The Virtue of Vulnerability--July 9, 2025

The Virtue of Vulnerability--July 9, 2025

[Jesus said to the seventy:] "Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road..." (Luke 10:3-4)

It is always a safe bet that Jesus knows what he is doing.

That is true, not just at the times when his words or actions make perfect sense to us (whichever those times might be), but even when Jesus seems to be violating all common sense and flouting all conventional wisdom.

You know, a case like this one.

Today we move a little bit further in the passage many of us heard this past Sunday from Luke's Gospel, as Jesus tapped seventy people in the wider group of his followers beyond the official "Twelve Apostles" and sent them to go to all the places he intended to go so they could announce that the Reign of God had come near.  If that weren't a challenging enough mission, here Jesus makes it clear that these seventy disciples are putting themselves at risk in a world that may well be downright hostile toward them.  And Jesus seems to be aware both of the danger and the way he is making their situation even more precarious by limiting what they are supposed to take on the journey.  Instead of equipping these novice missionaries with supplies, resources, or weapons, Jesus makes a virtue out of their vulnerability.  It is not a bug, but a feature.  They are to go out into the world empty-handed and unarmed, not because Jesus hadn't thought head to get them equipment, but because their open-handed presence in the world is a part of the message.  In other words, Jesus knows exactly what he is doing by sending these six dozen or so disciples out without money, food, or ammunition, even if it seems outrageous to the people they are sent to (or to us, twenty centuries later).

Why would Jesus deliberately send people out like this, as "sheep into the midst of wolves"?  Why wouldn't he at least have them bring some wolf repellant or a good ol' fashioned shepherd's "rod and staff" to keep potential predators and threats at bay?  I am convinced it is because of the very mission itself: these seventy are meant to embody what the Reign of God is like.  Their message to the people wherever they go is "The Reign of God has come near," and the work Jesus has authorized them to do is to represent what it looks like where God's Reign, or God's "kingdom" if you like, breaks into our lives. That means healing for sickness, restoration for those who are hurting, setting people free from captivity to evil spirits, and also the kind of non-dominating, non-coercive presence that Jesus brings when he steps into a room.  Jesus himself trusts God so profoundly that he knows whatever he needs for any situation will be provided when the time is right, and Jesus himself doesn't have the need to bring along sacks of money or an arsenal of weapons to protect himself.  For Jesus, it is possible to engage with the world with hands that are completely empty, so that they are freed up to touch the sick and heal them, to embrace the outcast and welcome them, to hold the hand of the dead and raise them.  That's why Jesus sends out his representatives the same way: that's what the Reign of God is like.

To take it even further, I am convinced that Jesus deliberately sends his disciples out "as sheep into the midst of wolves" because of how he himself ultimately accomplishes God's victory over evil, sin, and death--not as the conquering Lion or the ravenous Wolf, but as the slain but risen Lamb.  Jesus' way of bringing God's Reign is not to conquer people and subdue them, not to seize the reins of power and build and empire, and not to stockpile money or resources for himself (at the expense of other people getting enough).  Therefore he sends his representatives out to model his own way of being in the world--with faith in God's provision, with generosity and goodwill toward all people, and with the virtue of vulnerability.  A messiah who saves the world through a cross cannot introduce himself to the world through messengers who rely on wealth, power, or violence to make their way in that world.  So Jesus sends those seventy--and us today--as reflections of his own deliberately vulnerable way of being in the world.  

And from that perspective, it only makes sense.  Other would-be kings and their emissaries would introduce themselves in the terms of their own empires, of course.  Whenever Caesar sent his legions to conquer some territory, they came marching in classic Roman formations, bearing the insignia of the Empire and clad in imperial armor and weapons.  They would show the people they were meeting what sort of "encounter" they had in mind as they marched into town, claimed the territory for the Empire, and pointed their swords at anybody who dared to protest.  Jesus brings a kingdom of his own, so it is only fitting that he introduce the Reign of God on God's terms--it's just that God's terms are so completely contrary to the ways of human empires and regimes.  Jesus brings the Reign of the God who is kind to the ungrateful and the sinful, the God who lifts up the lowly and fills the hungry with good things, the God whose way of defeating evil is to absorb it without spewing more evil back in return.  Jesus brings the Reign of the God who welcomes "sinners and tax collectors" to the table as beloved guests, the God who heals enemy army officers like Naaman the Syrian and helps foreign widows like the woman of Zarephath to whom Elijah was sent, as both were fed with a miraculous jar of flour and oil that didn't run out even in the famine.  In other words, Jesus actually believes that God will both provide for his needs and enable him to care for others, without needing other protection or provisions--and so Jesus sends his followers out in the same way.  That's how this works.

For us, then, as people sent by Jesus into the world today, we are called to go with the same empty hands so that we will be unencumbered with accessories and free to embrace, to pray, to support, and to help.  We are sent, not to impress the watching world with all our cool "stuff" or with tools for our own security, but trusting that God will provide what we need just as surely as we keep praying, "Give us today our daily bread."  That's how our witness in the world works.

Who do you suppose Jesus might send your way today?  Where do you imagine you might go to bring a glimpse of God's Kingdom today?  How might we have our hands open and empty, even if that makes us look vulnerable (or "weak" or like "losers") in the eyes of the world? And how might our presence like "sheep in the midst of wolves" point people to the One we confess as Lord, who is the Lamb of God?

Let's see where the adventure takes us...

Lord Jesus, open our hands to be ready to serve, love, and help those to whom you are sending us today.