Proper 7A2: The Cost of Being Sent – by Rev. Jeffrey Tooke
Over the past couple weeks, we have been hearing about being sent. We heard about the call of Matthew, the tax collector, and we heard about the sending of the twelve disciples, who were told to take nothing with them but to trust God to provide through those they were sent to and to trust God to guide them in their words. On Trinity Sunday, we heard the disciples being sent to all the nations, and Jesus telling them that he will be with them always, even until the end of time.
Now, today, we hear about the cost of being sent.
In our first reading, we hear Jeremiah bemoan that God has, in a sense, overwhelmed him with this call. Jeremiah is speaking the word that God has placed within him, and even though that word brings him ridicule and rejection, he cannot simply set it aside. He says that if he tries not to speak, the word of God becomes like a burning fire shut up in his bones.
That image is important.
Jeremiah is not speaking because it is convenient. He is not speaking because it makes his life easier. He is not speaking because everyone around him approves. He speaks because the truth of God has taken hold of him so deeply that silence is no longer possible. And yet, that faithfulness costs him. People mock him. Friends watch for him to stumble. Those around him wait for him to fail. But even there, Jeremiah is reminded that God is still with him.
That same fire is behind Jesus’ words in the Gospel.
Jesus is preparing his disciples for what happens when the truth of God takes hold of them. He tells them not to be afraid, because they are precious to God — more precious than sparrows, with even the hairs of their head counted. But he also tells them that faithful witness will not always bring easy peace. Sometimes it will bring division. Sometimes it will expose what people would rather keep hidden. Sometimes it will put a strain even on the closest relationships. Not because division is the goal. Not because conflict is holy in itself. But because when the fire of God’s truth burns within someone, silence and comfort can no longer be the highest values.
What is Jesus saying to us?
He is telling us that being sent does not mean everything will be easy. It does not mean everything will fall into place. Being a follower, being a disciple, means allowing the truth of God to take hold of us so deeply that we cannot simply ignore it.And when we respond to that burning fire within us, as Jeremiah did, we should not be surprised if it costs us something.
Being a prophetic voice — witnessing to that burning fire within you — isn’t easy. Speaking the truth isn’t easy.
Many times, it can put you in the place of Jeremiah, where people oppose you, mock you, or wait for you to fail — even your closest friends, even those in your own family or household.When Jesus speaks of bringing division, he isn’t talking about division for its own sake. He’s referring to the fact that many times division is a product of staying true to our call, of continuing to speak and witness to the truth.
We have many examples of those who witnessed to the truth by following Jesus, who couldn’t ignore the fire burning within them, and who understood that discipleship — being sent — can be costly.
We see this in Oscar Romero, who became a voice for the poor and the oppressed in El Salvador, and who was killed while celebrating Mass because he refused to remain silent in the face of violence and injustice.
We see it in Nelson Mandela, who endured twenty-seven years in prison because he refused to accept the injustice of apartheid. We see it in Martin Luther King Jr., who preached and practiced nonviolence while facing threats, jail, hatred, and finally assassination. We see it in Harvey Milk, who spoke publicly and courageously for the dignity of gay and lesbian people at a time when many were told to hide in fear and shame. And we see it in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who refused to let the church make peace with the evil of Hitler and the Nazis. Each of them, in different ways, bore witness to a truth they could no longer ignore, refusing to keep silent when silence would have been easier.
Bonhoeffer called the opposite “cheap grace” — a faith that wants comfort without obedience, peace without truth, discipleship without a cross. Each of these witnesses, in different ways, shows us what Jeremiah’s burning fire can look like when it takes flesh in a human life.
Not a desire for conflict. Not a love of suffering. Not division for its own sake. But a faithfulness to God’s truth that becomes stronger than the desire to stay safe, accepted, or silent.
These are only some examples. And there are countless others whose names we may never know, but whose discipleship also cost them dearly.
Being sent is costly.
But we also need to be cautious here. We need to keep this in perspective. Sometimes we use the language of “carrying our cross” for almost any inconvenience or disappointment. We may speak of some small frustration, some ordinary burden, or some personal slight as if that is what Jesus is talking about. But Jesus is not simply talking about inconvenience. Jesus is talking about the cost of discipleship. The cost of being sent. The cost of being faithful to the truth that God has placed within us.
And yet, most of us do not begin there. Most of us do not wake up one morning and suddenly become courageous prophetic witnesses. More often, we are formed by smaller acts of faithfulness.
We are formed when we tell the truth when it would be easier to avoid it.
We are formed when we show mercy when resentment would feel more satisfying. We are formed when we stand with someone who is vulnerable, even when doing so may cost us comfort or approval. We are formed when we practice our baptismal vows in ordinary places — in our homes, in our work, in our parish, in our community.
Those smaller acts are not the same as martyrdom. They are not the same as what Romero, Mandela, Milk, King or Bonhoeffer faced. But they matter, and they prepare us. They shape us. They teach us to listen for that burning fire within us, so that when faithfulness does become costly, we are not hearing that fire for the first time.
Look, we may never be called to face what Archbishop Romero, Nelson Mandela, Harvey Milk, Martin Luther King Jr. or Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced. But each of us is called to witness to the truth in the life we have been given. Being a disciple, being sent, is not always easy. It costs us something. And the promise is not that the cost will disappear. The promise is that we do not carry it alone. The same God who was with Jeremiah, the same Christ who told the disciples not to be afraid, is with us as we take each faithful step.
So perhaps some questions for us to consider today are these:
- What truth has God placed like fire within you?
- What prophetic witness is God calling you to carry?
- And what step of costly faithfulness is God asking you to take now?