July 6, 2025 "Antidotes to Weariness"

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Isaiah 66:10-14

Psalm 66:1-9

Galatians 6:7-16

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 grace and peace to you

 from the one who empowers us to work for what is right. Amen.

“So let us not grow weary in doing what is right”

Paul’s exhortation to the Galatians

has been ringing in my head and heart this week.

 A week where honestly,

 it feels like there is good cause for weariness,

with those in power choosing profit over people

 and constructing and celebrating concentration camps

 to house people who have been dehumanized.

With wars continuing around the world,

and aid cut off to the most vulnerable on the planet,

 it all seems so overwhelming

 and on such a large scale

 that the potential for weariness

is not so much in the knowing what is right

- loving and serving our neighbor-

 but in wondering what to do about it?

 What can I even do in the face of such seemingly insurmountable evils?

  The temptation is to give up,

to do nothing is a serious temptation indeed

 and flies in the face of the call to bear one another’s burdens.

 Fortunately, as I looked further at our texts for today

 I found what I am calling “antidotes to weariness”

Good news and action steps

that are true no matter how big the bad news seems

The first is right in the beginning of the Galatians text

the reminder that God is bigger than all of whatever is going on in the world

and that God plays the long game

“Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.  If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh, but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.”

God knows who is mocking God,

 taking the name of God in vain in their words and actions,

 and God promises that it will not pay off in the long run,

 but you know what does work into the future?

The work of the spirit,

and it is the work of the spirit right now

 that will right things in the end.  

So antidote #1 is to remember that God plays the long game

 and that God is at work right now,

work that the Spirit invites us to partake in.

Paul continues

“ So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.  So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.”

Don’t give up, Paul says,

 and here is antidote #2

 whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all

I think Paul is suggesting to the Galatians

and to us,

that given that God has the big picture in hand,

 the place to start is in our lives

 and the lives of those we encounter right now

 and when the opportunity arises

 to work for the good of all.

This seems more manageable to me.

I may not be able to single handedly change policy decisions

 but I can make a difference

 when an opportunity crosses my path,

whether it is to feed a hungry person,

or to welcome those new to our country.

This is part of the work of the spirit,

 placing these opportunities in our way.

Paying attention to the spirit

 also means paying attention to those we encounter in our everyday lives.

 Of course this builds on Paul’s teaching from last week

about being set free to love and serve one another,

 this is of course the new commandment

that Jesus gives his disciples on their last night together,

to love one another as he has loved them,

will love them,

 a love that is turned outward,

for the sake of the other.

 This is the call of the spirit.

Now the Spirit might also call us

 out of our everyday lives for the sake of something greater, 

 we see this in our gospel for today

where Jesus sends out disciples ahead of him

 to proclaim the kingdom of God,

 this goes back to antidote #1 that God is at work and God invites us to join in that work,

but it’s not just that God invites us to join in

but also how Jesus sends the disciples.

And this is antidote #3 community.

The disciples are sent in pairs,

we are not meant to be on our own but in community

we need the support and companionship of others

 who are on the same mission

 especially when our message is in contrast

to the lives of those we encounter.

This need for community is why Christ gathers us together each week,

 to hear again the promises of God,

 to be fed and forgiven, all together,

and then we are sent back out into the world,

 at least until next week,

when we return once again in need of forgiveness and sustenance

 because of what we have encountered in our lives

 and here is Antidote #4: Jesus has a plan for rejection, keep moving.

Jesus knows that not everything we do will be successful,

 he knows that not everyone the disciples meet

will be receptive to the message of the kingdom,

 here’s what you do when,

 not if but when,

that happens, he tells them,

shake the dust off your feet and move on,

don’t argue with them or prove them otherwise,

 just move on

there will be someone else more receptive down the road.

 But this moving on isn’t a quiet slipping away,

he tells them, as you move on say this: “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”

and this is Antidote #5

the coming of the kingdom doesn’t depend on its reception,

the coming of the kingdom of God

 ultimately depends on God.

 this is what we pray for in the Lord’s prayer,

your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven.

And if it doesn’t depend on reception

it also doesn’t depend wholly on us,

this is grace,

 that it isn’t up to us.

 But it’s also grace

 that we get to help,

that God wants us to help

 and empowers us to help,

 which leads to the sixth and final antidote: Joy

When the seventy disciples that Jesus sends out return,

 they return with joy,

they are joyful because they have experienced the power

 with which Jesus has empowered them.

‘It really works!’ they exclaim “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!”

 And while he cautions them against attributing the power to themselves

 rather than Jesus who has granted it for the specific purpose of the mission

but he acknowledges that this indeed is occasion for joy.

 There is joy and pride in being empowered

 to be an ambassador for the kingdom of God,

of being a conduit for the power of God

 this joy is more than happiness,

it is the deep seated sense of the goodness of God

that overflows into the rest of our lives

 and is indeed the most powerful antidote to weariness.

Dear siblings in Christ,

 joined to the cross of Christ in our baptisms

we have been called to bear one another’s burdens,

 work for the good of all,

 and proclaim the peace and the good news of the coming of the kingdom of God

throughout the world.

So let us go,

 empowered by the Spirit,

 and as we go we remember:

God plays the long game and is working in the world for good,

That the Spirit will provide opportunities for us to join in that work in ways small and large.

That this is work to be done in community.

That Jesus anticipates resistance and rejection and tells us to keep moving, keep proclaiming

That the coming of the kingdom doesn’t depend on its reception but on the power of God

And finally that we rejoice because God has empowered us

 and joy in the Lord renews us

so that we will not weary in doing what is right. Amen