Homily for Ordinary Sunday 14 C

Someone caught up with Jesus and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Luke appears to think that the same thing  might just apply to all of us. “Take nothing with you; carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals."

I have Mass on Sunday, July 6 at St. Isidore @ 9:30/11:30 am

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Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. 

At that time, the Lord appointed 72 others, whom he set ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way. Behold, I'm sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals, and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace" to this household. If a peaceable person lives there, your peace will rest on him. But if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you. Cure the sick in it and say to them, "The kingdom of God is at hand for you." 

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. 

The 72 returned rejoicing and said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name." Jesus said, "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. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

The gospel of the Lord. 

Just before today's gospel in chapter 9, verse 51, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. For the next 10 chapters, we will be on the way with Jesus. Then Jesus appointed 72 others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. We don't know if Jesus ever visited all of those places, but maybe he intended that we would visit them in his place. After all, Jesus said to his disciples, "Anyone who hears you hears me." Jesus wants to go to your street, your extended family, your place of work. 

And notice, Jesus appoints the 72 others. This is not something we do on our own. Jesus is sending us. In John's gospel, chapter 15, verse 15, we read, "I've called you friends because I've made known to you everything that I've heard from my father. You did not choose me, but I chose you." I remember the first time I actually heard that line. I'd always thought that following Jesus was my idea, but about a year or two after I was ordained, I realized it wasn't my idea after all. I had been called and sent. 

So if we are friends with Jesus, then what happens to Jesus will happen to us as well. After Jesus fed his face to Jerusalem, someone caught up to him and said, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Luke appears to think that the same thing might just apply to all of us. Take nothing with you. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals. We share faith in the context of vulnerability and weakness. We have no choice but to depend on one another. 

Paul has a wonderful image for what this looks like. We have the treasure in clay jars so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. Leonard Cohen, recognizing the fragility of all life, said, "There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Jesus has chosen those who are vulnerable in this world to be the vessels for God's love, grace, mercy, and wisdom. 

God, who created the vast cosmos, takes on our mortal form and endures the same joys and hopes, the same grief and anguish, the same dreams and disappointments as we do. God becomes vulnerable because the only way to be in relationship with us is to become vulnerable. God becomes one of us in order to share most fully and deeply in our life that we might share in God's life. 

When we imagine God, we use words like "almighty," "all powerful." Yet Christ was born into our world as a helpless child. If God is ever to be loved and shared, God had to risk both human embodiment and human vulnerability. To walk in the way of Jesus is to be vulnerable. To be vulnerable means that we can be wounded. When we accept our wounds, we are in the right place to be instruments of God's grace. Whatever town you enter, cure the sick in it and say to them, "The kingdom of God is at hand." 

The disciples take no possessions with them, which makes them extraordinarily vulnerable. "See, I'm sending you out like lambs into the mist of wolves." The only power we possess is the power of the cross. As St. Paul proclaimed, "May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Disciples simply bless, give peace and heal. They do not compete to be up there with the rest of society. So Satan falls, for he no longer has power over them. That his disciples have not sought to make a possession even of themselves. They have nothing to lose. 

Our motivation changes from security, status and sabotage, to generosity, humility and cooperation. The way of the kingdom of God advances and a new spirit is released in the world. Because we go as friends of God, we need to take nothing with us except the assurance that we are loved. As a mother, comforts her child, "So will I comfort you."

 God loves him this way. God loved the world so that he gave his only son. "This is my body, given for you."

 Christ sends us and goes with us. It begins with a knock on the door, two beggars, with nothing to offer but friendship and peace with Christ. Everywhere they go, the disciples, find "people of peace” who receive them into their houses and provide everything for them.

So the disciples are not alone. A new people of faith are beginning to gather. They are indeed without means, but they have everything. They are indeed poor, and yet they are rich. A group of people throughout the land, all of them seized by the reign of God, trusting one another without reservation, sharing with one another, caring for one another: that is an inexhaustible reserve.