The theme of this Sunday’s Liturgy of the word is a call to announce the Good News. The readings remind us that the task of announcing the Good News of the Kingdom of God, by words and by deeds, is not limited only to a few. Rather, it is a mandate given to all baptized Christians.
FIRST READING: Isaiah 66:10-14
This section of today’s reading carries a new message of joy to the returnees of Babylonian exile. The prophet projects a maternal image of God who consoles his people and welcomes them from the Babylon of suffering to the Jerusalem of peace where they will enjoy the loving care of God in the likeness of a mother who fondles and suckles her infants. Hence Jerusalem will become a living Temple of the presence of God among his people. The time of slavery is over. It is now the dawn of peace. Therefore the prophet invites his fellow Jews to rejoice and be glad because Jerusalem of ruin will now be greater and more favored than the land of their enemies. It will now be decorated with peace and prosperity more than it was before.
This return of God’s people from captivity to freedom after seventy years tells us that our God takes account of every single trial we pass through, no matter the duration. And at his own time, he will surely speak the words of peace and joy to our situation.
SECOND READING: Galatians 6:14-18
The second reading presents Paul’s reaction against the message of a group of Jewish conservatives which had infiltrated the new community of Galatia he founded. These ‘conservatives’ tried to persuade the members of the neophyte community to believe that to be authentically Christians , they must undergo the ritual of circumcision and a strict adherence to the Torah like their Jewish counterparts. This message set the members of the community into confusion. Thus, Paul’s letter today blames Galatians for giving a listening ear to such message in the first place. However he reiterates the message he had earlier passed on to them (Gal 2). He made them to understand that circumcised or uncircumcised does not count, rather a new life in Christ. Therefore, this new life in Christ was neither obtained from Mosaic Law nor from any other thing. It is the product of the relationship with Christ crucified. Hence Paul boasts of the cross of Christ as the centrality of the Christian message and as the emblem of salvation.
In our world today, many have thwarted the original message of the gospel to suit their personal interest. There are many voices speaking here and there thus setting many believers into confusion like the Galatians. The increasingly secularist and consumerist society tend to confuse our image of Christ. And the ‘gospel of prosperity and materialism’ continues to shift the attention of many believers from the authentic Gospel of the Cross. Therefore, St. Paul calls us to look back to our origin and the foundation of our faith. He reminds us that our salvation is born from the cross of Christ. Hence the need to boast of the cross of Christ, for a ‘Crossless Christian’ is a ‘Christless Christian.’
GOSPEL: Luke 10:1-12.17-20
Among the four evangelists, Luke is the only one who writes about the mission of the seventy two. The mention of the mission of the seventy two could be an allusion to the Old Testament’s account of the seventy elders (some manuscripts mention seventy two) appointed and given a portion of the spirit of Moses to help in the ministry of the people (Nm 11: 16-25; Ex 24). In this way, Luke connects his audience to the whole of Israel’s history which has found its completion in the messianic mission of Jesus Christ, the new Moses.
The mission of the seventy two equally demonstrates the openness of the evangelist to the universality of the message of salvation. He teaches his readers that the task of announcing the Good News was not limited only to the Twelve Apostles. In fact the Gospel of Luke was addressed to the gentiles and was born in a period when the Christian communities were expanding. However, most of the local churches were not directly founded by the Apostles but through the apostolate of the lay men and women who toiled from place to place announcing the message of the Risen Christ. This is clearly underlined by Paul in his letter to the Romans (Rom 10:1-16).
Meanwhile, as a Good Master, Jesus took time to instruct the seventy two on how they were to carry out their mission:
A. He sends them two by two: This is a number required by Law to confirm the truthfulness of a testimony (Dt 19:15; Dn 13). But more than that, Jesus taught them that the mission is not an individual task, rather a collective responsibility. It is also characteristic of the first Christian missionaries, never alone: Paul and Barnabas…Barnabas and Mark…Paul and Silas…
B. I send you out like lambs in the midst of wolves: He made them to understand that the mission was going to be tough and life threatening.
C. Carry no purse, no bag, and no sandals: He equally schooled them on the attitude of detachment which will enable them to depend totally on the providence of God.
D. Salute no one on the road: He made them to understand that distractions will surely greet their way, but they must learn to be focused in order not to lose the message.
E. Enter wherever you are received, remain there and eat whatever is set before you: He made them to understand their need to have sense of direction. They must operate in a concrete situation and life of the people, sharing in their joys and in their pains.
LIFE MESSAGE:
The Good News was not exhausted by the seventy two. The harvest is still ripe. By the virtue of our baptism, we all have received a missionary mandate. I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission (Pope Francis, World Mission Day, 2019). The Church is not all about the Pope, bishops, priests and consecrated persons. It is first the people of God.
Jesus never stops sending us into the field of this world filled with wolves. Many of those who were sent have been devoured. How many missionaries suffer persecutions around the globe, and how many Christian express their faith in hiding? The harvest must not be allowed to waste away. We must all move with courage into the field. How do we do this? We do not need to trek distances to announce the Good News. Our families, our work places, our business stands are fertile grounds to sow the word of God. Like Isaiah and the seventy two disciples, we must speak peace to the troubled lives of the people of our time. And like St. Paul, we must bring them the joy of a salvation won through the wood of the Cross. We do not need too many words or systematic theology. Only holiness will save the world (St. Luigi Guanella). Jesus calls our attention to the spirit of detachment. Thus holiness is only possible when we recognize our nothingness before God. And the Gospel becomes easy to announce when we free ourselves from unnecessary ‘purse, bag and sandals’ that keep dragging us aback.
A true follower of Christ is one who though may have ‘everything’ but preoccupies himself less of everything in order to focus on Christ who is everything.
MAY GOD BLESS HIS WORD IN OUR HEARTS TODAY AND MAKE IT FRUITFUL.
PAX VOBIS!
