Luke 8:1-3
One time when I was a student living in New York City I got invited to a party on West 92nd Street. When I walked in, Bob, the guy I knew, was nowhere to be seen. But the place was jammed with people in every room. Everyone seemed to know each other, but no one knew me. From what I was overhearing, many of the people there were actors and actresses and they had a lot in common, and a lot to talk about. Few of them were probably actively engaged in acting for a living, as they were trying to break into the business by starting at the bottom, so most of them were waiting tables or washing dishes to pay the rent, but from their conversation you would have thought they were all Broadway headliners. What I had to offer as a student at a theological seminary seemed pretty lame in a high energy party like this. I tried smiling and making some small talk, but pretty quickly I was by myself standing in a corner of the kitchen, hoping my friend would show up eventually, while the party went strong all around me. I felt invisible.
Have you ever felt invisible? Actually, many of us are. Of course, you seem very visible this morning, we can see you quite clearly, what your face looks like, what you’re wearing, even where you live or work or go to school. But what’s invisible may be your faith! How would the world know that you are a follower of Jesus Christ? Is your faith obvious? What is there in you that reflects the light of Christ in the lives of people around you? This is a question rightfully asked of all Christians, to remind us that invisible faith doesn’t accomplish much. It’s especially a question to ask those who have grown up in the life of the church, now heading out into the world on your own. Will your faith be part of who you are and what you do, or will it be an invisible part of you that no one will see or know about?
In the worship bulletin this morning you see a series of readings highlighted about Jesus and how he gathered his disciples. It began with the four fishermen, Peter and Andrew, James and John. I think Jesus sought them out because they were hard workers, accustomed to long hours, and they worked well as a team. If he wanted to catch people, what better disciples than those who knew how to catch fish?
He also found Phillip and Nathanael, not fishermen, but thoughtful, studious types. Perhaps he knew that he needed people like this who could read and write and help him teach about God?
He also found Matthew, and this is one of my favorites. In this case, Jesus chose as a disciple someone who most people hated, a tax collector, usually corrupt and working for the Roman occupiers. But Jesus must have been thinking that a tax collector would know lots of people that Jesus needed to find, the marginalized, the forgotten, and the left-out, the ones no one else liked. Then the others I haven’t named, there were twelve in all, perhaps chosen in that number to reflect the hope and promise of the old twelve tribes of Old Israel These twelve would represent the New Israel.
Twelve disciples. But Jesus isn’t done yet. In the 8th chapter of Luke, Jesus continues to expand the circle of disciples. Now he’s inviting women to be a part of it, and notice what kind of women, ones who had first-hand experience of his healing power. It says Mary had been saved from seven demons. Wow, seven! Even one would be overwhelming. None of the men, to my knowledge knew anything about Jesus’ healing first-hand, but these women did. And look at the others. These were highly placed women with access to resources and money. If you ever wondered how Jesus paid the bills, look no further than these three verses. The men did all of the fumbling and bumbling, but the women raised the money that kept them all fed! Unfortunately, in the history of the church, these three verses are ignored or down-played, and the twelve men get all of the credit. But in practice the women were not willing to stay invisible. At the end of the story, the twelve disciples have become invisible, but these women are the ones who go to the tomb to see what has happened. They are no longer invisible in their faith.
So we need to encourage each other to be less invisible and more visible for the faith journey ahead. How to do that, how to become more visible? You could put a tattoo of Jesus on your back, you could wear a big cross around your neck, you could put a bumper sticker on your car. But that visible faith is much more than advertising. It’s living visible faith in how we live, how we make decisions, and who we chose to hang with. And that last thought may be the most important. Visible faith has a lot to do with seeking out and hanging with others who are trying to live the visible faith, too. So wherever you find yourself, in a college dorm, in the school dining hall, on your summer job, in your classes, always be looking for the ones who are trying to live with visible faith, they’ll help you and you’ll help them. And if you do that, I think the world will take notice of who you are and what you believe.
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