Paul Tillich, one of the great cultural theologians of the 20th century, spoke often of the Christian life as being one that is lived "on the boundaries."

Boundaries between:
Christ and Culture
Church and World
Sacred and Profane
Religious and Non-Religious
Holy and Secular
Faith and Doubt

Boundaries of:
Races and Nations
Rich and Poor
Clean and Unclean
Tribe and Family
Educated and Uneducated

We are called as Christians to be on the boundaries between, to be in those places where people are excluded, denigrated, left out. We are called to live generously open lives within the universal love of God.

Living beyond cultural boundaries is one of Luke's major concerns. Luke takes great care in presenting Jesus as the one who crossed boundaries and broke down barriers for the sake of love. Jesus crosses from the Jewish territory of his own people into the Gentile world of strangers. He ate, healed, conversed and touched indiscriminately. He was always expanding faith beyond previously drawn lines. He lived beyond the boundaries and told stories about living beyond the boundaries.

The woman off the street who let down her hair and washed and dried his feet.
The Gaderne man who was possessed with a legion of demons.
The healing and raising of the centurions daughter.
The parable of the good Samaritan, the crown jewel of stories about living beyond the Boundaries.

And today's text about the sending out of the seventy missionaries into territories he had not yet entered.
Seventy was thought to be the number of Gentile nations. It represented the outsiders, the world.
The outsiders were to be included in the accepting love of God and the good news of the Gospel.
Eat and drink whatever is set before you…beyond the food laws for the sake of inclusion.

We are called to be a community that breaks down barriers by living beyond the boundaries.

This is the meaning of "incarnation"…the central doctrine of Christian faith. God lives beyond the boundaries of deity to become human. God in Jesus Christ lives beyond the boundaries of his chosen people, beyond nationality, beyond race, for the sake of all people. God lives beyond security for the sake of risk. God lives beyond the glory and the power to become vulnerable and open to suffering. God lives beyond purity in Jesus Christ to be made sin for our sake. God lives beyond "Lordship" to become "servant of all." God lives beyond abundance and richness to become poor. God lives beyond popularity to become despised and forsaken. God lives beyond life to enter into death and lives beyond death to become life for all people.

This is all very unsettling because it shows God's determination to extend forgiveness, reconciliation and acceptance to all people…to "all the others."

As followers of Jesus we are challenged to live beyond the boundaries. We are challenged to live with the unsettling openness of God's passion to love and to save. We are challenged to live without closing the circle. Such life is a sign of the Spirit of God within us and among us.

To be sure, every "incarnation" risks a drowning. But is the risk of Christian faith and Christian freedom. And we can rejoice that our names are written in the open book of heaven.