Essential Christianity

Gospel: Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20

In today's Gospel and elsewhere Jesus sends disciples out on mission.  In that mission they are to do the following things: proclaim peace, heal the sick, deliver people from their demons, live simply, and be with others at table.  These tasks are the very things Jesus has done and will continue to do throughout the Gospel texts.  These things represent the fundamental core of Christianity in its mission and in its posture toward the world.

If we look about the Christian landscape in our world today, we find a lot of buildings, most of which are used for an hour or so on a Sunday but sit empty the rest of the week.  We find vast media empires led by pastors who live rather well.  The message being proclaimed is often anything but one of peace, and the mission may include care for the sick, possessed, and poor, but very often that is marginal to the larger mission of fundraising for other things.

So, when we look for authentic Christianity in the world today, we have this model to help us find it.  And it can be found in the world today too.  If we are looking to create an authentic Christian mission in the world today, we have the blueprints right here: proclaim peace to all people, care for the sick, deliver people from the demons that grip them, live a simple lifestyle, and be with others at table, excluding no one.