FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
14 JULY 2024
As
we have been listening to the Gospel of Saint Mark, he has been describing the
early ministry of Jesus in Galilee.
Jesus has proclaimed that he is the promised Messiah, and that the
kingdom of God is at hand. He has been
preaching and teaching about the kingdom.
He has worked miracles as signs of the presence of the kingdom. And yet, people in his hometown of Nazareth
and even within his own family have rejected him. They cannot believe in him, because he is too
ordinary.
However, he
has attracted many who have begun to believe in him and have become his
disciples. They form his new
family: those who are willing to do the
will of his Father. Of those disciples,
he has chosen twelve to become his Apostles.
He has chosen them not because they have any particular skills, but
because they have faith in him. They
will become the foundation of the new Israel, as the old Israel was composed of
twelve tribes.
Today, he
sends them on a trial mission, a boot camp of sorts. He gives them authority over unclean spirits
and tells them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick. They will not need food or a sack or
money. They must rely on their own
resources and trust in the Father’s all sufficient providence. They will be free of distractions, so that
they can accept hospitality. They can
preach out of conviction. He warns them
that not everyone will accept their message.
When they encounter opposition, as he himself has done, they should
shake the dust off their feet. In other
words, they need to treat those who attack them with love, as Jesus would do
from the cross: “Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do.”
They go
off, two by two, preaching repentance. Repentance
is more than changing moral behavior. It
involves a complete turning toward him. Despite
their lack of experience, they do pretty well in their boot camp. They drive out demons and anoint with oil
many of those who are sick and cured them.
They are doing what they had been observing Jesus did in Galilee.
Much later,
Saul of Tarsus would become Saint Paul the Apostle when he would encounter the
risen Christ on the road to Damascus and repent of his intention to attack the
Church. After his conversion, he would follow
the instructions given to the other Apostles and spread the good news
throughout the area, including the residents of Ephesus. He writes to the Ephesians to remind them of
their identity in Christ. He tells them,
“In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who
accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we
might exist for the praise of his glory.”
In writing
to them, he is also writing to us, the members of the Church of Saint Matthew
in South Bend. He reminds us that we
have been chosen as disciples of Jesus Christ.
We exist for the glory of God and are called to focus on our role of
witnessing to our identity in Christ. We
are sent from this Mass to do what Jesus sent the Apostles to do: to trust in his authority and power. We too do not need a lot of stuff. We have to respond to his message of
repentance and make him the center of our lives. In witnessing to the Gospel, we will not
always be accepted. Like Amos, the
prophet, we will be rejected when we have the courage to speak the truth. Like Jesus, we will have to carry the heavy
cross of not being understood or accepted by those who disagree with us. Jesus insists that life is not about us. Life is about loving people who do not love
us back. That is the Paschal
Mystery. If we are willing to embrace
our identity in Jesus Christ, we can die to ourselves. When we know that life is not about us, but
about our identity with Jesus Christ, we can share in his rising.
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