Think back to when you were little, maybe only six or seven. What did you want to be when you grew up? Chances are that whatever you wanted to be you spent hours practicing. You would sneak into Mom and Dad’s room and go through boxes of old clothes just to dress the part. Whatever you could find to look like the ballerina or the superhero; you knew you were going to be was awesome. If you couldn’t find that special piece of clothing you were looking for, you would make it or use something else and pretend. If you couldn’t find the astronaut helmet you were looking for, you would put a bucket on your head. If you couldn’t find that beautiful, long flowing dress, you would wrap a bed sheet around you. Once you were dressed the part you would spend hours being that person. Your finger all of a sudden becomes a six shooter as you fight Indians all day out west. Your dolls suddenly become the King and Queen of England as you host a tea party in your cardboard box mansion.
When you were little, there was nothing that stood in your way of whatever you wanted to be. You had your sights set on being great and nothing was going to change that. But then, the unthinkable happened…something did stand in your way. Suddenly you realized that you couldn’t fly. Suddenly you realize that your fingers don’t shoot bullets. Suddenly your dolls become just dolls and you realize they can’t talk. Suddenly you can’t be whatever you want anymore and suddenly there are limitations to who you are.
As we get older, we begin to second guess our skills and abilities. We go from being able to run faster than a speeding bullet, being more powerful than a locomotive, and being able to jump tall buildings in a single bound to being, well…normal, average. The passion that we once had to save the world at all costs is gone. We turn in our cape and tights and they wind up at the dump in the recycle pile. We think, well, I can’t be a hero, I’m just average.
One big thing that we forget as Christians, is that God wants us all to be spiritual superheros. He doesn’t care who we are or where we came from; he wants to work through our lives. Throughout the Bible, God didn’t have a checklist of standards that he went through when he wanted someone to do His work. If God did do that, most of the Bible would have never been written. If you had to be old and wise to do God’s work, David never would have killed Goliath. If you had to be young and energetic, Abraham never would have been the Father of the Jews. God took whoever was willing regardless of their age, experience, past, and skills.
As we look at the passage for today, take note of the twelve disciples that Jesus chose to be part of that inner circle. Peter, Andrew, James and John were all fishermen, Matthew was a hated tax collector, and Simon the Zealot was part of a radical and violent political group that was set on overthrowing the Romans. The other six disciples we barley know anything about. All of them were just ok Jews, they were all laymen. None of them were experts in the law or preachers. They were all just normal guys. I guarantee you that if someone had tried to predict who would have been in Jesus’ inner circle before Jesus chose these men they would have been in for a surprise. I don’t think they would have gotten one right.
Jesus doesn’t stop there with the surprises. He doesn’t just pick guys who no one thinks that He would pick, Jesus gives them power and authority to do great things, as we see in verse one. Jesus wanted these normal guys to perform miracles, which, throughout Jesus’ ministry were used to attest to the message of the Gospel.
Verse 5 and 6 seem to throw things off a bit. We have these twelve normal guys who Jesus gives authority to do great things and then he seems to limit them. Jesus says to them, “Um, were not going to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans, we are going to just stick to the Jews for now.” Why does Jesus do this? Does Jesus not really trust the disciples? Does he not care about people who didn’t believe in God? Jesus understood something that we seem to forget a lot. Just because someone has power doesn’t mean they know how to use it.
One of the things that all the disciples had in common was that they were all Jews. In Jesus’ time, the Jews didn’t care for people who didn’t follow God and absolutely despised the Samaritans. One of the first interactions that the disciples have with the Samaritan people is recorded in Luke. In this story, Jesus sends messengers ahead of him to go tell the Samaritan people he was coming, but he was rejected by those people. Because of this James and John ask Jesus if he wants them to call down fire from heaven and destroy those people. Jesus turns to them and rebukes them. “Guys, come on. Why did I give you this power? I gave you this power to help save people’s lives, not to destroy them.” Jesus understood that the disciples were not ready to go to the non-believers of the time because they did not understand the full message of Christ. It is not until Jesus has been resurrected from the dead that Jesus tells them, “Ok, go now to ALL nations.”
We need to look at our lives in light of the resurrection. We need to understand that Christ died for everyone and not just the Jews. Jesus’ command to the disciples to go to all nations, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded applies to us today. We are not limited to the message of the gospel and who it is for because we have the Gospel story available to us.
After Jesus tells the disciples to go out and proclaim the kingdom, Jesus tells them to attest to the message. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons. Jesus is telling them to use the powers that I have given you. Take advantage of it. Attest the message of the gospel. Jesus is telling the disciples to live their lives so powerfully that they are walking and living examples of the gift of Christ.
Verses 9 and 10 I think are the keystone to this commission that Jesus gives the twelve disciples. Jesus after telling the disciples to go tells them to not take anything with them. Don’t take money, don’t take a bag, and don’t take an extra tunic, sandals or a staff. This would have raised some questions in my head if I were a disciple. “Wait a minute, how are we going to eat and get drinks if we have no money. How are we going to stay warm at night if we can’t bring an extra tunic to keep warm at night? How can we survive!?”
I want all the youth to imagine something for a second here. I want you to imagine that you are all in your senior year of high school and you are trying to make up your mind about college or work after graduation. One day, you decide that you are going to skip college and not find a job and just hop on a bus and see where it takes you. You would take no money, not have a guaranteed place to sleep, and only have the clothes on your back. How many of you would feel comfortable telling your parents this is what you choose to do? How many of you parents would feel comfortable letting their kids go on a trip like this?
Jesus wanted the disciples to be wild and adventurous not just to be crazy but because Jesus wanted the disciples to trust him completely. Jesus was saying, take no money because I will provide food and drink for you. Take no extra tunic because I am going to provide places for you to sleep. Jesus wanted the disciples to trust that God would provide all of their needs. Jesus understood that it takes risks to do great things and he was telling the disciples “Trust me!”
To close, I want to look at a clip from Spider-man. In this clip, Peter Parker, whose hidden identity is Spider-man, has only recently found out about his powers. Earlier in the week, he used his powers to beat up a kid at school who was bullying him. Peter sits in the car with his Uncle and listens to some advice.
I absolutely love the line where Peter’s Uncle tells him that, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” How true is that to the Christian message! When we become a Christian we receive the Holy Spirit and are given authority to do great things. We all have the responsibility to be changing the world around us. Superman shirt – God has given all of us the ability to be spiritual superhero’s! Jesus wants to take our cape and tights out of the garbage and give us the passion to change the world again. We should no longer be limited and feel that our abilities are inferior. If we all fully trusted God with our needs and took advantage of the power that we are given imagine how much we could change Essex, Cape Ann and wider parts of the world.
The challenge today is, are we taking the responsibility that God has given us? Are we limiting ourselves because we think we are average? We are anything but normal because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are all unique and specially equipped to do the work of Christ that he has set out for us to do. We need to be spiritual superheroes to all of the people around us each day.
