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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 12, 2009
By Deacon Tom Beales
Jesus invites us to share in the work of salvation
Who likes to be reminded of their faults and failings? If so, I suspect that you are a very small minority. Everyone that I know is not too fond of others pointing out their weaknesses, especially in the presence of others. No, we like to hide our limitations and put forward our best features.
The Old Testament prophets suffered greatly because they publicly spoke out about the faults and weaknesses of society. And, as we might expect, the people tried to ignore them or used violence to shut them up. Few prophets lived a comfortable life. Most were exiled and/or killed.
This doesn’t surprise any one does it? Sadden – Possibly, Surprised – No
Amos is a great example. He was living a peaceful life herding sheep and trimming trees when God told him to go to the northern kingdom of Israel and denounce the temple at Bethel and everything associated with it. Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, in no uncertain terms, told him to go home. Return to the Kingdom of Judah where you came from and leave us alone. We don’t want to hear your message. Amos then tells Amaziah that being a prophet wasn’t his choice. It was God who sent him to go prophesy to the people of Israel. Amos, like all true prophets, was the spokesperson for God. God was speaking to the people through his voice and ministry.
In Saint Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he reminds us that God the Father chose us to be his people in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit!
Jesus, the ultimate prophet and perfect image of the Father, revealed God’s loving plan of salvation through his life, preaching and passion. And that plan includes us. We are both the recipients of salvation and the instruments of salvation for others.
Today’s gospel speaks of the commissioning of the first disciples and how they continued the ministry of Jesus. How he shared his mission with his early followers, giving them the authority to speak in his name. These disciples went off and preached and cured and spread the Good News. You and I are called to do the same thing. Through our baptism and through this Eucharist we are commissioned to be the presence of Jesus in our world—in our homes and schools and workplace, the community in which we live. Jesus depends on us to be his spokespersons just as he relied on Amos and the other Old Testament prophets. We are to be bread for the world, broken and shared, so that all may live.
You should expect to run into some opposition, just as the prophets and Jesus himself did. Our society is not accustomed to hearing about its weaknesses and sins no more than the Israelites did. You confirmed this at the beginning of the homily; no one likes to be reminded of his or her faults and weaknesses.
But this does not relieve us from our obligation to witness to our faith anymore than Amaziah’s opposition to Amos relieved him of his obligation to prophesy. Like the early disciples, Jesus sends us out to teach and preach about the kingdom of God. But to do that faithfully, we need to hear the gospel and let it accuse us of our weaknesses and sin and repent. We are both the one to witness and the one to receive the witness of others. Discipleship includes both conversion and witnessing.
We come to this Eucharist celebration as baptized sons and daughters of God to be renewed in our dedication to God’s kingdom. Together and as individuals we must take up the task of witnessing to our faith through our living as true disciples. We expect opposition because we presuppose society does not want to hear the gospel. Let’s make sure that we are not the ones who oppose the Good News because we don’t want to be reminded of our need for constant conversion.
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