Homily - 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13

Video

Life is filled with many things we’d rather not do. Just think of those incidents in your life when you didn’t want to do something! For instance, nearly every time our parents asked us to help out around the house. Nearly every time our boss made us come in to work on a holiday. Nearly every time a friend asked us to volunteer for something we really didn’t care very much about. Nearly every time our doctor listed all the foods we’d have to avoid or told us how we needed to lose weight by exercising daily and cutting out on alcoholic beverages. Nearly every time our kids told us that we should consider giving up driving for our own safety. Life is filled with many things we’d rather not do.

But of course, we do not always get a choice. Some things we just have to do, no matter how desperately we wish things were otherwise. Some responsibilities do not just come with expectations, they also come with real consequences. For instance, if we stop going to work, we are not going to have a job for long.  What about in matters of faith? What if God is the one asking?

In today’s gospel, Jesus instructs the Twelve as he sends them out on mission. He prepares the Twelve for their first missionary venture. They are given the power to derive out unclean spirits, but they can only do this through the authority of their master Jesus. They must participate in this mission in a truly self-sacrificing manner. Jesus prepares them for possible rejection and failure.

We have to realize that God doesn’t work alone. From the beginning God engaged others in the works of creation and salvation: Adam named the animals, Noah built the ark, Abraham and Sarah gave birth to a people and Moses led them to freedom. Prophets, priests, and kings- all of them were given jobs. Jesus does-the same with his disciples.

Working for God does not always guarantee a welcome. When the prophet Amos, from the south, showed up at the sanctuary in Bethel, about fourteen miles north of Jerusalem, the prophet Amaziah was not thrilled to see him. “Go home” he shouted. “Prophesy there and leave us alone”. Amos’ response is interesting. “Not my idea to be here, nor to be doing this” he says. “I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The Lord told me to do this”. Amos never applied for the job of prophet. Chosen without being consulted, he was commissioned to speak God's challenging word to the leaders of his people.

Perhaps, the disciples of Jesus knew the story, since many of them were from up north- the fishermen Peter and Andrew, James and John, for sure. And most likely the others too. So, when God calls you, you go. The same happened when Jesus came along. All he said was “Follow me” and they did. Now he sends them out, preaching, teaching, healing and casting out demons. Travel light he cautions them- in other words, take only the essentials. Stay where you land. Keep to the message. If they don’t want it, move along.

The Lord continues to send us out, as God did with prophets and as Jesus did with those first disciples. The world needs the message more than ever: God wants a family that will be faithful to God, loving to each other, and caring for the earth once entrusted to Adam and Eve for tending. God wants a holy people. And this holiness comes as a gift from God, if we accept it. For this message to get out, messengers are needed, witnesses in word and deed. That is us.

The Lord depended on the apostles. Now he depends on us. Like them, our baptism commissions us to help others know and enjoy the presence of God — in spite of and in the midst of tragic situations, and relentless attitudes that obscure our vision of what God wants for our world. May the prayer of St Francis of Assisi be an inspiration for us this week.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.