In the business world a person might often be reminded to “remember who signs your paychecks.”  This common wisdom is a reminder to “toe the company line.”  The prophet Amos was not a company man.  He was not a professional prophet, like Amaziah, who only told the king what he wanted to hear.  He didn’t belong to a guild of prophets who all agreed on the same message that they wanted to sell the people.  He boldly told Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.  The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.” (Amos 7,14f)  He was a prophet sent by the Lord to proclaim a truth that the Lord had written on his heart.  Amos could not be bought off or convinced to compromise or to be intimidated by the power brokers of his time.  Amos was a living witness of the Word of the Lord.

I have an office that I work in.  I have a desk full of papers.  I receive daily offers for the latest programs that people have designed and written.  It is all very professional.  I am given a steady stream of statistics about how “successful” or “lacking” we are among the various demographics of religion.  I am encouraged to embrace new forms of media and to develop new programs that will make the gospel message more “relevant” to the culture we live in.  It would be easy to get tied to the desk and trapped in the office and become a “professional priest” managing the latest and greatest programs and chasing elusive metrics of success.  I need to remind myself at times that Jesus did not call me to be a professional priest or a business manager, he called me to be a prophet and a living witness to the gospel.  The gospel is not written in brochures, clever books and financial reports, it is written in people’s lives and on their hearts.

As Jesus summons the Twelve and sends them out into people’s lives and into their homes it challenges me to get out of the office and bring the gospel to people in their daily lives.  The Kingdom of God is not a program or the result of human planning.  It is not the project of marketers but of God.  Announcing the Kingdom is not about implementing a program but it is an encounter with individuals in their daily lives.  The stuff that we will have to work with is not carried in a briefcase but is discovered in the real encounter with the individual whom we meet along the road.  This person has real challenges in their lives and has an unique relationship with God.  Each individual has their own road of repentance and the invitation to a new way of life in Christ and holiness that is unique and applicable only to them.   We have to see people as the subjects of God’s personal love, each one in a special way precious in the eyes of the Lord.  We cannot just apply a formula to their lives and expect a certain outcome.  They are not just raw data to be fed into the Kingdom machine.  These persons are not just added to the Kingdom of God to fill the census.  They are not just numbers but real persons for whom God has a unique plan to manifest his tender love.  “In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.” (Eph 1,5f)  Thus, we cannot go out on mission with a preset plan and program that we are going to put persons through, rather, we have to be open to the work of God’s grace, to God’s will for this person and to the unique journey that this person is involved in on their spiritual pilgrimage.

This is perhaps one way of understanding the instructions of Jesus to the apostles to not take a lot of “things” with them.  The authority of God and the presence of the Kingdom is not to rely upon things, such as the trappings of success in the world, but rather upon persons and personal relationships, most importantly the person of Jesus the Christ.  The Kingdom of God is not a new idea or program to be promoted but rather a loving Father who is to be encountered in Jesus.  The Twelve are to carry only this authority of Jesus to open people’s lives to a new life of grace through repentance and healing.

There is a freedom in serving the gospel in that we don’t have to worry about what we are to wear, or what we are to say, or how we are going to be compensated.  God will take care of that.  We are not to let the trappings of this world distract us from the work of the gospel.  We don’t need to compromise or cajole, we need to convict each person with the Truth of the Father’s love for them.