Today's Message: 14th Sunday Ordinary Time C

Isaiah 66: 10-14; Galatians 6: 14-18; Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20

Jesus continues on His journey to Jerusalem which will culminate in His suffering, death, Resurrection and Ascension.  Today He sends out seventy-two of His followers in a preview of what will be expected of them when they receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  We usually read this as a interesting side note in Jesus’ ministry.  And we think how brave these people were in consenting to go and do the work of a missionary.  But what they did is exactly what each follower of Jesus is not only expected but SENT to do each day and every day.  The role of each follower of Jesus is to be Jesus each day in their daily living.  ‘To be Jesus’ means not only following His teaching but also living a life of love each day as Jesus did. His care and helping coupled with His mercy, forgiveness and compassion to each person He encountered is our goal.  Today’s readings challenge me to take some reflection time and ask, ‘How am I doing?’  Am I reluctant to get out of my comfort zone when I see a need?  Am I hesitant to change my priorities in order to give some assistance?  Do I set time and conditions on my charitable work? Will I only give a certain amount of financial help when asked to care for the needy?  Do I feel the help is only for those who can afford to give help, and often I’m not in the situation that I can respond?  

I once stopped for gas and it was ‘on empty’… I realized I didn’t have my wallet or any credit cards.  So I started to pull out…a man in a old and very beat up car saw my distress and offered to help.  ‘Mister, just put $7.00 in and it’s on me.’   Red faced, I did.  Then he said, come inside the 7-Eleven…and he said, ‘the coffee and doughnut is on me too.’  I couldn’t stop thanking him and offered to reimburse him. ‘Nope…just help someone in need…that’s good enough for me.’   I deliberately drove by that 7-Eleven hoping to see this man and treat him, but I never saw him again.  I am reminded of this story in my past life when I reflected on today’s readings.

Today’s first reading from Isaiah is the final chapter from his book.  The people have returned from exile.  They finally realized that it is all about God.  Their past had been dominated by sin and pride.  Not only the kings but the people had put their own agendas over service to God.  This led to the collapse of the nation and the sixty years they had been exiled in Babylon.  Now they have returned and are wiser and understand they are to respond to God’s goodness and His grace by being His people.  Today’s oracle portrays God’s people as a child carried in the loving and comforting arms of its mother.  In the beginning of Isaiah’s writing, he portrayed God as looking for His headstrong and obstinate children who were lost.  In these last oracles, the people now realize they have become God’s servants and are to live as God’s people of love and care.  They have returned home to live His life.

Paul is taking this theme of Isaiah as the people now being part of God’s new creation.  Whereas the people had to be chastised by exile before God’s reign could be seen, Paul sees the cross of Christ as effecting the new creation.  “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”  The cross is all about God’s total love.  So observing the law (circumcision) nor abandoning the law (uncircumcision) is not important.  The cross of Christ tells of God’s love.  It is about God’s total, unconditional love…the ultimate extent to which God shows His total love and care for us. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has completely changed Paul’s way of looking at things.  All that matters now is that believers have been created anew.  We are loved by God…now what am I doing about this?   Am I paying attention to this?  

Jesus sands out the seventy-two to prepare the way for Jesus’ visitation to these towns. They are the advance team.  They are to cure the sick and proclaim that,  “… The kingdom of God is at hand.”  They go out in two’s to provide safety as well as their qualifications as official witnesses of seeing, listening to and believing that Jesus is the ‘promised of God.’   With His suffering, death and resurrection looming, there is an urgency about this mission.  This is  the right time, these disciples must seize the moment.  This will not be easy, it is dangerous work.  “I am sending you like lambs among wolves” They are to take nothing with them; all that is needed is to bring God’s peace with them and to live that peace.  The lifestyle of the disciple is make very clear:  stay focused, it is all about proclaiming and living the kingdom of God, not about popularity.  As Sunday Homily Helps states, “A disciple travels light and depends on the hospitality of the community for the basic essentials.  There is to be no useless conversation.  Proclaim the message of peace and do not get distracted.  The disciple is to stay in one place and must not seek out the best accommodations.  Take what is offered and do not complain. If a disciple is rejected, he or she is not to argue. Leave by shaking the dust from one’s feet, which implies a curse of rejection aimed at those who refused the message and presence of the disciple.  To reject the disciple is to reject the message of salvation the disciple brings.”  They come back excited…Jesus tells them to trust God and don’t worry about results.  St. Francis of Assisi and said, ‘Preach God and once in a while use words.’ St. Anthony of Padua added, ‘Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak.’   Too often we feel that the role of being God’s ministers is left to priest’s, religious, deacons.  As Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest.”  We think that this means praying for more vocations to the ministry and religious life…it really means lighting a fire under each one of us to realize that the Kingdom is here…now…what am I going to do about it! Signs of the kingdom are all around us and within us:  a smile that brings life, love and tenderness; truth that confronts the demons that surround us in our society; being present to one who is hurting or alone; being an instrument of hope to those with difficult crosses and just being people of love, peace, mercy and forgiveness.  So what am I waiting for?  The invitation has already been given by Jesus…reread the Gospel.  

So I reflect on:

• Where have I found new life in places where all seemed dead?
• How does my life proclaim:  The Kingdom of God is at hand?
• When have I experienced the tender comfort of God?
• When have I felt God’s power in my work?  What were the signs?
• When have I been rejected in being a minister of God’s love?  How did it feel?  What did I learn?

Sacred Space 2019 states:   

   “In many parts of the world I may be ‘like a lamb in the midst of wolves.’  The expression of my faith is simply to say, ‘Peace to this house.’  My desire is to heal the wounds of division among peoples.  I cannot give up this vision of ‘the kingdom’ if I wish to remain in this Gospel scene among those seventy others….

   Jesus’ advice to travel light applies to all of us.  How many unneeded and unused purses, bags, and other items clutter my closets?  Could I carry everything I truly need for a trip?”