INTRODUCTION
By the virtue of our baptism we have been consecrated and sent as missionaries of the Gospel. This is not by anyway an optional task. It is a Christian obligation. The work of evangelization entails bringing Christ to the persons we meet. Today’s readings remind us of how we have been adopted as sons and daughters of God and our obligation to preach the Good News of Jesus by bearing witness to God’s love, mercy, and salvation, as revealed through Jesus: “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4). Let us renew this commitment and live it out through our words and our actions.
FIRST READING: Amos 7:12-15
No genuine prophet ever had an easy mission. The reason is simple. God’s message which they are called to announce is always in contradiction with the ways of the world. To live the experience of rejection becomes thus a necessary part to an authentic vocation. The experience experience of rejection of the Old Testament prophets are summed up in the rejection of Jesus in whom all the prophesies of old find their fulfillment. After the death of king Solomon the one nation was divided into northern and southern kingdoms. In the northern kingdom, at Bethel, there was a very ancient shrine with several priests. These Bethel priests sponsored the rich people and acted as cronies of King Jeroboam. The Prophet Amos was sent by God to these priests with the demand that they speak against the current neglect and exploitation of the poor by the powerful. Amos had come from Tekoa in the southern kingdom of Judah to Bethel in the northern kingdom of Israel, to pronounce God’s judgment on Israel and its King, Jeroboam. As a prophet, Amos foretold the overthrow of the throne and shrine by the hand of God. Amaziah who was the high priest told Amos that the King was angry with him and was seeking to kill him. It would be better for Amos to look for his own safety. Amos tells Amaziah that, in the eyes of God, the Temple that Amaziah served was not legitimate as it had been established by the royal household. But the furious chief priest of Bethel, Amaziah, told Amos to get out and go south to Judah “to earn your bread!” Amos retorted that he was not a professional prophet; he was a shepherd and dresser of sycamores. He had become a prophet only because God had sent him to deliver a message to Israel and its King. We are invited to see the mission of the twelve apostles and our mission as Christians as parallels of the mission of Amos. (Cfr. Fr. Anthony kadavil).
SECOND READING: Ephesians 1:3-10
One of distinguishing characteristics of Paul’s pastoral letters is the capacity to teach his audience that the prayer of praise is the best form of prayer because it shows man’s capacity of thanksgiving to God despite whatever situation he finds himself. In the reading to the Ephesians today, the Apostle presents a short prayer of praise to God for what He has accomplished in Jesus. In other words, Paul offers us the exercise of counting our blessings in the form of a benediction and thanksgiving in which we point to God as the Source of our blessings, in and through Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection. The Apostle advises the Ephesians to count their blessings instead of focusing excessively on their inadequacies and deficiencies. In this prayer, Paul also reveals a Divine secret to the Jewish Christians: It was not God’s plan to keep the Jews as His Chosen People exclusively, but for all mankind to be saved, so that Gentiles would eventually be included! That inclusion had begun formally when Jesus sent Paul to preach to the Gentiles. Hence, the Jewish and the Gentile Christians were to respect and help each other, as both were now adopted children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus. (Cfr. Fr. Anthony kadavil)
GOSPEL: Mark 6:7-13
1) The context:
Just like we see in the first reading, the ministry of Jesus was filled with challenges. One of the greatest challenges he encountered is the rejection by the people of his hometown. But instead of getting discouraged, He went with his disciples to the neighboring towns and villages, preaching and healing all who believe. Jesus then prepared the apostles to go serve as heralds to announce to the towns the Master would soon visit, bringing the Good News of the salvation. Today’s Gospel repeats for us the instruction Jesus gave the apostles for their first mission.
2) Travelers’ kit in Palestine:
In culture of the time, the Jews of Palestine ordinarily wore five articles of clothing. The innermost garment was called the tunic; and the outer garment was used as a cloak by day and as a blanket by night usually as a protection against harsh weather. Next, there was a girdle, which was worn over the tunic and cloak. The skirts of the tunic could be hitched up under the girdle for work or any strenuous activity. A headdress was also worn in order to protect the neck, the cheekbones, and the eyes from the heat and glare of the sun. Finally, the Jews wore sandals made of leather, wood or matted grass. They also carried a wicker basket within which was an ordinary traveler’s bag made of kid’s skin. The Jewish priests and devotees, who were often very covetous, carried these bags supposedly to collect contributions. No wonder, people labeled them “pious robbers” with their booty growing from village to village.
3) The meaning of Jesus’ instructions:
Why did Jesus send the Apostles in pairs? Because according to Jewish law, two witnesses were needed to pronounce a truth. Going two-by-two brought with it the authority of official witnesses. By Jesus’ instructions, it is clear that that his disciples should take no supplies for the road but simply trust in God for their requirements. God, the Provider, would open the hearts of believers to take care of the needs of the disciples. Jesus’ instructions also suggest that the apostles should not be like the acquisitive priests of the day, who were interested only in gaining riches. Instead, as disciples of Jesus, they must be concerned with “giving” rather than “getting.” They should be walking examples of God’s love and providence. By making their mission trip this way, they would also have the maximum of freedom and the minimum of burdens in their preaching and healing ministry. Jesus wanted his apostles to be rich in all the things which really mattered, so that they might enrich those who came into contact with them. Statistics tell us that most people who come to join a Church do so because a friend or relative brought them. So the best advertisement for any Church is the number of the faithful – men, women, and children, whose daily lives show forth some of the radiance of the Gospel.
4) “Shake off the dust from your feet:”
Jesus knew that when the apostles went into any town or village to evangelize, a family or house would take them in, welcome them, and give them what they needed, because hospitality was an important religious tradition in Palestine. By His stern instruction, Jesus seems to be saying, “If people refuse to listen to you or to show you hospitality, the only thing you can do is to treat them as an orthodox Jew would treat a Gentile or a pagan.” The Rabbinic law stated that the dust of a Gentile country was defiled, so that when a Jew entered Palestine from another country, he had first to shake off every particle of the unclean land’s dust from his clothing and sandals. More than just an application of what was obtainable in the rabbinic law, the shaking of the dust from the sandals entails how serious it could be for one to reject God in his/her life. He/she is as weightless and unimportant like the dust. We need to give room to God in our hearts: to God who comes to us everyday not for his own benefit but for our benefit.
LIFE MESSAGES:
1. We, too, have a witnessing mission Each Christian is called not only to be a disciple but also to be an apostle. As disciples, we are to follow and imitate Jesus. As apostles, we are to evangelize the world. We are called to share with others not just words, or ideas, or doctrines but an experience, — our experience of God and His Son, Jesus. Like the apostles, like St. Francis of Assisi, like St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa), we are all chosen and sent to proclaim the Gospel through our living. It is through our transparent Christian lives that we must show, through our own actions, the love, mercy and concern of Jesus for the people around us. Since we are baptized, Jesus is calling us in our working and living environment to evangelize, to invite people to know, love, serve, and follow Jesus for the rest of our lives. An important part of evangelism is the simple act of inviting a friend or family member to join us in worship. This is where reconciliation between persons and God is most likely to take place. We do not have to commit verbal assault on someone with our convictions. A simple invitation, offered out of a loving and joyful heart, is the most powerful evangelistic message of all.
2. We have a liberating mission
Although many people don’t believe in real demonic possession in our age, there are many demons which can control the lives of people around us, making them helpless slaves. For example, there are the demons of nicotine, alcohol, gambling, pornography, promiscuous sex, materialism, consumerism, or of any other activity which somehow can take control of people’s lives and become an addiction over which they have no control. All of these, or any one of them, can turn people into slaves. We need Divine help to cooperate with Jesus today to become instruments in liberating ourselves and others from these things, helping them and ourselves to recover our freedom. We are meant to help people to cure their sicknesses – bodily, psychological, and emotional. As a family member, a friend, a colleague, an evangelizer, when we work with Jesus, we can truly exercise a healing influence. (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
PRAYER
Lord Jesus you have called us as your disciples, qualify us and make us active missionaries who are ready to spread the gospel with our works, with our words and with our lives. May we never be discouraged with the challenges that present themselves in different indices and varieties, rather may they be source of strength and courage to keep the faith high and active in service to you and humanity. May we run the race to the finish and come at last to the inheritance due for our testimony here on earth. You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
