Word to the Wise
Sunday, July 7, 2019 - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Isa 66:10-14c; Gal 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 or 10:1-9,183]At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. [Luke]
I once saw a picture of a church parking lot where a sign faced inwardly so that those driving out would see it. The words on the sign were: WARNING: YOU ARE ENTERING MISSION TERRITORY!
The overall scheme of the Evangelist Luke in his two-volume gospel/Acts shows the message of Jesus spreading from Galilee to Jerusalem and then to all the world. In the Book of Genesis (ch. 10) the list of the nations totals seventy-two, which means that the number in today's gospel passage has a symbolic purpose. The instructions that Jesus gives to these disciples may reflect in part the experience of the early Christian missionaries. It is a global perspective, even if the knowledge of the planet was limited in those days!
If one realizes that today the Catholic Church in all its rites and branches has more than one billion members, the spread of the gospel has been truly remarkable. If one adds the members of other Christian churches, it gets even more amazing. Such a perspective can help us to weather some pretty difficult times and challenges as a church. The vast majority of the membership are laypersons. The failures of leadership can be discouraging but the faith is bigger than the leadership. It helps to remember that Jesus did not pick perfect people as apostles or disciples, and the faith spread despite their imperfections because the Spirit used their perfections to good effect!
Every baptized person could see him- or herself as one of the seventy-two. Pope Francis has called us all to be missionaries. The work will not be completed until the Lord returns at the end of time. AMEN