7/3/2022 - 14th Sunday of the Ordinary Time

All three synoptic Gospels (Mathew, Mark and Luke) record a mission of the Twelve during Jesus’ earthly ministry. The mission of the Seventy (some texts have seventy-two) is peculiar to Luke. There can be little doubt that the number seventy is symbolic. The mission of the Twelve represents the Church’s mission to Israel (twelve tribes); and the mission of the Seventy, its mission to the nations of the world (which according to Jewish tradition, numbered seventy or seventy-two).

The mission is to be characterized by urgency and detachment. The exact expression of this urgency and detachment is conditioned by the circumstances of the time. But in some form or other, urgency and detachment must always characterize the Church’s mission. There are two other features worthy of note. First, it is not the disciples (and therefore not the Church) that initiate the mission. The initiative comes from the Lord of the harvest in response to the Church’s prayer. Secondly, when the disciples returned from their mission elated by their success, Jesus at once dampens their elation: “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

The disciples are called from their ordinary way of life to be an integral part of establishing the kingdom. Josephus Flavius the famous Jewish historian relates that there were over 800 fishing boats on the shores of the sea of Galilee at the time of Jesus. We just know about two of them; one belonging to Simon, son of Alpheus (Peter) and the other belonging to Zebedee, the father of James and John. Once the disciples experienced success and even worked some miracles of healing, they were tempted to attribute it all to their personal acumen.

As we read Jesus’ commissioning of the disciples with its curious restrictions (no walking sticks, no

backpacks, no sandals, no greetings on the way) we might wonder what does that have to do with following Jesus today? It is true in Jesus’ days no one in their right mind traveled the Palestinian roads staff-less, bagless, and unshod. Without a staff you are defenseless. Without a bag of some kind, you have no way of carrying a change of clothes or some bread for the road. And no matter how tough your feet are, you can't run from danger on that rocky terrain without something on your feet. In short, anyone traveling in this strange way would be engaged in a kind of prophetic action, communicating by means of attention-getting behavior. The point of this mode of traveling would seem to be something like this: we are people who trust in God for our defense and who depend on the hospitality of others for our sustenance; we have a vision to share. The sense of urgency is evidenced by non-engagement in pleasantries.

The missionary charge to the 72 suggests that even followers of Jesus who are registered voters with a permanent address should be people who “travel light,” live a little more trustingly than the culture around them and exhibit a sense of purpose that clearly goes beyond producing and consuming goods and getting entertained. Even settled Christians can live in a way that invites questions about where such people are coming from and where they think they are going. “Witnessing to the Gospel Values” and the person of Christ is entrusted to every Christian without exception. Added to this, there is a great promise given by the Lord, “Witness me before people and I will witness you before the Father.” In other words, our retirement is assured and it is ‘out of this world!’.

 Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O