This post also appears on the blog Modern Metanoia, run by good friend and colleague Father Marshall Jolly. You can check it out here :
“The Lord appointed seventy others and
sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself
intended to go.”
--Luke 10: 1
When artist Bob
Kane created The Batman in 1938 the so-called Dark Knight was a solitary
figure. But in 1940 Kane decided that
his nocturnal detective needed a partner.
So, hoping to draw in younger readers, Kane introduced Robin, the Boy
Wonder. Together Batman and Robin would become the icons of justice in
Gotham City: the Dynamic Duo. In the
years since it is safe to say that these two caped crusaders have become one of
the most recognizable teams in all of popular culture.
First appearance of Robin, the Boy Wonder (Detective Comics # 38, April, 1940).
There is something
special about a great duo, a team. Comics have Batman & Robin, baseball has
guys like Alan Trammel & Sweet Lou Whittaker. Like the Dynamic Duo, Trammel
and Whittaker, teammates with the Detroit Tigers, worked perfectly in tandem,
combining for more double-plays together than any other shortstop and second
base duo in baseball history. There is so much that a good duo, a good team,
can accomplish when they work together.
Alan Trammell (Left) and Sweet Lou Whittaker, the greatest double play duo on baseball history.
I suspect Jesus had
this in mind when he sent out the 70. It’s
true that 70 is a significant number for the Jewish people--there were 70
elders elected to assist Moses, and the Jewish council called the Sanhedrin was
made up of 70 people--but I like to think that Jesus was less concerned with the theological
significance of the number than he was the importance of forming teams to
go out and do his work. It’s
possible that they could have covered even more ground or preached to more
people had Jesus just let them go at it alone, but he clearly saw something in this
idea of sending them out as a duo, as a team.
By
sending the 70 out in this manner Jesus made sure that they could be there for each
other, hold each other accountable, and remind each other that their mission
was not to be cluttered by unnecessary baggage (carry no purse, no sandals,
etc.). Heading out together would mean they could lift each other's spirits
when times got tough, or they could tell stories to each other to pass the time on their
long journeys. Above all, by sending them out in pairs Jesus reassured them
that they were not alone. This work to which they were called would
not be a solitary endeavor. “You're
going to need each other," Jesus was telling them. We’re going to need each other, too.
Here
is a piece of Gospel truth that certainly speaks to us today. Often times we
feel like we have to do everything on our own, to be our own self-made man or
woman. We live in a society that champions the individual, but oh how lonely
this attitude can be! How lonely it is
to face life's many challenges by ourselves. What a comfort it is, then, to
hear Jesus tell us that we’re
not alone?! Yes, life does at times feel like we are sheep in the midst of
wolves, but we do not have to face the wolves by ourselves; after all, Jesus
sent the 70 to places that he himself intended to go. It is no different for us. Not only does Jesus send us out with someone
by our side—be
they a spouse or partner, a sibling, a best friend, a loyal dog, or the
community of a church—he
promises that he will follow behind us and work in those mysterious ways that
we cannot ever fully understand. Yet we
can understand this: Jesus does not call
us into solitary ministry.
Still,
this does not mean everything is always going to be rainbows and unicorns when
we step out into the fearful world of ministry. Sometimes teams have a tough time working
together, and plenty of bumps in the road pop up. It happens even to the best duos and teams. Try reading All Star Batman & Robin by Frank
Miller. In that book the heroes are constantly at each other's throats. Batman is downright abusive to Robin, and the reader wonders the whole time how this duo could ever be dynamic. Yet in
the end they support each other in coping with their respective personal
tragedies. In 1984 Alan Trammel made 10 errors at shortstop and Sweet Lou made
15 at second base. That hardly sounds like the best double play duo in history, huh? Yet they still managed to lead the Tigers to their first
World Series title in 36 years! In our
own lives we make mistakes and we clash at times with our spouses and partners,
siblings, friends, dogs, and (especially!) our church communities. We make mistakes all the time, and we argue at an alarming rate. Do you really think the 70 didn't argue? I've no doubt that they had moments of anxiety and heated disagreements. Still, they knew they needed each other.
Batman needed Robin. Trammel needed Sweet Lou. And we need each other. We were never meant to go through life
completely alone. We were made for each
other, made for relationship. Those
relationships are grounded in the first relationship, that covenant that God
made with humanity at that first dawn.
Just as God has made us to be in relationship with God, we embody that
same relationship with one another, working together as we take part in
God’s
unfolding promise to mend the entire universe. We dare not undertake such a
task alone! It is only by holding one another, supporting one another, and
sharing one another’s
burdens that we can accomplish this (with God’s help, of course). We find meaning in our relationships with one
another because God first found meaning by forming a relationship with us, and
it is through those relationships that we form a team with one another and with
God. And there’s
no telling what this team can achieve!
We
are in this thing together, brothers and sisters, and we need each other for
the work of bringing about the Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. This is not solitary work. It must be shared. It is not a clergy thing.
Or a lay-person thing. It is an everyone thing. This is what catholic faith, universal
faith, is all about—the
assurance that we are not alone. To profess the catholic faith is to be reminded that it is not about just me and my personal
relationship with Jesus and whether or not I'm saved. Instead, it is about all
of us working together toward salvation. That work is done through our prayers
and actions, with bread and wine shared in a holy meal, anthems sung in praise
to God, and hands that reach out to pull our brothers and sisters up from the
gutters to show them the love of the One who first loved us. When we say in our Creed that we believe in one
holy catholic and apostolic Church, this is what we mean. We believe in a Church
without walls, one whose members go into the world like the 70 to share Christ's redemptive love. We believe in a Church where each member has a role to play, where we work together, supporting and lifting up one another. We believe in a Church that reminds us that
we are not alone. We believe in a Church
where everyone belongs. We believe in the Church of the 70. We believe because
that's the Church we are called to be!
Jesus
is calling us, as he called the 70, to go into the world and proclaim the Good News. But he does not invite us to do so alone. He gives us one another, that we may walk and work with each other. To be a team. You. Me. All of us. We are in this together, brothers and sisters, and together, with God's power
working through us and Jesus backing us up, our team will work wonders!
