Disciples Got Talent, Part 1

Mark 3: 13-19a; 6: 7-13
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Just in case you haven’t yet set your DVRs or TiVos, you still have 2 days before the beginning of NBC’s smash summer hit, “America’s Got Talent.” I’ve never actually seen a full episode of this show, and I don’t know whether I’m proud of that or embarrassed by it. But I don’t live completely under a rock; I have seen that clip from “Britain’s Got Talent”—you know the one I’m talking about because you’ve all seen it, too: the one where an ordinary looking Scottish woman takes the stage and the judges and audience are practically laughing her off until she begins to sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical Les Miserables. Susan Boyle is now an international sensation with her own recording contract, and I suspect that this is not the first sermon that has mentioned her. Newspaper articles, internet news stories, network and cable news shows alike have been reporting on her for a while, although now that she has had what some might call a “break down”, the news seems to have slowed about Ms. Boyle, along with the apparent interest of the world. We just can’t commit to someone who is not in the news every day.

But here is something I have learned upon investigating her story a little more closely: the music industry is changing.

I read an article comparing Susan Boyle to U2 soley because they now share a business manager. While it is an obvious stretch to compare the 2 musical acts, there is a contrast that is easily pointed out between them and their respective rise to fame. U2 is a band who became famous along what Ben Quinn of the Christian Science Monitor calls the traditional route: “the culmination of years of gigs and creeping critical acclaim.” There seems to be a new way to rise to the top of the music game now and rather quickly, at that. Just find your way on to some unscripted television talent show, and you could be the next Kelly Clarskson. When I was a kid, it was called “Star Search”, but it was not the way Michael Jackson became famous. That was a lifetime of work coupled with a famous family, and a pretty big price to pay for becoming a household name.

Now rewind history about two thousand years. Imagine a live show called Galilee’s Got Talent, and the judge is a locally known teacher and healer named Jesus. He’s got twelve open spots, and he’s ready to take auditions. Those in line for the job are people that are basically unknown, whose talent has only ever been seen or discerned by their family and maybe some friends. But mostly they fish. Their days are taken up with the ones they catch and the ones that get away. But this risk they take on this locally known teacher and healer will put them on the fast track to fame. Twelve unknown, regular guys are taking the world’s stage, not realize that overnight they will be asked to live very different lives and will be remembered, literally, forever. Relative nobodies yesterday; Disciples Got Talent today. No years of gigs, no creeping critical acclaim. Come to think of it, no critical acclaim to speak of for a long time and absolutely no gigs prior to this day by the sea when Jesus calls.

Here’s what we know about the twelve disciples:
• There were 12 of them, as named in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and kind of in John chapter 6.
• Most of them were fisherman; Matthew was a tax collector.
• Judas was the betrayer.
• Peter was a hothead.
• All of them were a little chicken—afraid of the things that happened to them when they were with Jesus.
• They were a little confused by all the talking Jesus did about what would come to pass—his death and resurrection.
• Basically, they often just didn’t get it.
• Oh, and we know that Jesus called James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James “Sons of Thunder,” but we don’t know why.

We know why Bono and U2 are famous.

When Susan Boyle opened her mouth to sing on British television that first time, we figured out why she’d be famous.

But these guys, they were just ordinary Simons and Johns and James—nothing particularly special, not working toward becoming famous teachers and healers, not planning on being the seed of an entirely new religious movement that would last for centuries into a time when people drove cars to the local house of God and updated their tweets on Twitter and had them forwarded to Facebook if they were really smart, when email was a thing of the past. But Jesus saw something in them, and their lives were instantly changed forever.

Sadly, though, they weren’t offered recording contracts or concert tours. They weren’t even offered tenure-track teaching jobs or a lecture circuit. They weren’t given their own reality shows about what its like to be a Disciple. They weren’t even sent out with provisions for their journey. But he did tell them to heal and to teach. He told them to offer themselves and to receive the hospitality of others as long as it was offered. He told them not to fret failure or the absence of success but to keep at it.

So we can add one thing to the list of stuff we know about the disciples: they had perseverance.

Would you try out for this show? Reality television is now called “unscripted.” Would you try out for the chance to be the next Disciple, one who is called on to leave your notions of life behind and try on a different kind of life for a time? If Jesus were offering you the contract today, would you sign? If your name were being called, and you were asked to go taking only a few things, not even all the things you might need, would you walk out on the stage and open your heart to whatever it was that Jesus had to say to you?

You may be asked to go to those members of our community in Grant Park who never enter our doors because there is too great a chasm between their life situations and ours. You may be asked to step outside the zone in which you are comfortable and do something here that you’ve never done before and never thought you could, like teach children or be an important presence in the life of youth. You may be called to examine your life, what you really need, what you can give to the church—probably more than you think you can spare. You may be asked to pray for or even go to Iran where people are being killed in their homes because they chose to protest the recent election results in Tehran. You may be asked to look at the world differently, telling the story of your faith by making different choices about the way you live, where you live, the kind of car you drive, the way you treat the environmental backdrop around you, the way you spend your money. You may be the next contestant on Disciples Got Talent.

If Jesus showed up in your life today and simply said, “Follow me,” would you go? Maybe that has already happened, and you don’t know what to do next. Maybe you know what you’re being called to do, and you don’t want to do it. Maybe you don’t know how to start. Maybe you are afraid. Whatever your situation, this is the time and place for you to take up your staff, leave the baggage behind, and begin to follow where Christ leads. If you need help, stay here for a while and learn how you can grow into God’s vision for your life. But when it is time to get moving, get moving. Sing your hit song. Play that big gig. Say yes to Jesus.

It’s fun to picture the twelve disciples coming across a stage of sorts by the sea, with Jesus sitting at a table and 2 big cue cards on the table in front of him face down: one with a huge X on it, and one with a huge check mark on it. With absolutely no credentials, tour under their belts, or critical acclaim, they got the check mark, the big “Yes.” And so they went, and their lives were changed. And because of them, so were ours.

Jesus calls you and waits with a giant check mark to show you as you enter the stage of Christian faith and service. You’ve got talent, friends, God-given talent that God waits to use in you when you say yes to God. Are you the next star in the story of Jesus?

Are you a Disciple?