15th. Sunday, Year
(B)
(Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-10; Mark
6:7-13)
Jesus left Nazareth profoundly
shocked by His townspeople’s personal disdain and lack
of faith. According to St. Mark,
He had always intended from the very first moment of choosing His Twelve
Apostles, to send them out to proclaim the Gospel for which He Himself had been
sent:
Hearing what He was doing, a large number of people came
to Him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the
neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told His disciples to have a boat ready for
Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush Him.
He went up the mountain and summoned those whom He
wanted and they came to Him. He
appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles) that they might be with Him and
He might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out
demons.
(Mark 3:8-9; 13–15)
After His rejection at Nazareth
Jesus carried on preaching in the villages around but His mind was somewhat
pre-occupied: He was beginning to appreciate that it would not be He Himself who
would bring Israel, let alone the nations, back to God: at least, Israel would
not repent and be converted back to the Lord in direct response to Himself. The saving message would be, indeed it had to
be, His message, for He Himself
was the only and ultimate Good News; but others would have to continue the
proclamation of His Gospel to its prescribed fulfilment, since He Himself,
though being the very Son of God incarnate, would never be Personally acceptable
because He was known as Jesus, Son of Mary from Nazareth.
Faced with such a situation Jesus
began to think of how His future Church would be able to proclaim His Good News
to the whole world and offer His saving grace to all who would believe in His
Name, be they Jews or pagans. Jesus,
therefore, decided to send out these twelve disciples, for a limited period of
time and exclusively to the symbolic whole of Israel (twelve tribes), on what we
might call a trial run.
Jesus also gave His Apostles strict
instructions regarding the preparations to be made for the journeying ahead of
them:
He commanded
them to take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bag, no bread, and no
copper in their money belts -- but to wear sandals, and not to put on two
tunics.
Now these were no random
instructions, for they were of such a nature as would not fail to impress upon
the Apostles that they were being sent out on a holy mission: for these same
requirements would equally have fitted them for entering the Temple in
Jerusalem. Thus, it was with a similar
attitude and a like intention to that of worshippers entering the Temple that
they were to embark upon this mission Jesus was entrusting to them, it was to be
a holy mission for God’s glory above all.
It was, undoubtedly, also to be for the well-being of those to whom they
were going, because according to Mark, Jesus:
gave them power over unclean spirits,
whereby they would be enabled to go
through Israel preaching the coming Kingdom of God, and overthrowing the power
of the devil by casting out unclean spirits and calling people to
repentance. This decision to send them
out was made by Jesus perhaps with the hope of noting people’s response to His
disciples proclamation so that He might thereby profitably adapt the final
mission of His Church; but more importantly, He may also have been wanting to
see how His Father would bless the mission as a foreshadowing of His Church,
because Jesus was always attentive to even the slightest manifestation of His
Father’s will.
As you can see, this sending out of
the Twelve -- intended by Jesus from His initial choice of them (cf. Mk.
3:13-15) -- is extremely significant for us who are His disciples and members of
His Body, the Church. We should
therefore try to appreciate not only the physical arrangements for food and
clothing; not only the spiritual powers He gave the Apostles for their work; we
should also carefully note the personal attitude Jesus enjoined on
them:
In whatever
place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.
They were not to move about
from place to place. That could easily
happen; for example, modern, good, kindly and considerate, Christians on such a
mission might well think -- and secretly praise themselves for thinking thus –
that it would be only right and proper for them to move from house to house so
as not to be too much of a burden on any one household. However, it is clear that Jesus here is
telling His Apostles to be in no way apologetic for needing and accepting some
help on their mission. Indeed St.
Matthew insists on this point, for according to him, Jesus said to His
missionaries:
Now whatever
city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you
go out. And when you go into a
household, greet it. If the household is
worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace
return to you.
(10:11-14)
Let me make it clearer: Jesus is
saying, “Inquire who in the town is worthy to shelter you. Have every confidence, because the blessing
you bring with you is truly God’s blessing of peace, but it is only for those
who are worthy.”
That blessing of peace for the host
household was quite special; however, it was by no means the only blessing the
Apostles carried with them, for we are told:
They cast out
many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.
Many in that town or city would,
indeed, have had good reason to rejoice at the Apostles’ coming. As yet, however, I haven’t even mentioned the
greatest blessing the Apostles brought with them, the blessing for which not
just some would rejoice … no, the supreme blessing being offered by the Apostles
was for all in that town or city: it was the blessing of having the Good
News preached to them and being given the opportunity to believe in the name of
Jesus and, through repentance, have their sins forgiven:
So they went out and preached that people should
repent.
These were truly Apostles of peace:
peace, first of all, among the members of the household that would charitably
shelter them; and then, a much more wonderful peace: peace with God to
all who, welcoming their preaching and believing in the Jesus they proclaimed,
would repent of their sins before God for love His Son. These Apostles were those of whom the prophet
Isaiah had spoken hundreds of years ago:
How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings
of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God
reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7)
That such Apostles, men with such a
message and such blessings to bestow, must be in no way apologetic, that
was the very purpose of Jesus’ command, for they came, were sent (just like Jesus Himself) bearing
unique gifts from the only and most sublime God of Israel; but, on the other
hand, they must be in no way proud or avaricious, because the gifts they bring
are, indeed, from God: gifts of His gracious giving alone, theirs but to humbly
bestow in His Name.
People of God, Christians should in
no way feel any need to apologize for God; above all they should never present,
portray, themselves as more understanding and sympathetic than God either by
their words or their attitudes. Sad to
say, however, such posturing seems far too common today among those who try to
win human approval by apologizing for or watering down whatever is decried and
opposed as being too strict or demanding for modern society in the
Gospel.
Do you think that I am being too
critical of modern tendencies? I think
not, because Mark goes on to tell us what was Jesus’ final bit of advice, indeed
His final command, to His Apostles about to go on mission:
Whoever will
not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust
under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be
more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgement than for that
city!
Now, many, very many, seemingly good
Christians of today -- by that I mean those who are considered good Christians
by modern people because they are so acceptably kind, considerate, and
adaptable, rarely allowing principles to occasion, let alone cause, offence or
hurt in any way -- many, very many, of such Christians, I say, would never
condone such an attitude today. And
that, of course, forces us to ask ourselves the question: “Who is right, the
Gospel or some of the popular modern presentations of it?” Or, put in another way: “Who are we,
Catholics and Christians generally today, following? Is it, as indeed it should be, Jesus and His
Gospel as proclaimed by His Church, or what many popularity-seeking moderns,
including scholars and religious figures, like to present as the modern
understanding and presentation of the Gospel? Is it Jesus, or those, the
self-styled compassionate and understanding ones, who like to step forward
whenever the Gospel of Jesus, the proclamation of Mother Church, threatens to
get ‘out of sync’ with popular modern attitudes and practices?
For example, Mark tells us (10:6-7)
of Jesus’, not just attitude to, but rule for, Christian marriage. And note that it is not simply concerning
sexual activity, but about what is absolutely fundamental in their
relationship. Jesus says:
From the
beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’. For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother.
Jesus there interprets the
Scriptures and states that, in the beginning male and female, men and women were
made, and so still are, complimentary to each other; each made with the other in
view. ‘For this reason‘ they may
be joined in Christian marriage.
There are indeed other such issues,
because the whole of Jesus is rarely portrayed by those who seek popularity (for
Jesus, of course!). There are two
aspects of Him Who is both truly God and perfectly man (Matthew 11:28;
10:37-38):
Come to Me,
all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Whoever does
not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever loves
father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or
daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
The first quote presents the Jesus
Who gives us His all for our eternal fulfilment; the second tells us what we
ourselves have to aspire to, and be willing to offer if circumstances (such as, for
example, modern persecutions) temporarily require it, in return. The first is easy to proclaim and provokes
acclamation and rejoicing even from self-seekers. The other presentation of Jesus needs time
and teaching, sacramental grace and spiritual awareness, that its hearers may
slowly understand and gradually respond to it with love and ever greater
self-giving.
Of which Church are you a member, of
the Church that has suffered and endured throughout the centuries to maintain
the divine fullness of truth about Jesus, or of some pleasing, comfortable,
up-to-date version, which seeks to maintain not principles and teaching but
popularity and prestige?
