From Observer to Participant

By Sarah Bucy Klingler

Moving from Observers to Participants: What We Can Learn from Jesus’ Sending Out of the Twelve

September 1, 2024 at Streetlight Community Church

Photo by Sue Winston on Unsplash

Good morning, Streetlight family! It’s Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer. Did you have a good summer? Did you survive the heat and humidity? I personally am so looking forward to cooler temperatures and all things fall. It’s by far my favorite season. In fact, I’ll be pulling out all my fall decorations in the next day or 2 and will be as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve. And I can tell you, a Pumpkin Spice Latte is definitely in my very near future.

So, after a month of different topics and different guest speakers, we’re ready to dive back into our series full force. Let’s see if you can help me fill in some blanks about the series that we’re in. The title of our series is, “God in the ______ (margins).” And we’re covering the books of Luke and ________ (Acts). Awesome! Today we’ll be in Luke 9:1-9. As a bit of a refresher, in Luke chapters 1-3 we learn about the miraculous conception of Jesus, his birth, a little about his early years, and then his commissioning and the start of his ministry years. In chapters 4-8, among other things, we read about many miracles done by Jesus: from the casting out of demons to calming a stormy sea to healing those with physical infirmities such as paralysis, leprosy, a bleeding disorder, and more. And in chapter 7, we see Jesus actually raise a dead man back to life.

In these miracles, we see Jesus bringing wholeness, life, and restoration to people who would have been considered the marginalized, the unclean or impure, people who were often ostracized and left out of community life. Jesus cares about the state of people’s hearts/spirits, yes, but he also cares about their bodies, their lives, their ability to be in and with a community. His redemption is holistic.

Now we move into chapter 9, and today’s sermon will cover verses 1-9. I’d encourage you to follow along in your physical Bible or in your Bible app. And, by the way, if you don’t have your own physical Bible, but you’d like one, please come see me or Ben, and we’ll make sure to get you one.

LUKE 1:1-9 CEB

Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses. 2 He sent them out to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. 3 He told them, “Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. 5 Wherever they don’t welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” 6 They departed and went through the villages proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

7 Herod the ruler heard about everything that was happening. He was confused because some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead, 8 others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. 9 Herod said, “I beheaded John, so now who am I hearing about?” Herod wanted to see him.

Let’s dig in. In the first part of this passage, we’ve got some key characters. Look at verse one. Right away, we see that Jesus is front and center. And who is Jesus talking to? He’s talking to “the Twelve.” The twelve? Is that a band name or a reference to some political group? Of course not. Who are the twelve? (Pause for answers.) Yes, the twelve disciples. Jesus calls the twelve disciples together. This time, though, he’s not calling them together to teach them or to demonstrate his power to them so that they’ll understand who he is. The teaching time and the demonstration time have already happened. That’s not to say there won’t be more opportunities for them to learn and observe their Teacher, but it’s time for the disciples to step it up. It’s time for the apprentices to move from observers of Jesus to participants in the work of the One they have chosen to follow. It’s game time!

At this point, though, I’m not sure the disciples even realized they were merely observers and not participants in the Kingdom. They already assumed they were in the game, in the “in crowd,” and thought they were about to help Jesus usher in a worldly kingdom that would overthrow Rome. After all, they had knowledge and status as the chosen children of Abraham. That’s all that was required, right? No! It wasn’t enough. Even their close association with Jesus wasn’t enough. What we’re reading about in the first part of this passage is a wake-up call. Jesus is calling them deeper, calling them into something radical. He was calling them to actually follow him as true participants in his restoration project.    

Photo by Gabin Vallet on Unsplash

Now the question is, how can the Twelve make this big transition from being observers to active participants? Well, Jesus wasn’t about to just leave them to their own devices. Like any good teacher, he equips and empowers them for the task at hand. He empowered them with the Holy Spirit and gave them authority that could only come from him. This is the same thing he does with us today. The Spirit he gave to the disciples, the same Spirit he gives us today, was also the very same Spirit that empowered and equipped Jesus in his own ministry.

Let’s jump back in the book of Luke for a minute to Luke chapter 3 verses 21-23. Luke 3:21-23 reads, “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.”

Jesus’ ministry truly began when he was commissioned by his Father and empowered by the Spirit. Now he commissions the Twelve to go out in his name, with that same Holy Spirit power, to continue his work.

And just as the Twelve did, we also need to tap into that Holy Spirit power to live and operate in a Christ-shaped, or we might say, Christoform way. Have I, have you, tapped into the power we’ve been given? Have we moved from being just observers to active participants in the Kingdom of God?

Observing is fairly low-key, requires little risk, and doesn’t cost us much. I can show up to church every Sunday and not really engage, read my Bible on my own and pray, but never really actively seek to be a follower of Jesus in how I live, what I think about work, how I vote, how I spend my money, and how I treat the marginalized. Living in a countercultural, upside down way requires a power that we don’t have within ourselves. The Spirit of God works and moves within us to help us take a stand in an Empire-saturated culture. It’s a grand reversal, a thumbing of the nose at the kingdoms of darkness in this world.

The power of Jesus given to the Twelve would equip them to do things outside of what they could do in their own strength. And what he’s empowered them to do is to simply carry on his own ministry and mission. What was that ministry and mission? Look again at verses 1 and 2. “Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses. 2 He sent them out to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick.” They didn’t have to wonder among themselves what they were supposed to do next. They didn’t need to do a vision board or take a leadership class or reinvent the wheel. They simply needed to follow their teacher, their Rabbi, and mimic what he did. And what he did is to heal, cast out demons, and proclaim the arrival of God’s Kingdom. This is the gospel, the good news.

I know healing and casting out demons can seem really out-there for many of us who grew up watching televangelists who were more grifters than they were disciples. But I still believe Jesus has the power to heal people today, from all kinds of things that hold us in bondage. Do you believe that?! And he often uses his followers, you and me, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to do this work. You might be saying, well, I can’t do that! Before you rush to discount your own ability to help bring healing, let’s expand our ideas of healing just a bit. Yes, sometimes miracles mean instantaneous healing or breakthroughs. But sometimes healing and breakthroughs come more slowly.

Are you a nurse or doctor? You are doing healing work. Are you a teacher or a mental health care provider? You are doing healing work. Are you a parent or a grandparent? God can use you to do healing work in the lives of your children and grandchildren. Open yourself up to the ways in which you can participate in the healing work of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I think we would be surprised if we stopped to think about the ways we have experienced healing from others and the ways in which we’re able to bring healing to others. Again, this isn’t just us operating in our own power. This is us conforming ourselves to the way of Christ and being open to how the Holy Spirit wants to work in and through us. Healing practices can include: words of encouragement, offering a meal to someone who is going through a hard time, standing up for someone who is suffering under oppression of any kind, and visiting a friend in the hospital. There are so many examples in this world of people being used by God to be agents of healing.

So, yes and amen, I believe in the kinds of miraculous healings that Jesus and his disciples performed, but I also believe in the slow and steady healing that can come when we are with and for one another, with and for the marginalized, and active participants in the mission of Jesus.

Back to the text. We’re still hanging out in verse 2 because I think these first two verses are critical to understanding the rest of this passage but not only that, to understanding the rest of the book of Luke. My seminary professor and mentor, Scot McKnight, has a translation of the NT called, “The Second Testament.” In his translation, verse 2 reads: “He commissioned them to announce God’s Empire and to cure the weak.” The word Empire has a political connotation, doesn’t it? It reminds us that operating within God's Empire is standing against the oppressive nature of the world's Empires. It has to do with how we think about power and money and should inform how we vote and how we think about other people, particularly the marginalized.

We want to flip the script on what an Empire is and build God’s Empire, built not on power used to harm and oppress others; built not on violence or a false sense of peace; but built on true peace/shalom, on love of neighbor, on power used for and with others. The power given to the disciples and given to us is never to be used for evil, selfish purposes or for abusing or marginalizing others. In rightly using power we come alongside the oppressed and open up ways for them to be empowered. Power is to be used as a gift, not as a weapon.

In the Common English Bible translation and in most other translations, God’s Empire is translated as God’s Kingdom. We don’t live in a country with a King, but we can still talk about the elements that are needed to have a Kingdom. These are taken from Scot McKnight’s Everyday Bible Study on the book of Luke.

1.   A king (God, Jesus).

2.   A rule (by way of both redemption and governing/lordship).

3.   A people (Israel, the church), expanded to the Gentiles and that means, us.

4.   A law (Moses, Jesus’ own teachings of that law) We might sum it up as: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

5.   A territory (the land) Again, expanded from Israel to Samaria and Judea, and all the corners of the earth and honestly, the whole cosmos. (140)

At that time, to proclaim Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords meant challenging the idea that Caesar was lord. Today it challenges our idea that our president or our political party or our country deserve our allegiance. That doesn’t mean we have to hate our president or that we not have opinions about what political party we want to align with; nor does it mean we hate our country. BUT, God calls us to be active participants in His Kingdom, and that is where our hope and allegiance should truly be placed. Jesus came to establish a new way to be human, a new way to use our power in service to others, which breaks down every barrier between people, including gender, ethnicity, and race. He didn’t set up a worldly government because that’s not the way God operates.

When we follow in this subversive Way of Jesus, there will be a price to pay. We read later in chapter 9 of Luke that Jesus says whoever truly wants to be his disciple must take up their cross and follow him. Many of the Twelve would become martyrs, literally dying for their faith. This isn’t meant to scare us, nor is it a license for us to seek out suffering, but it does remind us that our faith shouldn’t just be a cushy, comfortable Sunday morning faith. Faith requires something of us. It comes at a cost. It asks us to stand firmly on the side of love, justice, mercy, joy, hope, and peace in a world wracked with the opposite- hate, injustice, cruelty, apathy, despair, and violence. Warning! These things (love, justice, mercy, joy, hope, and peace) are dangerous things to Empires and systems and their leaders.

Now we’re ready to see what the cost might be for the disciples in moving from observers to participants. Jesus challenges them right out of the gate when he tells them to take nothing with them as they go out in their ministry. Let’s look at verses 3-5: “He told them, ‘Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. Wherever they don’t welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.’”

The call of the disciples is not the same call that we all have. Don’t take this as a blanket statement for everyone and how we should live. And certainly don’t think pastors specifically are called to impoverished lifestyles and that we should no longer give Ben a salary. Right Ben? Jesus is doing a few things here. First, he is encouraging a posture and life of hospitality and generosity, a life of welcoming that sets Jesus followers apart from those who would hoard their wealth and reject Jesus’ prophetic message. This lifestyle the disciples were called into was the lifestyle of the prophets and was also the lifestyle of Jesus. Luke Timothy Johnson, in his The Gospel of Luke commentary says, It’s a “function of prophetic acceptance and rejection.” (148)

You know who readily accepted Jesus and his message and ministry and likewise the message and ministry of the Twelve? Ordinary people, those who had no real power or wealth. Often it was the marginalized- the poor, women and children, those who were outcasts. And these were the people who were generous and provided hospitality. You know who didn’t accept Jesus and his message and ministry and who also didn’t welcome the message and ministry of his disciples? The powerful, the wealthy, those with honor, fame, and status. This included leaders in the Roman Empire but also religious leaders amongst his own people.  

Jesus’ message still rings true among the oppressed and marginalized in our own society, who long for a different way than the systems that hold them down and harm them. Don’t be surprised to find that people in high places, both inside and outside the Church, find the subversive message of God’s Kingdom and those who participate in it, to be a threat. If you are living into this Way of life, you can be sure you might just find yourself going up against the powers and principalities operating in sometimes unexpected places.

If you’re not well-received, “shake the dust off your sandals” and move on. Don’t try to force or coerce or strongarm your way into spaces. Give the Holy Spirit room to work but if you’re not welcomed or given generous hospitality, move on.

We’ve finally reached the end of our passage, and we now have a new character on the scene. It’s a man of power, Herod the tetrarch (which basically just means he was 1 of 4 joint rulers), also known as Herod Antipas. This Herod is not to be confused with his father, King Herod, who many of us are familiar with from Matthew chapter 2. That King Herod, who was visited by the Magi, felt threatened by the birth of Jesus, a new King, and he sought to destroy Jesus by having all baby boys under age 2, in and around Bethlehem, killed. His son the tetrarch, continued in his father’s wicked ways, and was infamous for having John the Baptist beheaded.

So, Herod the tetrarch wondered what was going on with this new figure on the scene. His intel was mixed about who this man was, this Rabbi, this prophet who was performing miracles and who had quite a following. Some people thought he was the very same John Herod had beheaded, who had come back to life. Others said it was Elijah. Still others said it was another OT prophet come back to life. And then the Scriptures tell us Herod tried to see Jesus.

Why? Certainly not to welcome him warmly or congratulate him on all he had done. Remember, the powerful were and are often threatened by Jesus. This Herod, much like his father, was on a reconnaissance mission, to size up his competition, to see if there was a legitimate threat to his own power. And, spoiler alert, at the end of Luke, Herod gets his wish to see Jesus, when Pilate sends Jesus to him, and Herod mocks him and treats him with contempt and sends him back to his new buddy, Pilate, who had previously been his enemy.

For the disciples, it was guilt by association. They were now a threat to the Empire, to the powers and principalities. They were public enemy number 2, second only to Jesus. They would not be welcomed by the likes of Herod. Their participation in the work of God’s Kingdom was indeed political and subversive.  

Whew. We’ve learned a lot from just these 9 short verses. But I want to leave you with just a few more thoughts. In my opinion, part of the reason (but certainly not the only reason!) the Church here in America seems to currently be hobbling along and losing members left and right, is we have a participation problem. We're going to church and praying and reading our Bibles (all good things), but we're not allowing the subversive message and call of Jesus to actually impact how we live and breathe and operate in this world. Participation in God's Empire means we will care about the flourishing of all people; that we'll practice radical love and compassion; and that we will spend our time, energy, and money on this mission.

Will it be easy? No. But moving from observer to participant is vital if we are truly going to call ourselves apprentices of Jesus. An apprentice listens to and observes their teacher's words and also their actions, but then must follow in those same words and ways.

I encourage you to think about what this might mean for your own life. This week I personally have felt challenged and prodded about whether or not I “have skin in the game.” Am I all in? Being apathetic or standing on the sidelines is much more comfortable and perhaps will cost me less. But is this what Jesus is calling me into? Calling us into? He gave everything, gave his life, for our holistic redemption. What are we willing to give?

So, who’s all in? Who’s ready to move from observer to participant in the Empire of God? We can only do it by the power of the Spirit operating in us. But, the time is now. Our world needs Christ followers who do more than proclaim him with our lips. The world needs Jesus apprentices who live their lives in a radical, countercultural way. Let’s be those people! Who’s with me?!

Let’s pray.

Father, Son, Spirit, we are so grateful today to be gathered together as your people. We’ve heard from your Word this morning a challenge to move from observers to participants in your redeeming work in this world and in our communities. The task seems daunting. But we know you’ve empowered us through your Spirit to continue the work of Jesus. And when things get hard, which we know they will, help us to remember your words, Jesus that we read in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

We believe this, and we cling to this promise. Through your life, death, and resurrection, you indeed have overcome and through you, we can overcome as well. Help us to leave here from this place all in, with skin in the game, as we seek to be agents of your holistic redemption. We love you. In the name of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Amen.