Made in America

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of Godhas come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Over the past week or so I have been watching a phenomenal 30 for 30 documentary on ESPN that deals with O.J. Simpson.  Yes, I said over a week or so because each part is 2 hours and there are 5 parts.  When I said the name O.J. Simpson, most likely it conjured up some sort of emotion and memories of the criminal trial that took place in 1995.  Even though you have suppressed these emotions or feelings for over 20 years, it is also likely that you may still have a very strong opinion on whether or not you think he is guilty or innocent.  I was nearly 11 by the time the verdict was read but I can remember scenes and snapshots from the trial like it was yesterday.  Perhaps the most famous scene was O.J. struggling to get the gloves on that the prosecution wanted him to try on.  And perhaps the most famous line of the whole trial came from Johnny Cochran’s closing arguments, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”  I am sure some of the memories are probably coming back to you now.  The documentary takes you deep into the lives of the key players.  The mistakes of the prosecution, the detectives, and crime scene investigators are made incredibly public.  The dirty tricks of the defense dream team are made known as well like the replacing of the pictures in O.J.’s house as the jurors walked through and O.J. not taking his arthritis meds so his hands would swell and the intentional playing of the race card.  As I watched this documentary I keep going back and forth from thinking “of course O.J. did it” to “well maybe he didn’t.”  At times during the documentary I get a pit in my stomach at the sight of O.J. and at other times I have compassion for him.  I was angry at the prosecution and police department for botching the whole case and I got even angrier at the tricks of the defense team.  I get upset that this was turned into a race issue especially since O.J. wanted nothing to do with the civil rights movement of the 60’s and 70’s.  The film does a great job pointing out that the only thing African American about O.J. was his skin.  Otherwise, he was intertwined with wealthy, white America.  But once the trial started and especially after the verdict was read O.J. was a symbol for African American males finally beating a legitimately corrupt system that had suppressed, beaten, and acted in many horrific ways towards African American’s for several years.  Many African American activists, religious leaders and community organizers used O.J. and his situation to push their agendas and a couple of them admit to this in the documentary.  Right or wrong, they used O.J. as a tool to help the civil rights movement to keep pushing forward.  Part of me disagrees wholeheartedly with this and the rest of me knows why it was so important that they did this.  O.J,’s trial exposed the corrupt LAPD and rightfully so but using a person who was most likely a murderer to do so may not be right.  O.J. became a champion for African American males and gave them hope that they too could finally beat the system that has treated them poorly for many generations.  But, I feel like the one of the most poignant points came from an African American pastor in LA who said, and I am paraphrasing, that O.J. was not like the other African American males.  O.J. had wealth, prestige and standing in the white community.  For the majority of his celebrity, O.J. was way more involved in white communities than he was black ones and that O.J. had advantages that nearly all other African Americans don’t.  O.J. himself openly admits that an African American man who is middle class would not stand a chance in his situation, let alone a poor African American male.  A few of the jurors said that O.J. being acquitted was payback for the Rodney King incident and many others like it.  I am fascinated by this film.  It takes me through so many emotions and makes me consider my own prejudices.

Up until the trial O.J. was welcomed and even admired by the white community.  He was the first African American athlete used to help advertise products to be sold to white America.  His friends were white, he golfed on courses that very few African Americans had been on before him.  He was loved and accepted by wealthy, white America.  However, after the trial 77% of whites thought he was guilty and 72% of blacks thought he was innocent.  I thought the riots of Ferguson and Baltimore created race tensions but O.J.’s trial really showed the separation of beliefs between blacks and whites.  Racism still exists and it still runs very deep but at the same time, everything does not have to be about race either but at the same time, that is easy for me, a white, middle-class American male in middle America, to say.  I get frustrated when points are made solely on race but I have not had to deal with race issues either.  I haven’t lived a life where my race did mean everything everyday.  I have not eaten at their table, I have never walked in their shoes, I have not been pulled over or discriminated against because of my skin color.  It was like O.J. was more involved with the race that benefited him most during different points in his life and whether we think it is right or wrong is indifferent.

In our scripture for this morning we find Jesus instructing and sending out 72 disciples to spread the good news to different towns and regions.  Many biblical commentators call this an extension of Jesus sending out the 12 with the great commission.  O.J. was accepted in the wealthy, white communities because he was how African Americans were supposed to act.  I would venture to say that many whites would be far less racist if African Americans would act like O.J. did in the years leading up to his trial.  That statement is wrong on so many levels though...  It is ridiculous we blame our own insecure, racist and prejudice behavior on something or someone else rather than on ourselves.  Jesus told us to walk into someone’s house and first say, “peace to this house.”  How many of us approach conflicts wishing peace on the other party?  I would say none of us.  We could easily use our scripture for today, the story of walking into someone’s house, as an analogy for walking into someone’s life and/or community.  How many of us wished peace for those protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson.  We probably wished many things upon them but peace not being one of them.  Jesus sent the 72 out to be involved in the homes of the communities in which they were sent.  They were to be entrenched and invested where they were staying.  They didn’t take anything with them so they could eat what the people ate.  Wear the clothes the people wore.  What a great message for us! If we really want to understand someone, we must sit at their table.  We must go to their community and become invested.

We often feel we that we have to go meet God.  We have this notion that God is almost unapproachable but just like Jesus sending the 72 out into the homes, God meets us in our homes.  The message for today is this: when God enters a place where He is welcomed, anything is possible and the kingdom of God has come near.  Lately, I have often mentioned the power of love many times, if not every Sunday.  I want you to know that this is not some naive, head in the sand, dream I have.  I know there are issues we will never agree on.  There will be things that tear us apart instead of bringing us together.  But that doesn’t stop me from trying.  I love this country and I look forward to the challenge of everyday showing others how much God loves me and how much He loves them.  In America, we may get a lot of things wrong but we get a lot of things right as well.  Let us do our best to help others welcome God near them so they can see what He can do in their lives.  Amen.