July
3, 2016
14th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah
66:10-14c; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
I remember this
story about a parish priest who announced to his parishioners on a Sunday mass:
“My dear parishioners I have in my hands three homilies – a P500 homily that
lasts 5 minutes, a P100 homily that lasts 15 minutes, and a P20 homily that
lasts for 30 minutes. Now, we will take first the collection and see which one
I’ll deliver.” When the offering was counted, practically all chose the
5-minute homily and the church got a bigger collection.
The moral of the
story is that priests must keep our homilies short. I remember our homiletics professor told us to
remember the principle of the mini skirt when preparing homilies: It must be
long enough to cover the essentials and it must be short enough to keep it
interesting.
Jesus in today’s
gospel somehow tells the same thing when He sent the seventy-two disciples on a
mission to preach about the kingdom of God. Who were the seventy-two disciples?
What was the instruction of Jesus regarding the content of their preaching?
What should his disciples do in their mission areas?
Let
us reflect on this in three points which start in letter “A”:
AMATEUR.
THE SEVENTY-TWO DISCIPLES WERE AMATEUR DISCIPLES. Jesus
did not actually send bright and experienced messengers to
do the mission. He sent followers who were simply willing to spread
the Good News. This was the only qualification. In other words, they were
amateur disciples. But even then, what is remarkable in amateurs is that they
driven only by one thing – love. The word amateur comes from the Latin word “amator”
which means lover. An amateur
singer may not have had any formal voice lessons,
but since this amateur singer is in love with the singing, he will
never tire of videoke singing. What drives this singer to sing is love.
Jesus is
right in sending amateur disciples on a mission. For when there is
love, they will bear and face any trial and difficulty. When there is love, they
are open to God’s providence and guidance. Perhaps this is what we need now – we
do not lack excellent and gifted people. We lack people who truly love. We
need amateur disciples – people who are driven by love to spread the
kingdom of God. What was the instruction of Jesus to the amateur disciples He
sent on a mission?
ACTION.
JESUS EMPHASIZED THE ACTION AND BEHAVIOR OF HIS DISCIPLES RATHER THAN THE
CONTENT OF THEIR PREACHING. This reminds
me of the famous saying, “Action speaks louder than words.” Notice that in the
gospel, Jesus did not give a detailed content of the preaching or sermon of his
disciples. He just said, “tell the people that the Kingdom of God is near.”
Jesus rather gave a detailed instruction on what they should do in their mission.
He told them: “be like lambs among wolves, travel light, eat what is set before
you, cure the sick and cast out demons.” Why emphasize on doing these actions?
Because these actions will speak louder than words. They are the most effective
way to demonstrate that the Kingdom of God is near. I am sure nobody likes long
sermons and long lectures. That is why our preaching must be short. People are
rather interested to see if we really practice what we preach. This applies to
all of us. I remember one mother told me, that in order for her to be credible
and effective in reminding her children, she must first practice what she says.
Otherwise her children will not believe in her. Even children know the meaning
of “action speaks louder than words.” The same is true with being a disciple:
we would become credible witnesses in our mission not by coming up with long
sermons but by practicing what we believe.
ACTIVE
MISSION. WE ARE ALL SENT BY JESUS TO THE SAME MISSION. When
we talk of mission, the first people we imagine are the clergy
and the religious. But in today’s gospel, Jesus sends seventy-two
disciples. The mission is not reserved to the twelve apostles. The mission is not
reserved to bishops, priests and religious. The seventy-two disciples mean that
mission is for all. You are the modern day seventy-two disciples. We need not go
to a distant place to be a missionary. We can actually show to people
through our actions that the kingdom of God is near right where we are – in our
own families and communities. For if people see that we are practicing what Jesus
taught us, if people see that we are honest, faithful, patient, forgiving and so
on, then perhaps they will begin to believe that the kingdom of God is near
because God is already ruling in our lives.
In this mass let
us remember that we are all sent by Jesus to be active
missionaries to proclaim to people the Kingdom of God not so much through
long sermons but through our sincere actions of
witnessing in what we believe in.
Let us pray that we may become amateurs for
the kingdom – people filled with selfless love for God and our
neighbor. Amen.
