FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Readings:

Book of the Prophet Isaiah 66:10-14

Book of Psalms 66:1-7, 16, 20

Galatians 6:14-18

Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

What might have been racing through the minds of those 72 disciples in today’s gospel from Luke?  They surely possessed a strong faith in Jesus, which no doubt made them feel honored to be chosen by Him for this missionary undertaking.  Those closest to Jesus, the apostles, were not the best of examples, being a little rough around the edges.  Other than the tax collector Matthew, their work history was mostly about fishing, not exactly jobs with an abundance of refinement.  Furthermore, Jesus’ stark farewell, surely filled them with a sense of foreboding: “Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.  Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.”  Hey Jesus, stop sugar-coating the directions!

The sending of the 72 “others” was an important moment for the early church, and clearly showed Jesus’ intention from the start not to clap His hands and enforce His kingdom on everyone.  No one is forced to enter the kingdom of God.  Men and women are invited to believe and enter the kingdom that Jesus has prepared for them.  People can accept the invitation, or they can ignore the invite to their own peril.  But Jesus also needed “others,” others who, by example, would broaden the impact of Jesus’ short time preaching and teaching.  The apostles, so well portrayed in the TV series, The Chosen, were more a support group, and less missionary in their endeavors.  That would change after Jesus’ resurrection and Pentecost, when the Spirit-filled group splits up and goes to all corners of the known world.

Jesus continues to use “others” – us, and all those who believe in Jesus as the Lord and Savior.  God’s kingdom spreads by example, the example of men and women doing the right thing, the example of men and women behaving as Jesus taught them to behave.  In any era where truth has become a rare commodity, where integrity seems old-fashioned, where justice is a thing of the past, where greed is the basic motivation of many, where violence rules the streets, where the fundamental rights of individuals are ignored or threatened – there is an aching need for good example.

Jesus is clear about the difficulty the 72 are going to encounter, but He is also optimistic about the power of Shalom, Peace.  Jesus states: “Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’  If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him.”  In so many of the post-resurrection appearances Jesus calls the apostles down by wishing them “Peace.”  Peace is more than the absence of war.  It is a desire for another person’s well-being, as well as the desire for the worldly conditions to be conducive for peace to be possible.  The 72 are instructed to make peace a priority, for even when they find a household not fully open to their message, the much desired peace will “return” to them.  The gospel acclamation for today’s liturgy that comes from Paul’s letter to the Colossians states: “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”  We are the never-imagined descendants of the 72 “others” in today’s gospel, and we are tasked, like so many before us, with being other ‘Christs’, that the kingdom of God will continue to spread, especially to those areas of the world where Jesus’ message is so desperately needed.