Scythopolis

Scythopolis

Luke 10:1-20

Karl Evans

The Second Dozen around Jesus was very important to Jesus. This group seemed to do all the work. The gospels teem with stories of these hard workers going here and there for Jesus. They recruited. They found food and lodging. They went places Jesus could never go. But they worked without fanfare. The first dozen got the credit.

One of this second twelve was an ordinary fellow, Elos by name. Elos worked hard in the name of his master. He just saw himself as committed totally to Jesus. He was really just, well, not as well known as some of the disciples.

Jesus sent some second twelve workers out to all the towns in the north of Palestine. Others made their way into Lebanon. Some went to Egypt, or even Jerusalem. Many of them would never return after being sent out. They were victims of accident, disease, or repression. Some were unable to keep the faith. Others just found work that kept them busy until the day they died.

But not the first thirteen. Most of the first group stayed close. They may have felt the need to stay in touch. Staying in touch seemed somehow critical. Some catastrophe such as the end of the world might come about. Or they might just lose track of each other, not be able to make contact. Then again, some were prepared to spend the next several days in prayer.

After Jesus finished giving everyone else their assignments, he studied Elos a moment. He furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes as if deep in thought before speaking.

"Elos, I have a challenge for you. Everyone else is going out two at a time to spread the Kingdom. Some are going north to Damascus. Some are headed for Jerusalem, or for Egypt. Some are going around Lake Tiberias into the Decapolis. Everyone has their own assignment now except you.”

“I haven't forgotten you. I have a special task for you. A little town called Scythopolis is crying out. I think just for you. It is very important to me. There are some personal things there . . .” Jesus’ voice trail off. He paused, deep in thought, before he spoke again.

“The people there have asked for someone to come talk about the Kingdom of God. I want you to go there. The problem is, I don't have anyone to send with you. I had hoped someone else would come along, but no one has. Are you willing to go by yourself? Do you think you can handle it?"

"Scythopolis!" thought the dumbstruck Elos. "Scythopolis! No one wants to go to Scythopolis. Good grief! I can't go there. They resent even their own prophets there. They string up their prophets up on a tree. At least they did this to the last fellow who went there to announce a new world. They put a crown of thorns on his head and called him the King." The image dancing in Elos’ head panicked him for a moment.

The stream of confused thoughts continued. "I can't do it. I'm scared. I don't know what to do. I'm too young to die. Do I have to go alone? Why me? Send me to Tyre or Sidon. If I fail there, at least I can just get on a ship and keep on going. Or send me to Babylon so I can be a slave.”

In his thoughts Elos cried out. “Send me to Egypt so I can build another pyramid in my captivity. That would be easier than preaching in Scythopolis. Am I actually going to Scythopolis? Forget it, buster!" His daydreams were filled with rebellion. But he spoke cautiously.
_

"Jesus, uuuhhhh, I think I need to pray about this. It would be very difficult, you know. I hear there are some strong persons there who are pretty set in their ways. They are all Samaritans! Every one of them. Samaritans don't take too kindly to outsiders. Samaritans do not really understand our religion, our theology. They carry long knives. My mother told me I should not marry a Samaritan. I don't know the language all that well. I hear the cost of living is very high there."

Jesus laughed. Elos had always liked to hear Jesus laugh, but not now. "Elos, I am not sending you to Scythopolis to build a harem or to produce a large family. People there need me. I just cannot go every place and talk to every person. Do you understand?”

“Go to Scythopolis and you will find the wildest thing. The people there are just ordinary folk. Teachers and rabbis and cooks and children. The mayor is a decent chap, although he is getting on in years. I know a counselor who has a son who is spoiled rotten.”
_

“When you go to the inn, tell them I sent you, and they will put you up free. They have promised me this. Just go, and tell them about me. Tell them you have talked with me, you have seen me. That's all you have to do. Will you go?"

Jesus really didn't give Elos a chance to say "No!" Before Elos knew what was up, he was on his way south. The distance was not far, and there were many people on the road to walk with. Soon he was near the little Samaritan town of Scythopolis. As he came near the ancient Greek city, he had the strangest feeling he had been part of this scene before.

It was just as Jesus had described the town. Jesus gave Elos so many details Elos suspected Jesus had been there and made the arrangements. That would have had to happen during a time Jesus just disappeared for several days. He did this sometimes.

In Scythopolis, Elos found teachers and rabbis with their funny little black hats. There were dogs and cats, chickens and cattle, camels and horses. He found a market, and an inn, and a synagogue. He was not to sure about visiting a Samaritan synagogue.

Elos met the mayor who obviously expected Jesus to send someone. Perhaps the mayor looked for someone with a higher status in the organization. The mayor was getting old, and was gray and too plump to be a great politician.

The mayor introduced him to the chief rabbi in town who also served as a community counselor. The rabbi was busy writing a grant to attend a conference at Tyre. He needed to spend a few days getting training in new methods. He also yearned to catch a few rays of ocean front sunshine.

The counselor's son kept interrupting the conversation. Finally he kicked Elos in the shin and screamed "Get out of here! I want to talk now!" This confused Elos, but he did not speak of the bratty child.

The mayor took Elos to the inn which was run by Jacob with help from a woman called Elissa. Elissa was a dressmaker, but as her eyes failed she had to find other work. The inn was the only available work in town.

Now because it was late in the evening, Jacob provided a meal of mutton stew for Elos. After Elos ate, Jacob showed Elos the corner of the room where he would be sleeping.

At one time, Scythopolis had a fairly heavy traffic of commercial travelers. Now few people came through the town. The commercial travelers all slept on the floor on straw pallets in the big room. During the day the pallets were picked up and piled neatly in the corner.

The straw pallets attracted many mice, and the mice attracted many cats. Jacob told Elos he had wanted to get rid of some cats, but Elissa wouldn't let him do it. She said they needed the cats to keep the mouse population down. But forty-'leven cats?

Elos’ feet were so tired he really did not care about Elissa’s many cats. He just wanted to sleep. He didn't even care if half the travelers and dogs in the place snored. Nothing could be worse than James and John. Jesus and the other disciples called James and John Sons of Thunder. He did appreciate, however, the cat. It came to his bed at night and curled itself up at his feet. The warmth felt good, and he was soon fast asleep.

Suddenly a man roared in the dim lamplight and started everything going. Dogs panicked and started fighting. Cats scattered. Elos sat up in a daze and wondered whether to panic and run. He knew, he just knew, he should not have come. The tiny lamp burned through the night to help folks avoid trampling each other. Now the dim light only allowed some sense of forms jumping and moving around, wondering.

Finally the voice of the man who had started the confusion came strong and clear. "Settle down. Go back to sleep. That blasted cat just licked the bottom of my foot. Good . . . night."

Elos learned to put up with the cats. Elissa was very kind and made it worth the trouble. When Elos went out into the town in the early morning. He often found someone who was hungry or sleeping under the bridge. This stranger was someone to feed. At first Elos begged the merchants around town to help him provide for the poor. They soon tired of the drain on their purses. He began to bring them back to the inn for food. He offered to go without a meal or a place to sleep if Elissa would help him care for the stranger.

Dear Elissa would provide a bath, and some food. Then through much of the night Elos and Jacob and Elissa and some others who couldn't sleep would sit and talk. They talked mostly about trying to make life better. They hoped only to take some first steps toward helping the poorest of the poor find food and shelter. These weak ones might later become the leaders of the community. For now, these people needed to know God loved them. They needed food and shelter just to live.

The process seemed long and hard, harder even than Elos had feared. Elos doubted he was doing any good in Scythopolis. He tried and tried. He talked to every person he could find. Scouring the streets was not productive. He talked to rabbis, and homemakers, and merchants, and children. Elos tried everything he could think of. He succeeded only in growing more discouraged as time went on.

Finally the time came to report to Jesus what had happened in Scythopolis. Elos knew from experience the words Jesus expected to hear. Jesus would take the time to listen to a full report. Jesus would want to know what great things he had done for Scythopolis. He would ask how many lives Elos had renewed.

Elos was most embarrassed when he thought he had wasted his time. He knew he had spent much time trying to help the poor people of Scythopolis. He helped them to just stay alive. Elos helped them find food and shelter and new life. He had not built any organization. He knew he had not really spent much time talking about Jesus. There just wasn't time.

Elos needed to take someone with him just to prove he had not just been standing around in Scythopolis. He thought of all those he had tried to help. In frustration he panicked, knowing well that apparently he hadn't really helped anyone.

Several alcoholics had gone back to the jug. Some of his projects had just wandered off, kings of the road, not wanting to stay in town. Some had just come in for the bath and for the food. When the sun came up, they were on the road again. It was very frustrating for Elos.

The night before Elos was to return north to Jesus and admit his failure, he struggled with his own failure. He sat outside the inn with his head in his hands. Elissa came and sat beside him. "Elos, what's the problem? I thought you would be excited about going back to the Sea of Galilee and seeing Jesus and your old friends again. You are moping around here as if you don't really want to go. What is it?"

Elo s admitted to Elissa his worry about standing in the gathering of the followers of Jesus. He struggled to admit his failure to renew the town of Scythopolis. He couldn't see he had helped anyone find a new life. No one. No success. Everything in town looked pretty much as it did on the da y he came.

Elos and Elissa sat in the cool evening, wondering. What might have been if they had some money to work with? Maybe if Jesus could have sent someone with Elos. They talked about all those with whom they had worked. They talked about their hopes for successes in the future. Elos knew not much could be claimed as success tonight. As the evening went on, at least Elos could talk to someone about his problems. Maybe he would get some sleep that night.

Finally, after a long period of silently listening and thinking, Elissa spoke softly. "Would you like me to go with you and be there when you speak? I'd like to meet this Jesus you have talked so much about. I'm sure Jacob will let me have a few days off. The cats will be all right."

Elos laughed. This wasn't exactly what he had expected. Elissa? Hardly a new person. Hardly one who had made a major shift in the direction of her life. Elissa was a good woman, not one who had seen a new light, ethically and morally. Elos could not brag to Jesus about having changed Elissa’s place in the community. No one would whisper their appreciation for the work of Elos in Scythopolis based on any changes in Elissa.

Elissa would be good company on the trip if she didn't insist on bringing all those blasted cats. OOOhhhhh, my!

Two days later they were near Capernaum in the evening, down by the lake. Jesus was there, and the disciples, and the rest of the second twelve. The word spread that Jesus was calling his people together for a meeting. Some curious people came out from town, curious about Jesus. They were curious about those who had gone away, and were now returning. Some wanted to support the work. They just came along to be helpful in whatever way they could. Some came expecting some kind of miracle.

Jesus asked the disciples and the second twelve to come away from the crowd for a time. He wanted to be with them, to talk privately with them, and to pray with them.

A disciple pointed out the crowd was hungry. A few biscuits and a couple fish were all the food available to feed them.

Jesus took these simple foods, blessed them, and handed them to the disciples. "Here, take this food, and feed the people. Then bring what you have left over and come join the rest of us. We will be up by that rock." A couple disciples smiled at the joke of there being any food left over. Jesus pointed to an outcropping on the hill and started for it.

Jesus took the second twelve off by themselves while the disciples began to serve the people. When Jesus and his people gathered near the rock, he asked how they had been feeding the people.

A couple had been to Tiberias and had cast out demons in the name of the Lord. Two had just recently returned from Sidon where they had worked among the Roman garrison there. On and on it went. It seemed each person had a more successful story to tell.

Finally, at last, only Elos had not spoken. Jesus turned to Elos. "I sent you to Scythopolis to feed my sheep. What happened to you there? Tell us all the great things you have accomplished."

Elos hung his head. He was trying to gather his courage to admit failure when he heard a voice beside him speaking. "Let me answer for Elos! He is very bashful just now. My name is Elissa. I can say what Elos cannot find words to say.”

“I am a simple woman. All my adult life I have lived alone until just recently. I have made a few shekels sewing clothes for the wealthy. Even sewing for the poor in Scythopolis has given me a small profit.”

“My friends have been my cats, so many of them I could not count. My pay for sewing for the poor has often been in fish. I have fed the fish to my cats--or any cats who have come to me for food. They have been my family.”

“Not long ago I began to lose my sense of touch. I could not sew. The needle would not hold in my hand. I found work cleaning and cooking and keeping accounts at the inn of a friend.”

“I was lost. I held a job I didn't understand and didn't want to do. The people who came in were tired and cranky from travel. They were dirty from the dust of the road. They smelled like camels and donkeys and dogs and cattle. I did not think I could do the work. I knew I did not want to do the work. Quit the job! Just wander off into the desert and die.“

“One night Elos brought someone else with him. Elos had been staying in the inn a few days. Elos paid for a bath and food for him. The next night it was a different man who was the guest. Then it was an elderly woman. Elos brought others. I wondered about Elos, whether he knew what he was doing.”

“One night he came to me asking if I knew of some way he could work off the bath and the food. We arranged some things with the people we knew. Every night for the next three weeks, someone else came for help. I began to look forward to the evening, wondering whom Elos would bring.”

“Each night he would come to the door with a frustrated look in his eyes, or maybe be apologetic. When he asked for help for his new friend, I always gave him a hard time. I'd say `Not again!'.”

“I began to enjoy helping. I began to enjoy life again. I began to hear the birds sing. I stopped to watch little children play."

As Elissa talked, Elos watched her only in his heart. He remembered the many hours of talking with her. He recalled the strength she seemed to pour into his soul to keep him going. Now he could clearly see her face in his heart's eye as she spoke words he could not find.

"When Elos said he had to come back here and tell you about his failure, I cried. He was embarrassed. He was frustrated.”

“I knew he hadn't failed. He had not failed because at least he changed me. My life was entirely new. I have new hope.”

“Jesus, you changed Elos. You changed his life into something new, and exciting, and wonderful. When you did, you changed my life.”

“So I had to come, because Elos didn't know how he changed my life. He came to Scythopolis just for me. Other people there needed you. You would never see them. He came to Scythopolis just for me, and it's through him I know you, Jesus."

Elos felt the tears running down his cheeks, but no one saw them. Just then some disciples came up the hill to Jesus and the second twelve.

"This is what's left of the food. Enough for everyone here. We don't understand. We started with just a little bit, and started feeding people. Now we have more than we did when we started. We don't understand."

Jesus smiled and replied "I think Elissa does. I think Elissa understands."