He died to save us all.

Isaiah 66: 10-14. The exiles who had returned to the ruined city of Jerusalem were the recipients of this text, and it first portrays the city, and eventually God himself, as a nurturing mother. Though the piece promises a materially prosperous future (never to be discounted) to the Jews, Jewish history shows that this is dependent on social justice and spiritual prosperity.

Galatians 6: (1-6) 7-16. Verses 1-6 say that within the Christian community kindly repair is preferable to a ticking off when it comes to dealing with any problems. 7-16 say that the harvest of the future is sown in the present. The meaning of “flesh” and “spirit” here can be described as the difference between suiting yourself and only yourself or serving God and neighbour.

Luke 10: 1-11,16-20. Jesus appointed people to go before him “where he himself intended to go” to prepare the way of the Lord in a kind of echo of John the Baptist. That is our mission by extension as well, but it warns us not to waste too much time and energy with people that reject the gospel. Those who reject us reject Jesus and therefore reject God. We have to marshall our resources and energy wisely.

A Spiritual attribute I pray for more than most is wisdom. The wisdom to discern what is most important in a piece of scripture, wisdom to discern accurately what is desirable or possible at any given moment, and wisdom to read the recipients of difficult pieces of scripture.

There is much practical wisdom displayed in these readings today particularly by Jesus when He says “wipe off the dust from your feet those places that don’t welcome you”. Don’t waste precious and finite energy on people who have already rejected God – we have a much bigger job trying to reach even the ones that are open.

To that some pious people might say “but isn’t everyone a potential child of God? And worth trying to convert?”

Well of course Jesus of all people knows that – He died for everyone both near and far off – but He recognises practical wisdom. When evangelising, when you hit the buffers, recognise them for what they are and don’t push against locked doors. Look for doors that are already ajar for we don’t have infinite mental and physical resources.

From Paul in Galatians we have some practical wisdom as to how we deal with people who transgress in some obvious way. We are advised to be gentle and work to restore someone to fellowship while acknowledging they did wrong. That takes forgiveness which is the hardest thing for a lot of us. Practicing what we preach is not the easiest path to take.

But in the doing of God’s revealed will we are sowing the seeds of our and the world’s future. When doing good we don’t discriminate between believer or unbeliever, good or bad people, insider or outsider. God’s good will is for all people even while many people reject it.

“For to this end, we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the saviour of all men, especially those who believe” (1Timothy 4:10)

One of the most important verses in the New Testament. Paul there says boldly;

“Everyone is saved by Christ, whether you believe it or not”. It is an objective fact.

We both evangelise and do good works, whatever they may be, because God so loved the world , not the church or religious people or the Jews or Christians, but the world.

The difference between a believer and a non-believer isn’t that one is saved and the other isn’t. It is that one knows they are saved, and the other doesn’t and knowing that has a better quality of life because they have life in all its fulness. What we try to give to non-believers is a gift that enables them to see the truth about life. For Jesus is the way, the truth and the life”. Amen