The Good Infection
Proper 6
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Back at the start of the pandemic, one of the big medical schools (I’m not sure which) produced a graphic cartoon to show how highly infectious diseases like respiratory viruses spread. It showed a large box with dozens of blue dots bouncing off each other. Then one red dot entered the box. When it touched a blue dot, that dot turned red, as did any dot it touched. Every red dot turned any blue dot it touched red. Soon, most of the dots turned red.
That’s how cold and flu bugs spread across the world, although not ever at 100%. Its principle applies to ideas as well. Ideas stick to people and spread quickly, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. They can sweep across cultures. Ready examples are in popular music. The Beatles got so popular that their live performances were drowned out by the audience’s screams. Or K-Pop – which is a Korean dance music craze that began about 10-15 years ago and remains wildly popular.
Other ideas spread that way, too, for better and for worse. That is why C.S. Lewis called Christianity “the good infection.” As it spreads from parent to child, friend to friend and by any other means of contact. As its blessings take root, each infected person becomes a carrier. The more infected we are, the more infectious we become. (When I say infected, I mean in the deepest, most sincere and true way. It’s not us, we are the carriers. It’s the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us.)
Surely as Jesus healed and taught, some of the crowds were connecting with him, telling other people what they had seen, heard and experienced. Those who picked up the “good infection” were surely infectious. The crowds grew.
But today’s Gospel reminds us that sharing the Gospel is not primarily random. Jesus also called those twelve particular disciples as his core team. He gave those twelve particular attention, teaching them more deeply, explaining the meaning behind parables and the miracles he did. And they saw him, how he lived, how he prayed, how he reacted to everything.
But Jesus shared more than ideas and his example with them. Knowledge alone wasn’t enough. He shared himself. They had to have his authority. In Greek, the word for authority is ex-ousia, which is literally “out of substance,” or out of his substance, and means delegated authority. Their agency is empowered by Jesus. They are the initial answer to the prayer for laborers to reap the harvest. The harvest became the laborers.
Jesus’s instructions show various ways they are to rely entirely on God.
First, they are to trust God’s plan for “the lost sheep of Israel.” This is to fulfill Old Testament prophecies against false shepherds who had led Israel astray and ultimately to ruin. Ezekiel 34:11-12 sums it up well, “For thus says the Lord God: Behold I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” (p.722) This is a rescue mission. It will in time extend to the whole world, but first he calls Israel back into close fellowship with God through Jesus.
Second, they are to trust the mission: Proclaim the Kingdom, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons.
Third, they are to trust God for their needs; food, shelter, clothing.
Fourth, they are to trust God’s perfect mercy, judgment and timing as to who can and will listen and receive them.
And fifth, when, not if, it gets hard, they must rely on God, no matter what. “Endure and you will be saved.”
Two points on that:
First: The fellowship we share creates the opportunity to strengthen our own and each other’s “good infection” as we worship, eat and talk together, which then makes us infectious. Please note, watching online does help, and if that is what you can do, then make the most of it. But if you’re just taking it easy, recognize the opportunity cost you are missing to be strengthened and to strengthen others through the bonds of fellowship. That’s why hospitality – social hour, breakfasts, dinners and so on are central to our ministries.
Second: Not all of us have the gift of evangelism. Don’t ever discount the ways God might use you. When I served at St. Mary’s in Belleview, we had a sweet, elderly widow named Dottie. She was very faithful, one of those people I call “the usual suspects” because she came to every service, class and event religiously. If the church doors were open, she was there. She was also a very quiet, unassuming person.
Dottie lived very modestly in a HUD-subsidized apartment complex two blocks behind the church, at the end of her row. A woman named Audrey lived about halfway down that row, and their apartment building was above the parking lot. Audrey spent most of her day sitting at her kitchen table, reading the paper, doing puzzles or whatever and looking out the window and watching the activity below from her perch.
Audrey noticed Dottie coming and going, going and coming, day after day. I should note here that, unlike Dottie, Audrey never had an unexpressed thought. If it came into her head, it was coming out of her mouth. Eventually, she got curious about Dottie – who she didn’t even know – and asked her one day, “Day after day I see you coming and going, where are you going all the time?”
Dottie responded, “I’m going to church. Would you like to come?” Soon, Audrey became one of the usual suspects, always there for worship and meals and programs and projects. She loved the church and could not shut up about it wherever she’d go. The two of them became best friends.
Now I ask you, was that random or intentional on God’s part? Dottie was faithful to her mode of living her faith, and God used her as she was, just living her routines. Dottie wasn’t fishing, she was bait. Audrey wasn’t looking for a church, but Jesus was looking for her. He knew her hunger more than she did and sent the right person at the right time.
Their lives were not easy. Each of their families had terrible issues that broke their hearts. They had health issues. But they clung to Jesus and relied on Jesus. They continued to be transformed by Christ and to influence others through their faithfulness, spreading the good infection.
As we are faithful, God will use us in a like manner. We often don’t realize how the things we say or do might affect others for Jesus. The keys are to rely on him, pray regularly for the Holy Spirit to use you, and remain available to his nudges and opportunities.
AMEN!