We had been told not to eat or drink anything in the village. We knew the precautions were for our safety and the comfort of our own stomachs. We had been cautious all week, cooking our own meals and even brushing our teeth with bottled water. Our work group had been living in a remote Mayan village in the middle of the Yucatan for a week and so far, things had gone very smooth. In the morning before the heat got to be too much we had poured a concrete roof for one of the two Presbyterian churches in the small village, a village where only one person owned a car. In the late afternoon after a siesta and a shower, dozens of children from the village came to the church and we led Vacation Bible School. So, here we were on the last night in the village celebrating a week of ministry and life changing experiences. Our last evening in the village had begun with a two hour plus worship service in which we lifted praise to God by singing not from fine glossy hymnals but from memory…well should we say the people of the village sang from memory in Spanish and our group politely hummed along.
      After being fed by God’s grace in worship, the congregation now hoped to literally give us something to nourish us. After we exchanged a few gifts between congregations, one of the women of the church brought out a very large cake. We all looked at it, grateful for the gift of hospitality but wondering how we were going to dodge this bullet. We knew if we ate the cake there was a chance we would get sick. After some eye contact and non verbal signals between adults in the group we decided we didn’t have a choice…we had to eat the cake! We discreetly handed out pepto bismal tablets to our group. We were going to eat the cake and enjoy it. We had to! The women of the Mayan village had prepared this cake to thank us for helping to build their church and for teaching and playing with their children all week in Vacation Bible School. So we ate the cake, accepting the gift of hospitality that had been set before us.
      Jesus said, “Eat and drink whatever they provide.” Jesus had actually said a few more things to the large group of disciples who were going out to ahead of him. Jesus’ face is still faced toward Jerusalem, that place where he would go to be rejected, to suffer, to die, and to be raised on the third day. But right now, Jesus provides instructions for the journey that 70 or possibly 72 disciples will make.
      There is a discrepancy in the text, with some texts saying 70 and other ancient texts reporting 72. Although not that important, the symbolism behind the number is interesting. Some believe the number 70 coincides with the 70 elders Moses called in the book of Numbers to share in his work with the people. Others believe that that the number 70 can be traced to the 70 nations listed in Genesis 10, thus providing a foreshadowing of the mission of the church to the nations. Whatever the number, 70 or 72, the significance lies with the fact that Jesus sent the disciples into the world as the church. ⁱ
      So with the 70 or 72 gathered there Jesus prepares them for their journey. Jesus begins with the bad news first, telling the disciples about the reality of their mission.
“ The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers of few.” So before, they even take the first step, the disciples must remember that this mission is not one that people are standing in line for. They must also remember who sends them, the Lord and the Lord alone. Jesus seals the deal by saying “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” Comfort is not the issue here, but rather reality, the reality that the disciples will face rejection as they share the peace of Christ.
      After giving them that pep talk, Jesus then tells them what to carry on their journey or rather what not to carry, “Carry no purse, no bag, and no sandals.” And what I find is a rather odd way to make friends, Jesus tells the disciples to greet no one on the road.
      In the next breath, Jesus begins to talk about living in the village and how the disciples should receive hospitality once they are there. Once they have arrived at a village, they are to share the peace with house they enter. The pronouncement of peace was a common greeting as we read in the scriptures and later after the resurrection Jesus would greet the disciples by saying “Peace be with you.”
     Jesus tells the disciples to remain in the same house not trying to find the one with more room or even more comfort. They are to eat and drink whatever is put in front of them. Jesus mentions food twice, underlining the importance of eating what is set before you. Dietary restrictions served to divide many religious communities in the early church. The disciples are not to worry about what is holy to eat or not. Two finals things are added to the “to do list,” heal the sick and announce the kingdom. The disciples are to “announce the kingdom to all” not just those who receive them, but those who reject them as they shake the dust from their shoes.
      Unlike some stories that you have to wait for ending, we read that the 70 or 72 disciples return from their mission rejoicing, “Hey Jesus, even the demons submit to us.” In other words, talk about power; even the most powerful seem to bow to us. Jesus redirects their rejoicing, “Yes I have given you power to tread on snakes and scorpions, but do not rejoice in that power, rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
      “Do not rejoice that you have the power to tread on snakes, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

      Being a disciple and announcing the kingdom of God can be a powerful thing. Some of us take the words of Jesus metaphorically, those words of having the power to tread on snakes and call out demons and others take his words literally.
      In Salvation on Sand Mountain, Dennis Covington takes the reader in the world of snake handling and redemption in Southern Appalachia. In places like Nassau Church where we believe in doing everything decently and in order, we might never dream of taking up serpents, but in some parts of the US even today faithful church people do. Covington visits churches like the Church of Jesus with Sign Following and attends prayer meetings that are held outside under brush arbors. He introduces the reader to a group of holiness Christians who read the Bible literally and when anointed by the Holy Spirit take up serpents. People who take up serpents say they can only do it because the Holy Ghost gives them the power, but when pushed some do speak of being caught up in the frenzy and the speak about the power, about what it feels like to dance with a rattle snake and feel in control and most of…what it feels like to be powerful. ⁱⁱ
      As an outside observer and one that I can promise would never every pick up a serpent, whether in a church or not, I wonder if these God fearing people are experiencing their own power to dominate or trying to experience God’s power of redemption. My guess is it may be a little of both, but power can be dangerous.
      Mission is something that the church has been doing for a long time. Looking back into history sometime we got it wrong, by using our power to dominate other cultures. Other times by the work of the Holy Spirit people were lifted up with medical care, education, and the good news of the gospel. There is a fine line we must walk in mission, wanting to help another in need and knowing what help they really need.
      A few years ago I was having dinner at a conference. This was a church conference, so most of us at the table were pastors and as pastors do most of the time they are gathered together, the conversation turned to our own churches and what they are doing. One pastor shared a story about a mission trip and then as you might expect, each of us had to share our favorite mission trip story. After we had been talking for a while, one of the seasoned pastors whom I respect said that his church had changed their perspective on mission and now were engaging in partnerships of ministry. And he shared why.
      This pastor serves a large church. And after a very large gift from a member in the congregation decided that they wanted to do more in mission. And so this large church set out to find projects. They found projects locally and internationally. They sent a group to a small village in Africa. After accessing the needs of that village, they discovered that the women of the village had to walk three or four miles each way to get water for their families. Seeing the need for the village to have a water source closer by, the team of missionaries built wells right there in the village so that the women would not have to walk as far.
      What this team of missionaries found out later, was that the three or four mile walk out of town was life giving to women of that African village. Most of the women lived with abusive husbands and under great pressure. The daily walk out of town to gathering at that watering hole was their daily salvation, as they were free from the oppression…even if for only a little while.
      Henri Nouwen, the late Catholic priest, who taught at Yale and spent his last days working with the Day Break Community in Canada who cares for adults with disabilities, coined an important term. At one time in Nouwen’s life, he believed that God was calling him to serve in South America and so he went to discern the call. In South American Nouwen experienced what he calls, Reverse Mission: “In encountering the rich spirit of Christ in those I served, I was transformed in the process.” ⁱⁱⁱ
      As the church we go to serve with our abilities, our money, and our gifts. We do good work. Sometimes we are frustrated that the group is not as organized as we would like them to be we continue to work. Most of the time we think that the “people in need” are those, we are trying to help. Do we ever stop to think that we might be the ones who are receiving…. by encountering another in Jesus Christ?
      At times, we may think we know what the mission is or what people need. At times we many even rejoice that we can overcome powerful forces. It is in these times, which we need to think about what Jesus sees and what we can’t. Instead of being motivated by sharing our wealth and doing for another, which are very important things, we may first have to listen again and be aware that those who we think we are helping, in fact are helping us in ways we could never imagine.

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ⁱThe New Interpreter’s Bible: Luke-John, Volume 9 Abingdon Press
ⁱⁱCovington, Dennis Salvation on Sand Mountain Penguin Book, 1995
ⁱⁱⁱNouwen, Henri Gracias! A Latin American Journal, Orbis Books 1993