14th. Sunday (C)
(Isaiah
66:10-14; Galatians: 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20)
In the Gospel
reading for last week, the 13th. Sunday, St. Luke told us that:
Jesus, resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and sent
messengers ahead of Him. On the way they
entered a Samaritan village to prepare for His reception there, but they would
not welcome Him, because the destination of His journey was Jerusalem.
Today
we learn that, subsequently:
The Lord appointed seventy-two others whom He sent ahead of Him in pairs
to every town and place He intended to visit.
We can
suppose that Jesus had originally sent a single pair of messengers to the
Samaritan village appearing before Him on their way to Jerusalem; but what a
difference now: He sends 72 others ahead of Him, two by two!! Why such a striking difference, why such a
specific number?
The
first disciples had been sent to a village on the way to prepare an overnight
resting place for Jesus and His disciples, but they had not been welcomed by
the villagers concerned. Today’s mission would seem to have been sent symbolically
to the whole world, in preparation for Jesus’ coming to the whole of mankind in
the persons of the twelve Apostles and His Church; for there were 70 ancients
of Israel, plus Moses and Aaron, to ratify the Covenant of Sinai; there were
also 70 leaders in Israel, plus Eldad and Medad who were given a share in Moses’
prophetic spirit when he found it too hard to lead Israel alone; there were
also 70 nations on earth we are told in the book of Genesis (10).
These are the clans of the sons of Noah, in their nations, and from
these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood. (Genesis 10:32)
In
sending out the 72 messengers to prepare for the coming of the word of God
which the Apostles would proclaim, Jesus was recalling the Old Covenant ... now
to be replaced by the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood, the old prophetic message
of Moses, now to be replaced by the Good News of Jesus; and on the return of
the 72 – rejoicing -- we are told,
Jesus Himself revealed and proclaimed the momentous, indeed the apocalyptic,
import of their work of evangelization:
I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to tread
upon serpents and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing
will harm you.
You
will remember the following incident from the Acts of the Apostles when the
Gospel message of Paul and Barnabas was rejected by the Jews at Antioch:
When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked
abusively against what Paul was saying.
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: ‘We had to speak the Word
of God to you first. Since you reject it
and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the
Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has
commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring
salvation to the ends of the earth.”’ (13:45-47)
Paul
was a great disciple of Jesus; he may well have known of Jesus’ rejection by
the Samaritans (regarded, in those days, as bastard Jews) and of His symbolic
‘world’ mission of 72 followers ... did the Spirit recall to his mind what
Jesus had said and done in this regard?
However that may be, the fact is that Paul and Barnabas on their first
missionary journey in the name of the Church of Christ, followed Jesus’ own
example, and, in the power of His Spirit, took the word of God – after its
rejection by the Jews of Antioch -- to the nations, thereby initiating the
unfolding of Satan’s fall seen in anticipation by Jesus.
Oh, for
a mind and heart able to see and appreciate something of the wonder of God’s
wisdom and beauty to be found in the Scriptures of Mother Church: Jesus sending out the 72 not only recalls the
beginnings of mankind and of God’s direct dealings with His Chosen People but
also foresees from their endeavours in His name the ultimate downfall of Satan
and the heavens opened to welcome saved mankind!!
Let us
now look at another aspect of today’s Gospel reading:
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the
streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we
shake off against you. Yet know this:
the Kingdom of God is at hand.’ I tell
you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.
And we
have verse 16 omitted in our reading today:
He who listens to you listens to Me; he who rejects you rejects Me; but
he who rejects Me rejects Him Who sent Me.
Notice;
those who reject, no, even those who do not welcome, will not listen to, the
Word will be rejected. How can that
be? It can only be because mankind,
being made in the image and likeness of God, is made for the Word of God. The Good News of Jesus is the natural food
for those whom God has made in His own likeness. Just as a child finds its natural food at its
mother’s breast, so too mankind is made in such a fashion as to find
supernatural nourishment from the Word of God and the Sacrament of His Church:
Exult with her, all you who were mourning over her! Oh, that you might suck fully of the milk of
her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts! For thus says the Lord: Lo, I will spread
prosperity over Jerusalem like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an
overflowing torrent. As nurslings you
shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her
child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort. When you see this your hearts shall rejoice
and your bodies flourish like the grass; the Lord’s power shall be known to His
servants.
We are
made for God; and if we, ultimately, cannot rejoice over, will not welcome, do
not trust His Word of Truth and His Spirit of Love then we will die. There can
be no excuse for we would have destroyed our very selves.
People
of God, today the Western world is, in so many ways, literally falling over
itself to separate itself from any acceptance of the wisdom of an authoritative
and loving God: when ‘husband’ is not to refer, necessarily, to a man, nor
‘wife’ to a woman, when, in fact, ‘husband’ can be a woman, ‘wife’ can be a man;
when children are no longer God’s gift to
human nature, but can be of human procurement – proclaimed as loving and caring
-- against nature. In these modern times
of moral darkness when passing ideas and current fancies, mistaken ideals and febrile,
fruitless, hopes are picked up and proclaimed by so many seeking to be their
own masters in all things, and attempting so proudly to masterfully guide their
own society and the world around from their own pitifully and appallingly
limited awareness and understanding, we can profitably notice and learn from
St. Paul’s words in our second reading:
Peace and mercy to all who follow the rule of Christ; for through the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the world is being crucified to us, and we
ourselves to the world. Let nothing make
trouble for you, for you are part of a new creation. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
your spirit.
