PROPER VI - A - 20 - Gen 18.1-15, Rom 5. 1-8, Matt 9.
35-10.8 -23
“Then Jesus went about all
their cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”
Today’s gospel picks up
following Jesus’ having healed a variety of illnesses and exorcising many
demons. He has even opened the eyes of the blind. Matthew tells us that Jesus
is moved with compassion for those to whom he has been sent. He sees them
floundering about like so many sheep without a shepherd.
He says to his followers that
the harvest is plentiful in reference to the people, but the laborers are few.
So pray, Jesus tells them, that the Lord of the Harvest will send out laborers
into the harvest. What follows is Christ’s choosing 12 men from among those who
have been with him up to this point to do that very thing.
These 12 Jesus empowers to
heal and teach and to cast out demons. In other words, to do what he has been
doing all along. However, he warns them that not all who hear their words or
witness their deeds will welcome them.
More than that, there will be
those occasions when they will undergo persecution. Their words and actions
will stir people up and cause divisions even among families. However, he
promises that those who endure to the end will ensure their salvation.
Jesus summoned the 12 and
gave them power to heal. God’s love is a transforming power to the extent that
it is shared in God’s manner of sharing. God’s power is a transforming love
when it is exercised in the manner of Jesus Christ’ use of power.
Such power begins and ends
with love shared as revealed in Jesus Christ who while we were yet sinners
loved us and died for us. It is a mystery we are invited into by virtue of our
baptism. That ideal of Christ’ power, the power of compassion, the power to
share the good news, and the power to love and reconcile, is not and has not
been the power that mankind has and is used to welding.
Just look at our world today.
Look even closer at our own society, especially in the past few weeks. Power
over others rather than power for others has been and is more typical. The
tension between Christian power and abusive power has always existed from the
time of Christ to the present day.
It is even evident among
those who call themselves Christians, and for all whom Christ died. A warring
power has taken over the hearts and minds of many today causing even further
divisions. “Might is Right” has become the underlying slogan. This abuse of
power has opened a Pandora’s Box giving some the excuse to abuse others in the
name of justice.
That, however, is only one
story. The Christian story of power, the power Jesus Christ has shared with his
Body the Church, is a different story. His is one of “Might for Right,” of
power for caring and of reconciliation.
The mystery of the power of
God’s love is found in our sharing Christ’ gift of reconciliation. When we do,
we discover that we receive more of that gift each time we share it.
Jesus had the power, the
power of God to do the things he was doing that left some speechless and awed
at his ability to do so while others viewed power strictly from a human point
of view. In that, nothing has changed today. That left people with a choice,
still does. Either to accept Jesus as God’s chosen deliver or else to believe
that he was in league with the devil.
Sadly, Jesus was anything but
in league with the enemy. What he was doing sprang from a deep compassion and
sorrow he felt in his own heart as he looked at his fellow Jews wandering about
as if they were lost sheep without a shepherd attending to their needs.
He changed the imagery to a
farming one. They were like a field full of wheat or corn with nobody to
harvest it. They were eager for God’s kingdom, but did not know where to look
to find it. They were ready and waiting for God to act, but who was going to
tell them he already had.
Jesus tells us in today’s
gospel that we are to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers into
the harvest. His disciples did not understand that he meant them for he had not
yet sent them out. Jesus tells us to pray the same prayer and if we do, we need
to see the answer comes back to us as well.
We are the answer to Christ’s
prayer. That may come as a shocking revelation to some of us. What Jesus was
doing for the lost sheep of the tribes of Israel, we are, as Church, are to
continue to do for the world. That is the Church’s mission. We are part of God’s
answer. How awesome is that?
As Jesus sent the twelve, so
we, by virtue of our baptism are sent to be healers, restorers, people who
bring new life and hope to others in His name. That is a message that we all
need to hear today and the one that needs to be acted on.
However, as the disciples
discovered, so shall we, not all will choose to welcome the good news. By their
words and actions, some will choose to remain in the darkness of evil,
violence, anger and ignorance.
They will choose to stick to
the old ways of welding power that leads to ruin. Justifying themselves as they
do so with “might is right.” Instead of embracing the power of God’s love to
make whole, to make new, to heal and reconcile as Jesus taught us to do.
Our society today is a tale
of two stories, one of darkness and the other of light. Power is the driving
force. The tension exists today, as it did in the time of Jesus between the
power of God and the power of darkness that sometimes comes clothed as light
and truth only to deceive.
Pray God will continue to
keep His Church steadfast in faith and love and give us the strength and
courage through His grace to proclaim the Truth with boldness, and minister
justice with compassion for the sake of Him who died and rose again, even
Jesus Christ, our Savior. AMEN+
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