Sent with Power: A Meditation on Mark 6

And he called unto him the twelve, 

and began to send them forth by two and two; 

and gave them power over unclean spirits;

And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, 

save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:

But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.

And he said unto them, 

In what place soever ye enter into an house, 

there abide till ye depart from that place.

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, 

when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet 

for a testimony against them. 

Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable 

for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, 

than for that city.

And they went out, 

and preached that men should repent.

And they cast out many devils, 

and anointed with oil many that were sick, 

and healed them.

It is tempting to look at the state of the Church today, and see it as a mess.  Regardless of which Christian tradition one examines or finds one’s self in, there is plenty of scandal, incompetence, intrigue, and charlatan antics to go around.  There are church leaders angling for power or prestige, hucksters trying to separate gullible fools from their money, self righteous authors writing self help books to line their own pockets, abusers of young and old, cantankerous cranks and prideful ignoramuses.  And that’s just briefly looking at the inside.

Outside, the Church is beset by politicians who try to use her people and resources for political gain, and when even marginally rebuffed, attempt to destroy her; by academics who spin off endless vacuous theories to debunk the ancient witness of Scripture, who when when revealed as frauds, shift their attacks to other venues; by a media which seeks to use her foibles as entertainment, presenting biased and shoddy journalistic research as incontestable fact, then bristling with animus when confronted for their errors; by those who prefer darkness and evil to the light of God’s Word, who try by every means to extinguish the light which reveals their depravity; by demonic hordes who tempt and seduce the minds of fallen men into every form of evil, always urging the world toward bloodbath, insanity, and destruction.

On most levels of observation, the Church of Jesus Christ looks pretty weak and insignificant— not so unlike Jesus appeared during His earthly teaching.  Beset on all sides by every conceivable enemy, and in His humanity like us in every way except without sin, the divine Son of God embraced the weakness of persecution and eventual death on a cross to accomplish the greatest victory ever recorded in the history of the world.  Through His weakness, His omnipotent power was made manifest over sin, death, hell, and the devil, securing for every person the promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation forever.  Rising triumphal from the grave and before His Ascension into heaven, Jesus gave these powerful gifts He had secured for the world to His Church, carried forth by the Apostles and their successors into every generation, right down to our own.  These gifts of divine power and authority were shrouded in His Word and Sacraments preached and administered according to His institution and command, entrusted to sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Thus the Church became the living extension of Jesus’ Incarnation in the world, where His triumphal power would be made known through weakness until the end of time, when Jesus’ final return to judge the living and the dead will remove all shrouds of mystery, and every eye will behold the Lord of Glory face to face.

And so, the Church continues to battle her enemies inside and out, to struggle in faith and repentance against sin, death, and the devil wherever they rear their ugly heads.  She continues to bear the scorn of those who despise her and her saving Lord, of hypocrites and heretics and schismatics of every type and kind, and the manipulation of bureaucrats and politicians in secular or ecclesiastical garb.  In fact, every Christian wrestles with the same forces inside himself every day of his life, so that the existential struggle of faith on the individual and global scales are really one and the same.  But even so, shrouded within this mess of weakness, is the Eternal Word of God which comes to save every soul who will repent and believe in Jesus.

To you this Word comes again today, looking weak and despised by the world, but to those who believe, it is Word of eternal life which conquers every enemy of the human race.  Hear His Word come to you this day, that this treasure of infinite worth might be yours by grace through faith in Jesus, and that you, though broken and weak, may become yet another sanctified vessel by which the saving power of Almighty God will flow to everyone around you.  Amen.