When you apply for a job in the secular world there are things called K.P.I.’s.
KPI is the TLA* for Key Performance Indicator. So if you work at the check out in the Supermarket, a Key Performance Indicator might be how many items were processed through your check out in any given shift. Fortunately, the Kingdom of God does not work that way. It is with a great sense of relief that I can tell you that the number of people in the pew on a Sunday is not a KPI in the 21st century. Further, there weren’t any in Our Lord’s time either.
In today’s gospel, The Master has recruited 70 people and sent them out ahead of him. There’s no job description and no K.P.I.’s are mentioned either.
But we are given a hint as to what Our Lord expects, and you and I should find this very reassuring.
The Teacher goes on to say "That when you heal know that the kingdom of God has come near to you". Yep, that sounds about right.
But then he also goes on to say that when you are a flop and you are turfed out of the town, know also that the kingdom of God has come near.
So the kingdom of God coming near to you is not dependent on the sort of KPI that you and I might think is desirable and measurable… There is no mention of the number of lepers you should heal, the number of people you need to feed, or the number of haemorrhages stopped. The kingdom of God comes to us simply by being faithful and giving it our very best shot. And it matters not if there are 26 broken toes healed or none, 37 people anointed with holy oil or none. Whether you are welcomed by the community or not. The question is not how many confessions did you hear or how many Facebook likes did you get. The question is much harder. In the kingdom of heaven the KPI is, did we turn up the next day, the next Sunday, and the next.. and next … to try again and again and again. Did we continue to say our prayers and yes maybe even sometimes shake our fist at God.
The kingdom comes near to us just by faithfully having a go and being eternally consistent about it.
Some of the most endearing clergy and the most lovely people are those who did not convert oodles of people and have rip-roaring stewardship programmes and a cast of thousands. Some of the finest people who have patiently taught me most and fired me with inspiration are the chipped and the flawed and the busted. The ones who have been spectacular disappointments to others and most painfully of all to themselves. For in their shattered-ness they are quite magnificent and bless ‘em… they never ever gave up and that is what made them exquisite and amazing and awesome. The sort of people I would like to be when I grow up.
In Our Lord’s words, they rejoice not because they remained unscathed when they stomped on a protected species of wildlife and got away with it. They are at peace and are blessed because they know irrefutably that their names are written in heaven.
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants”
It is not the wise, the witty, the intelligent, the good looking and the glamorous that have KPIs in the KOG. It is the infants, the naive, the innocent, the un-beguiling, the trusting, the faithful, the people just like you and me who struggle and giggle and stumble and yet still turn up at the altar knowing how much we need to be fed.
And yes there are times when it might all seem futile and too hard and we are left bewildered. The times when we don’t feel as though we have the K.P.I.’s, the gifts and the talents to set the world on fire and to fill the church.
But it is precisely to people like this, like us, Human beings with feet of clay and hearts that are shattered, that God sends out to transform and transfigure, slowly bit by bit in ways and times that we will never know.
By any K.P.I. you care to name, St. Theresa of Avila would have to be right up there. So next time you think that you are failing to meet the K.P.I.’s you have set yourself and the task would be far better suited to the talented and the dazzling Jimmy and Jessica who are always articulate and dashing, you might find St. Theresa’s words are helpful.
“Christ has no body on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ looks out to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless others… now”
*> TLA - Three Letter Accronym