Qualified for LOVE

Mark 6:7-13 (The Message)
Jesus called the Twelve to him, and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition. He sent them off with these instructions:
“Don’t think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple.
“And no luxury inns. Get a modest place and be content there until you leave.
“If you’re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.”
Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.

Dear Friends,

I’ve heard this passage used as encouragement towards missionaries to other countries by saying how God doesn’t call the qualified but qualifies the called. I really truly believe this to be true because, friends, there is no one righteous, no not one, as scripture says. No person is fully prepared to drive out evil and pervasive darkness or help heal lifelong traumas in people or face the realities of sex trafficking and other horrific parts to life. I cannot do these things on my own and no one is ready to. If you think about it, Jesus sent Judas and another disciple out to do this work and I can’t imagine them being qualified either.

God doesn’t call the qualified but qualifies the called. 

But in the same breath, this truth has damaged so many cultures and peoples, historically speaking and throughout today. There were some Christians, with a savior complex, who raised support and funding, were prayed over and moved to another culture to “save it for Jesus.” But in the process, some missionaries have colonized people, stripping them of their cultural identity by saying how sinful their traditions were or how misguided their culture was. With limited training or cultural sensitivity, these missionaries trusted that God’s already qualified them to bring their Western understanding of Christianity to the “pagan peoples” who needed saving. This way of missions has long been detrimentally damaging and severely harmful to people who have already been created in the image of God.

This passage is not that at all. These paired-up disciples are sent, in faith, to different towns. In faith. Not their faith but Jesus’s faith in them. 

When you are sent out into the world every day, regardless of how qualified you think you are, Jesus has enough faith in you and in who God created you as to bring good news of LOVE wherever you go.

These disciples had nothing with them to rely on, so they had to be reliant on the hospitality of the town and fully dependent on God. They weren’t coming in with flashiness, or skits or a light-show or a celebrity speaker as if they had something to offer. They arrived without ego, without pomp, without anything to offer besides the truth of God’s kingdom and the LOVE of Jesus. They arrived as disadvantaged in nature, as paupers in need, fully reliant on the villager’s hospitality. 

They must be good guests, grateful for the shelter and food and kindness. And after staying for quite a long time in someone’s home, eating food from their dishes, helping with housework and helping repair the oxen carts and taking care of the animals and children and going with them every Saturday to synagogue for worship and practicing Sabbath together with this family, these two disciples could share why they were there. They could share the faith they had about what God was up to and how God’s restorative kingdom was arriving. They could share about Jesus and the interesting, compelling, radical person he was. They would talk about the miracles they witnessed, the way Jesus touched the leper and healed him, how he claimed authority over evil things, stopping pain in its path. And as this family and community began to trust, these men took oil out to help heal open sores, anointing the sick with the power of God, casting out the scariest and most evil parts in people’s lives, and helping restore marginalized and sick people back to community. 

Not everyone believed and I’m sure people questioned these disciple’s qualifications. But they still faithfully shared what they had seen, heard, and experienced through Jesus to their new friends.

Friend, you are sent out everyday as a Jesus person into your job, family, and community and the only thing you need to be qualified for is the openness to be in relationship with people who do not know Jesus. It’s never too late and you’re never too old to make a friend, to move into their life and serve them and love them and then share the LOVE of God with them. What they do with it is up to them and God, but what an opportunity to live out the good news of God’s LOVE in a world that’s desperate for it.

God believes you can and has empowered you through the Holy Spirit to do so—embody LOVE, because it has the power to save.

With (love),
Bethany