Sunday Homily - July 8th, 2018 - Backpacking with Jesus

He Sent Them Out Two by Two

James Tissot (1836-1902)

I.

Have any of you been on a long backpacking trek before?
Or maybe you know someone who has?

Often, the most experienced backpackers
have an incredible sense
of the exact amount of necessities
to pack on their backs.

In fact, the amount of gear you pack
 is one of the most important elements
in a successful backpacking trip.

Think with me for a moment:
if you were to go on a multi-day expedition
what are the things that you would pack?
What kind of food would you pack?

Did you include your sleeping bag?
How many changes of clothes do you bring?
Hopefully you thought about a tent?

Full disclosure, I am NOT an experienced backpacker,
nor am I a person who travels very lightly.
Having to discern the essential things for a trip
is like the worst thing you could ask me to do.

I need my sleeping bag (the nice poofy one),
and at least several changes of clothes for each day.
Plus the tent that has plenty of room,
with a good supply of food and snacks.

And the nice pillow.
And the fire starting kit.
And the utility rope.
And this. And that. And another thing.

For me, EVERYTHING I have
can seem like a clear essential.
An essential that, if I leave it behind,
would leave me unready and unprepared
for the potential needs of the hike.

It is so incredibly easy
to be overburdened even before you start hiking.

Likewise, it is so easy to be overburdened
in life as well. 
Some of it is not of our own doing.
And some of it is.

We all have many things that we are responsible for,
and many things that we pack into our daily work.

The budget needs to balance,
yet that unexpected expense
has left you scrambling.

The kids need to be at their various functions,
and lo and behold,
the car has a dead battery.

The relationship between you and another person
feels like it has been stretched so thin
that any more tension will break it.

Overburdening,
is not just physical.
It is emotional,
mental,
spiritual.

II.

God himself knows what it is like to be overburdened. 
Jesus, fully God and fully human,
knows this kind of strain.

In our Holy Gospel today,
Jesus is having a homecoming.
The kid, born and raised in Nazareth,
is back and teaching in the synagogue.

Here he is, preaching a Gospel of repentance,
        having just raised a girl from the dead
                teaching about God,
                        and bringing healing for the sick.

And people take offense at him.
They take offense at him.
His own hometown crowd
who have known him since he was a boy.

And the Scripture says something even more incredible,
just a few verses later:
Jesus could do no deed of power there
except to heal a few sick people.

Jesus is surrounded by people who know him,
in his hometown,
where his house is at,
the place to eat and sleep at.
the place he lays his backpack.

And it was exactly in the place
where you would hope for embrace
that Jesus found resentment.
Burden.

But, in the Divine flip of the script,
the second half of today’s Holy Gospel
provides a window into a solution
to our overburdening.
Companionship.

III.

Remember when we just imagined together
what we would pack with us
for a backpacking journey?

What you pack is important for the journey,
this is true.
But do you know the far more important thing
that you must bring with you?
A Partner.

In backpacking, you never go it alone.
The most important thing you can do
is to have someone else with you.

Someone who will lift you up,
who will assist you in bearing your burden,
and who will be there for you
when the trail gets rough.

Jesus knows the vital importance of partnership,
even over against the things you pack with you.

When He sent the disciples out,
he ordered them to carry no bag,
no money,
no food.

Rather, Jesus sent them two by two,
and sent them with His power,
             the power of God
to cast out evil spirits
and to heal by the anointing with oil.

And he sent them to be at the mercy
of other people’s hospitality.
If they were accepted,
then they were made rich
by that person’s kindness.

If they were turned away,
they simply went on,
nothing taken away from them,
because they carried nothing
to burden themselves.

IV.

For all of you gathered here
to share in Jesus’s presence, love, and care,
are there places in your life
in which you need the companionship
of Jesus and His Church?

If the budget is tight,
and that expense has hit you hard,
will you let Jesus and His Church
hold you and bear your burdens
with you?

If you have that relationship
that is on the razor’s edge
will you let Jesus and His Church
walk with you through the midst
of that most difficult time?

If you are lonely and seek connection
who lack companionship and are overburdened with care,
will you invite Jesus and His Church
as your companions on the way?

The backpack journey of life can often feel impossibly heavy.
But it is not without hope.
Reach out to God,
who knows how heavy life can be,
and yet offers you life abundantly
through the hope of the resurrection.

Reach out to His Church,
who are the hands and feet of Jesus,
who have been given the Holy Spirit
                         and the strength to love you
                                 as Christ loves you.

Reach out.
And know that you are never alone
you are never forgotten,
and you don’t have to carry your backpack
on your own.

The Name of the + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.