He then gathered his twelve message bearers together. He gave them the authority over all evil spirits and the power to heal all kinds of sickness and disease. He then sent them out to tell the story of Creator’s good road and heal the sick.
‘Take nothing with you,’ he instructed them, ‘not even walking sticks for your journey. Take no coins for your money pouches, no food for your traveling bundle, and only one outer garment for warmth. When people welcome you into their home, stay there until you move on. If no one in that village welcomes you, when you go from there, shake the dust from your moccasins to warn them that you have done all that you can do.’
The twelve went out to represent Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to all the villages, telling all who would listen about the good story and healing the sick everywhere they went.” – Luke 9:1-6 (First Nations Version)
Throughout most of my spiritual life, discipleship has been a puzzle to me. I used to think it was trying to convince folks that if they didn’t believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior then they would go to hell, and later on, I learned about the sharing of my faith story to others – mostly “non-believers.” The big struggle for me is that this model of discipleship does not fit with the way I perceived that Jesus is calling me to be a faithful disciple.
These days I think of discipleship in much different ways. Like Jesus, I am called to reach out to the people on the margins, folks who are not like me. Jesus instructs us in Luke 9 to go to folks where they are, in their culture, in their homes, in their dire circumstances. He instructs us to go to them, be in relationship with them, depend on them, and then know when to leave. This is a mutual relationship where each one gives and each one takes.
What if discipleship is more like finding out what the other person needs, helping them meet their needs, and asking them to help you with your needs? What if discipleship is about mutuality, helping each other, not one “saving” the other…that is up to the Holy Spirit?
For me, here and now, faithful discipleship is choosing to stand with those whose voices are not heard, to personally do the hard work of aligning my resources, my attitudes, my faith, and my relationships to Creator’s good road with the assurance that God will provide all that I need to follow on the good road and be a message bearer for the good story…even (and especially) out into the unfamiliar and uncomfortable world.
Loving Creator, open our eyes to the many ways that you call us to be faithful disciples. Give us eyes to see the struggles of others and to trust You to provide all that we need to be true disciples of Jesus. Amen.
Lisa Bachman is a Deaconess of the NCCUMC, serving at Hope 4 Humanity (the Church at Spring Forest.)