Sixth Sunday of Easter: We are sent to be a light to the world

J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, wrote that

“an adventure is a "there-and-back-again" affair. One undertakes an adventure as a matter of one's own desire-often from boredom and a lust for excitement. Once the treasure is found and the adventure is over, one returns essentially unchanged by the experience. An escapist culture lives for adventures. A quest, by contrast, is never a matter of one's own desire but rather of one's calling.” (The Gospel according to Tolkien, Dr. Ralph Brown.)

Stories of quests have been staples of human life since the first written words. Here are some samples of quests.
 
A Quest: The Odyssey
In the Odyssey, written about the time of the Old Testament, Odysseus fought in the Trojan war and by a large circuitous path made his way home. In the beginning of the story, the Iliad, he was reckless and self-centered in the pursuit of battle glory. After much suffering and struggle, he returned home a much more patient and prudent man. He was still, however, very violent in that he killed all of his wife's suitors, patiently, but such were the Homeric Greeks.

A Quest: Gawain and the Green Knight
In the medieval story Gawain and the Green Knight, a giant glowing Green Knight with a huge battle axe (never a good sign) crashes a party attended by various knights. He challenges anyone to give him a blow and he will return the blow in one year. Gawain, who is overly concerned about his reputation among others knights, especially his reputation for courage and chastity, accepts the challenge.  He rises and cuts the Green Knight’s head off. The Green Knight reaches down and puts his head back on. (also not a good sign) The quest begins! The story is on one level a story about a fearsome Giant Green knight that Gawain must battle. On a different level, it is a story about humility. In the course of the quest, Gawain learned the limits of his virtue and came to know himself more thoroughly. That is, he became humble, a basic Christian virtue.

A Quest: The Lord of the Rings
In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the best-selling book of the 20^th Century, the Hobbits must destroy the ring of evil in the volcanic fire from which it was forged. During the course of that quest all of the characters are purified in some sense and changed. The quest takes Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring into uncharted territory. Tolkien’s works have been translated into 39 languages both in European languages, the Muslim world, China, Korea and Japan. Why the great universal appeal of a quest story? Why is the Iliad, the Odyssey and Gawain and the Green Knight still in print?

Quests are necessary to human nature 
Quest stories have an enduring fascination for humans everywhere. If Ancient Greece, Israel, Medieval Europe and the modern world all love quest stories, it must say something fundamental about human nature. A quest takes us beyond the walls of our little world and exposes us to a much greater reality. That is why quests are something more and fundamentally different from adventures. Quests are about accomplishing a mission and in the course of the quest, being changed. A quest is a calling to fulfill our destiny.
 
A Quest: Israel as a Light to the Nations
In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were called on a quest. Not just an individual, but the whole people They were sent to be a “light to the nations.” The Prophet Isaiah said,
 

"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." Is. 49

 
Israel’s mission was supposed to change the Israelites and the world.

A Quest: Jesus sends the Church

Today in the gospel, Jesus prepares his disciples for a quest. That quest is to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. Someone, thtat is the disciples, had to take the salvation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob out to the whole world. Jesus said,

“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” John 15

The reason quest stories have such appeal is that every human life is a mission. An experience may just be one of many experiences that may or may not change or lives. In quests, lives are unmistakably changed. The disciples were told to go out into the world, call people to repentance, baptism and to make disciples who would also go out into the whole world. We are not at the center of the quest. Instead, as in all quest stories, we are to be changed and to change others. That is the point. The wisdom of quests is our discovery that we are not the center of the world. We serve someone.

 
Quests are essential to fulfill our human nature
What would have happened if Odysseus had just decided to bag the whole Trojan war thing and just stay home. If Gawain had decided to sit on his sword and keep quiet as the Green Knight bragged; if Frodo had decided to use the ring of power as a party gag; if we don’t fulfill our quest as disciples? If we don’t do what the Lord commissioned us to do, something essential in us withers. We must share our faith and invite people. It is in our faith and our nature. We will have some successes and failures to be sure, but that is the nature of a mission.
 
This Wednesday, our parish Seekers program begins. It is an opportunity to invite a friend to hear about the faith. If in every time and place, human beings have told stories of quests, you can do your friends a favor when you tell them about your quest. Say a prayer and set out in answer to the Lord's call. On Wednesday, in the Narthex of the Church, at 6 pm, Fr. Calistus will lead a discussion on “Does God exist?” For the record; he does and he has sent you to bear much fruit.