing seed and the mustard seed. He's out on the boat during this time and calms the storm with the apostles. He goes and clears out a demon and puts them into 2000 pigs that run and jump off the side of a cliff. And that's miraculous. He raises a dead girl from right in the middle of the mourning process of that. And while he's on the way to heal or to raise that girl from the dead, he heals a lady who has touched his cloth because she believes in his healing powers and he teaches if you believe or because you're faithful, because of your belief, you'll be healed and it's really good and really great and that all happens and we finally arrive at chapter six or Jesus heads back to his hometown to visit to teach because his main ministry was teaching. 

Mark is writing all about how Jesus goes and he teaches at these different places parables are meant to teach. He's not really, he heals people and that's great. That's not his primary mission. He's there to teach and to inform people of what is right and what is wrong, at least as we read a lot in Mark. So Jesus leaves his headquarters in Erna. So as he travels around Galilee, Erna is kind of the headquarters about 20 miles northeast of Nazareth. And so he walks 20 miles and he goes and visits and he sits down and this is where we pick up. I'm going to read the first three verses of Mark six here again. He says, Jesus left there Erna and went to his hometown accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. 

Where did this man get these things? They asked, what's the wisdom that has been given him that he even does miracles? Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon aren't his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him. So Jesus, he goes to the synagogue, he probably reads some scripture. You read scripture and you get up and you get to teach about that scripture, and that's kind of how it goes. So it'd be like if Ms. Mary came up here and read the scripture, she would sit down and we would all listen to Mary talk about whatever the scripture was. That's how it worked. Jesus read scripture and then he taught and they took offense to his words and it is not like they didn't know who Jesus was. His reputation kind of preceded him. 

And when he leaves his hometown and he comes back with at least 12 people that are following him with full devotion and the crowds that follow him and the healing words are going to get back to whoever, even though multiple times Jesus says, don't tell people what happened, just go about. But everybody wants to witness to a miracle that has happened to them. And so why did they take offense to him? Well, if you remember, his family had to be called earlier in Mark to come get him, right? Because he had been teaching so many things. The teachers were getting really nervous about what he was teaching, what he was saying. It was the crowds were very large, so they already were kind of nervous with him to the point where they had to call for an intervention at least once. But this is not the only passage we have in scripture where Jesus is talked about not being welcome in his hometown. In fact, if we look, we're going to turn over to Luke chapter four. You can turn there with me or the words will be up on the screen. And again, this is a moment where he is teaching in Nazareth and it gives a little bit more indication of how Jesus taught and how perhaps his words were a little bit more radical than the teachers would have liked for their congregations or the peoples that followed them. Luke chapter four verses 14, and we're going to read through chapter 30. 

Okay, I forgot the first two verses, so I'll read them and then we'll pick up with chapter 16. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as was his custom, and he stood up to read the scroll of the prophet. Isaiah was handed to him, unrolling it. He found a place where it is written. The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. 

The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. So this is where he reads the scripture that was handed to him. He sits down, everybody waits for him to start teaching on what he just read. He began saying to them, today, the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. All spoke well of him and we're amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. Isn't this Joseph's son? They asked. Jesus said to them, surely you will quote this proverb to me, physician, heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Kaepernick. I tell you the truth. He continued. No profit is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 

Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zfa in the region of Saddam. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, only naming the Syrian. All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up and drove him out of town and took him to the brow on the hill where the town was built in order to throw him down the cliff, but he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. So Jesus had already faced so much anger in his teachings that they were willing to throw him off the side of a cliff because of what he said. Now this might be the same incident. It might not be, and it might be a difference of timing where he showed up. But either way, these words give an indication of what he was trying to get across to the people that followed God, the Israelites, the people that were chosen to spread the good news to the entire world. 

So first, Jesus says He read this girl and he says, you're going to ask me to do all this cool stuff. You've heard me doing this healings. You're going to ask me to do all this stuff and it's going to be great. Instead of giving a simple no or that's not happening here, Jesus said, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. And then he goes on this teaching. Just to reiterate, Elijah and Elijah were both prophets that God had called to speak and neither one of those prophets were called to the Israelites for them to speak to them. They did not visit God's people even though there were needs that needed to be addressed, widows and those with leprosy. Instead, the prophets went to two people who were not inside their culture. The prophets went to people that were not a part of the people that knew who God was, that worshiped God that follows God's commands and tried to show the whole world who God was. The prophets didn't go there. 

And why does he bring these two instances up of Elijah and Elijah? Well, it's pretty simple and not fun to hear for these people is the nation of Israel had rejected the word of God. Their hearts were hardened to the teaching of the prophets. They were hardened to the teaching of scripture and how to live their life. They become insular or they had not been welcomed to other people. They had put rules and laws and regulations above people and above caring and loving and helping others. They rejected Israel, rejected the prophets of God because their hearts were hard. God's promise is that the world will know who God is. I mean God is going to make God self known to everybody. It was supposed to be done through this select group of people that God said, I'm going to bless you and they're supposed to still be a witness to this day. 

But what are you going to do if the people that you have chosen have turned away from you? Well, God is not going to stop because of that, because God is bigger than that. So God took the prophets and sent them to people who would be receptive and willing to listen to the words being spoken. And so instead of going to the Israelites, they went to the Gentiles, more specifically people who were opposed and against the Israelites like the enemies if you will, looked down upon Israelites, looked down upon them. And so this made them mad. I don't know if it was shame or it was not a good period for them or they never stopped to reflect on why Jesus was saying these things or bringing them up. They were embarrassed. I don't know, or they just felt like Jesus did not have the authority to call them out like that. 

They became so mad again, they were going to take him. They took him to the edge of town where the cliff was and they were going to throw him off because what he was saying was too pointed, maybe too aggressive too not make you feel good and out of defensiveness breeds destruction. Jesus. They started out by saying, do all these cool healings. And Jesus says, I'm not here to do magic tricks. I'm not here to show off for you. I'm not here to bring thunder and rain and fire and lightning and destruction upon your enemies. I'm here to teach you that what you're supposed to be doing has already been taught, but your hearts are hardened. And so for whatever reason, he was just able to walk through the crowd. He just walked away from the fight, which is fighting 1 0 1. Just walk away from the fight if you can, and he goes on to continue preaching and teaching and healing. 

So then if we go back to Mark now in verse three, just to pick up where we were, chapter six verse three, this is how this interaction is read or written again, isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon aren't his sisters here with us and they took offense at him. Now, there's a really big difference in the way that the people in Luke spoke about Jesus and the people in Mark spoke about Jesus. Does anybody know anything stick out to them when they talk about Jesus? Pop quiz time. 

That's okay. It is Luke. They say they call Jesus the son of Joseph and then Mark, the people say Mary's son. Now this is as you're reading through it, we all know we know Joseph was married to Mary and raised Jesus as a little boy, so we don't think much of it. We know that Mary is a very important person. She raised Jesus and is Jesus's mother, but the way that it's written about and spoken about is a very, very big difference. Names matter how you identify somebody in scripture or speaking about them matters. If you remember, if you were here when we talked about Mary Magdalene, she's a pretty cool person because she is a person that is named Mary and she has an identity that is not associated with other people, but she has an identity that is associated with a place she's her own person. 

Mary Magdalene, the hierarchy kind of goes if you're a man, you really don't get named. You don't get called like Jeremy's son of Tim. You're Jeremy, and if you're a woman, it goes your father's name, brother or husband's name, father's name, brother's name, sibling's names. So the fact that they in one instance called him Joseph's son, that's good. That's affirming. Isn't this Joseph's son? We love him. He's great. And the next instance when they say is this Mary's son. It does two things. One, it casts a lot of suspicion on where Jesus comes from. Who is his father? What's his family lineage? Who is he? Does he have authority to speak in this matter? Why are we listening to him? Because obviously his home life is a little messed up and we're going to bring it out in front of everybody and kind of knock him down because of it. 

Two, it changes the focus of the teaching into are you caring for your own family? He includes all the siblings and the brothers who are named the sisters who are not, and Mary, are you caring in doing what you're supposed to be doing for your own family? Jesus, the names matter in this instance. And they also bring up, isn't he a carpenter? Now, there's nothing wrong with carpentry or the trades at all, but what this is saying is why do you have the authority to speak to us in this way about scripture when you are just a carpenter? Careers matter, titles matter because if anything about Jewish culture, you are a young man. You study a lot of scripture and if you have the aptitude and abilities, you are called by a rabbi to follow along and get taught and learn the ways of scripture. 

And Jesus didn't do any of that right? He taught at a young age and at the synagogue and then he just went on about his own business and started teaching on his own. So isn't this the carpenter? Why is this man talking to us like this? There's a phrase that is shared between both of these accounts and the other two gospels actually, and it goes something like this. This is how it is read in Mark. This is chapter four. Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and his own home. 

The phrase of not being welcome home seems kind of maybe in my mind, maybe yours a little bit counterintuitive. You'd hope that home is a welcoming place for you to come back to and rest and people know you intimately and know you well and know your mannerisms and know what you are like. But Jesus says through all these different accounts that a prophet is not welcome back at home or with his relatives, and I don't know why this, I read some of this. They would've known Jesus as a kid, and if you have ever been around kids, you know that kids do a lot of interesting things, some good, some bad, some annoying, some a little crazy. You watch them grow up and develop, interact with the world, learn things because remember, Jesus was a kid at some point. Jesus had to learn how to walk. 

He had to learn how to walk around and do business and work with his hands and interact with people so they would've seen Jesus grow up. So who is this young whipper snapper, 30 years old coming to teach us about this type of stuff? We just come and relax. Jesus, don't call us out on all our stuff that you've had 30 years to look at and judge us for, but it seems pretty clear that they knew he was interesting enough to be amazed by or to be wowed at, but it does seem pretty clear that they could not recognize the teachings and healings as anything more than smart words and divine power. Now, those are pretty interesting things and important things to recognize a smart person and divine power. Those are great healing is good, teaching is good, but they could not see Jesus for who Jesus was claiming that he was the son of man, the son of God who has come here to teach them the ways of how to interact in the world and how to be a follower of the creator of the universe they had living to Jesus, to his parental lineage or his earthly parental lineage of Joseph and Mary. 

They limited him to his profession and were as blind as the nation of Israel was when Elijah and Elijah walked on the earth to speak for God. They had limited Jesus because of who he was, how he was raised and by who he was raised and by what he could do as a career in case this whole Messiah thing did not work out for him, right? That's what they put the limits on him for. And in the same way that Nazareth could not recognize who Jesus was, the nation of Israel could not recognize the prophets of God as they spoke, but they could not hear. We also probably limit people in a lot of ways. Now, this story is not just to make fun of all the people that didn't get it when Jesus was walking around, but we as well probably limit people in a lot of ways. 

We limit people to levels of education and career paths and age and physical or mental capabilities or different impairments. I mean, we might not do it overtly or even be conscious of what we are doing, but we certainly place limits on people that are different than us because we put some kind of meaning on their life that is probably not there. That's not to say we should always give equal footing to every voice because if they have no idea what they're talking about, it's important to know and to suss out what are good teachers and bad teachers and faithful people and unfaithful people and people filled with love and people who are unfilled with love. There are people who've dedicated their lives to be experts, and I wouldn't go to Jonathan for advice on how to post a good Instagram story or a good Instagram graphic. I just would not do that. But I would go to him and I go to him regularly on spiritual matters, right? I follow him very closely on what he teaches from the scriptures and how he teaches about spirituality. So to know who you're talking to is important. 

Perhaps though we even limit ourselves in capacity of what we can do and what we are able to do and how we can recognize God in our lives. Have you ever said to yourself something along the lines of, I am only a teacher. I am only a plumber. I am only a person who's in a wheelchair. I am only somebody who receives disability. I am only whatever you want to put into that. We limit ourselves all the time. Always say things like, I can't do this because whatever, I've not been trained in it. I don't know how to do it. I'm not interested, not interested. I have not had the teachings how to do that. I don't understand it. I can't do this thing because blank. We limit ourselves much in the same way we limit other people, but I want you to hear that your own witness to the work of Jesus in and around you and your life is not limited or hampered by your age, your location, your education or your vocation. You are able to understand and see God working in and around you if you slow down to pay attention to it. 

And Luke, Jesus leaves the crowd by walking through them, right? He has his teaching. It is controversial and they want to throw 'em off the cliff and he just walks through them. He says, Nope, not happening. You're not throwing me off the cliff today in Mark five through six, he says he could not do any miracles there. Okay? So in the teaching back of Mark, he could not do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them, and I think he was amazed at their lack of faith. He was amazed at their lack of faith. That's such a fascinating passage. How could Jesus who knows a lot of things and has done all these healings and all these great works and driven out demons and comes to teach, is amazed at their lack of faith because he has taught something that offends them, which is usually a good sign at some point in hearing a teaching that to be offended because it takes you to look at yourself as to why that might be so in response, Jesus doesn't walk away. 

He continues on the mission, not on his own two feet, but by sending out those 12 disciples that he had appointed as little people to carry out the good news and to carry out the message, calling the 12 to him, this is starting at verse seven, calling the 12 to him. He began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. These were his instructions. Take nothing for the journey except the staff. No bread, no bag, no money. Near belts, wear sandals, but not an extra shirt whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town, and if any place will not welcome you, listen to you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. Then they went out and preached and people that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them the mission of God, the mission of Jesus to spread the good news, to teach people and to show that the kingdom of God is near was stopped because of the unbelief of the town of Nazareth, but it was continued on through the teachings and the work of the disciples who followed the ways of Jesus as best they could. 

What's interesting is if the town that they went to, the house they went to was not up for it, they weren't told to stick it out and make them believe and teach them more and more scripture until they get it. They weren't told to rationalize it. They weren't told to argue about it. They weren't told to stand outside their house and sing hymns and praises until the walls fell down. They were simply told to move on, just move on and go to the next spot where people are welcoming to you. And what I think was amazing is they went, and I would assume they at least said why they were there. Hey, I'm Peter. I'm here to tell you about the good news. However, his little spiel went with his buddy who he traveled with, and if nothing else, if people would just close the door, they at least heard the good news at one point. 

And so even though they might have been the rocky ground or they might have been the weeds that ate up the seeds, at least a seed was starting to be planted and starting to be tilled and starting to be cultivated so when the next person comes along, they have a little bit more of an idea of what is happening, so they're not like the people who are hearing the book of Mark who have to be explained all the customs and what the good news is and who Jesus is because they already have somewhat of a foundation of it, but you do not stand out there and if you're rejected to continue on to trying to berate them to follow the ways of Jesus. I know this is a tough concept because it feels like you're abandoning people that you're supposed to go to and where you're out on in a prayer walk or you're out trying to evangelize. 

You go and you think you have a purpose and you may have felt a purpose to go there and you knock on the door or talk to people and they say, no thank you, and you're like, well, I'm supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be on this journey. I can't abandon these people. They have to know who Jesus is, but I think there has to be trust in what God has called us to do is to preach the good news and move on if it is not open and receptive for us. It's always to me in my mind, I equated it to practicing a very difficult piece of music. When I started playing guitar in my junior year of high school, there are a lot of songs that I wanted to play. Actually, I think I was just talking to David about this morning about we wish we knew how to play guitar when we were kids, like we know how to play guitar today. 

The problem is when you're younger and you want to learn all your favorite songs by these really amazing guitar players, you could struggle and be miserable and give up or be frustrated and hate the guitar and hate the instrument when your time is probably better spent doing the next best thing that is available and open to you, which in music would be practicing your scales boring but necessary because that is the next available and open path for you to follow. You don't just keep trying the same thing over and over again and failing without getting better at something. That's how I equated it a little bit in my mind. But people who are willing to listen to the gospel, those are the people you stick around with and you work with, and I think I need to say that if people are receptive and open to hearing who Jesus is or walking alongside us as people who follow the ways of Jesus and people are open and willing to work with us, that does not mean it's going to be easy. 

That does not mean it's going to be a cake or a walk in the park, or it's not going to be woo-hoo, we baptized 5 million people because they said yes to our friendship. No, it's going to take work and relationship and devotions to the community is going to take being willing to be hospitable to them and allowing them to be hospitable back to us and to learn from one another. They're not easier to necessarily teach people who are willing to hear the gospel in many ways. Again, it's more difficult because now you've committed to at least the current time period in life to journey and a walk alongside them, and that could lead to great victories and wonderful stories that could lead to a lot of frustration. I can tell you one great story I have is there's a young girl who had been in church her whole life and when I was the worship leader, I her didn't recognized her talent and invited her to sing with us on stage to sing and be in the worship band, and she did that for a while. 

She was super nervous. We worked through it, and by the time I left, she was a board member, like 18 or 19 years old for this church, and one of the things that she credited to was being on the worship team, being given an opportunity to sing and to express her talents. That's just one little simple way that through music we're able to pray and to work. There's also people that you commit your life to that will just up and leave the church for no reason, no warning, no words, and you know what the time is over. Then the time to move on to the next thing is then and you move on to the next receptive and willing person or group that will work alongside you in the way to knowing who God is. The exciting thing is that if the seed is planted, someone else, like I said earlier, can come along and help it grow. 

Everybody here has people. Everybody in this room has people that they can talk to that I cannot talk to, and that's because already friends or you already have a different culture that you can skip past all the pleasantries and all the things you need to get things to work. There's a different language. You all have people that you can talk to differently than I can. When we come to church on a Sunday morning, we come here to be encouraged to meet together, to care for one another, to come together with common language so that we are inspired and happy, maybe not happy but fulfilled, to go out into our local context and our local communities to just be Jesus in the communities that we are a part of. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, so the good work of declaring the kingdom of God present was of the utmost importance to continue, but Jesus couldn't do it alone, right? 

Jesus, even Jesus healing teaching the Messiah could not reach the heart and hearts of people who are not receptive to. It's like when you tell your kids something and they don't believe you because they know everything, but somebody else tells them the same exact thing and they do. It's like the world has opened up for them, and I have learned in my best days to not be upset that they have chosen to ignore the same advice that I have given them, but to celebrate that they're going to do the thing that I asked them to do in the first place. But Jesus himself had to send out his disciples to reach the ends of the earth. 

Jesus sends us in our context to proclaim the good news. We're here in Dallas because St. Mark opened up their building to us to rent, and we were able to work here in East Dallas. We're at McKenzie Elementary because they were willing to let us host a movie on the wall there. We're working with the refugee family because we were welcomed and invited in to do the training and pass it, and we were trusted enough to have a family given to work alongside, and so my question is to you, what are you welcomed into? The others would not be. Where is your context and your sphere of influence that you yourself are welcomed into that I Jeremy cannot reach, that they're going to have an idea of who God is and who Jesus is, and there's not going to be correct, but you can through your faithful presence, change that narrative very slowly and deliberately for them. 

Your calling and your location and your vocation, they all matter. They all matter. Where you find yourself right now matters. Who you interact with throughout the day matters. Jesus sent out the 12 in pairs so they didn't have to do it alone, so you don't have to do this alone, right? That's another big important part, and Jesus has called us to him to send us out just like he sends out the disciples. It's a lot of work. It's hard work, but it's good work. So let us not be upset like those in Luke who want to throw Jesus off a cliff because he points out something that we don't like that has wronged them. Let us not be like the people who discredit Jesus or others for their vocation or their family lineage or what they do, but let us be welcome guests into wherever we have been led by the Holy Spirit.