Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Exodus 19:2-6A; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8]As you go, make this proclamation: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
For many of us, myself included, there has been a moment when all the school is over, no more classes to attend, papers to write, tests to take. It's the moment we were all preparing for - to go out and DO what we have been trying to become qualified to do! As any young priest or doctor or teacher or lawyer or soldier: this is a scary moment. The world now expects big things and the newly graduated person feels suddenly like they know nothing at all! In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spends the Sermon on the Mount teaching his disciples. In his second discourse, called the Missionary Discourse, he gives the apostles their "marching orders." They are to do all the things he has been doing (except teach - that comes at the end of the gospel). He chooses twelve special disciples for this purpose and sends them out. (The word, "apostle," comes from a Greek word meaning, "to send forth.") Pastors around the country tell me that it is difficult to get ordinary layfolk in our church to go out on "mission" - even if only next door! Perhaps this is due to the privatization of religious faith in our secular society. We cannot imagine ourselves saying to a near friend, let alone a complete stranger, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Yet that is what Jesus has been training us to do! The list given in the quotation above is not necessarily the list of things that WE can do. We may be called upon to bear witness in other ways. St. Francis of Assisi is often quoted as saying, "Preach often. If necessary, use words!" St. Paul says, "How will they hear is there is no one preaching? And how will there be preaching if no one is sent?" Are we only going to sit and listen to Jesus and then forget out sharing our faith? Is the prospect of putting our understanding of the faith out in front of others too scary? At our baptism and confirmation, we are given our "marching orders" and we are expected to announce the kingdom of heaven. But it won't happen if we get afraid and timid and ask continually for further training! When one sees what the disciples of political candidates are doing this year, one can only wonder why this doesn't happen with the gospel? AMEN
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