But, then the Image of God that they bore wouldn't have had the time to work it's wonders. Those disciples, two by two, wouldn't have gotten their hands dirty, or witnessed suffering, or held the mourning, or seen health and life wash over illness and death like a cool breeze on a hot summer day.
This is one of those stories that reminds us, that God not only calls us, but equips us with what we need to fulfill our calling. It's a powerful reminder that we're called to great things - that God expects great things - awesome things - from us, but that God doesn't expect us to do it on our own. Not because we're lazy, but because the things God asks us to do are oftentimes outside the realm of human possibility.
The Kingdom of God is for riff-raff. This is uncomfortable to me. Because I've tried very hard in my life NOT to be riff-raff. As I've lived my life, entered adulthood, and joined the League of Parents I've tried as hard as I can to be as respectable as possible. I try hard not to disrespect the unrespectable, but I also try and keep a comfortable distance, because that sort of thing rubs off, you know. But, our Lord has a soft spot for the unrespectable. They're his people. Yes, yes, Jesus doesn't play favorites. . . But he does really.
And that is the let-down we are all faced with on Trinity Sunday. We can have fun with Athanasius and Arius, we can break out Greek words like homoousias and perichoresis, and maybe get our money's worth from our theological education. But, at the end of the day we will be left with the gap between us and the unknowable. That which we are unable to bear.
The astute reader will recognize in this reading, from the second to last chapter in the Bible, imagery from the second chapter of Genesis, and the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the River flowing on either side of it. Here, in this phase of John's Apocalypse, we return to the cool of the garden - that wonderful time when humanity walked with God in the cool of the day. That time when we spoke to God as casually as we might speak to one another. That time when all was right in the universe, and all was right in our relationship with God. Paul would call this righteousness. But, it's not that the 'unpleasantness' of the fall never happened. Or the unpleasantness of Cain killing Abel. Or the unpleasantness of drunkenness, sordidness, the golden calf, David and Bathsheba, war, strife, hatred, idolatry, unfaithfulness blah, blah, blah - it's not that all that didn't happen. It's that it's all taken care of. The tab has been paid. The tomb is empty. Jesus is made new. And now the full ramifications of the Resurrection of Jesus can be seen: Eden is made new. Eden has returned - but! It's also remade. It's new.
The whole earth - all nations, all peoples - have come together around the Heavenly throne for a new dedication. Reminded that at one time they had no home, but now in God's Kingdom they do. Reminded that God has always saved them. And together they dedicate a new Kingdom - with no Temple, because in this new (Resurrected) world, there's no need for one special place where God dwelt. Because now God reigns everywhere.
In other words, whatever it was that motivated Jesus to lower himself for the incarnation and crucifixion should motivate us. So, the passion of Jesus is meant to be a model - a paradigm - for our passion. If Jesus was a passionate Messiah, we're to be passionate people. And, if we want know what that looks like we don't have to go much further beyond Bethlehem or Golgotha.