FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

[cappie]

St. Luke tells of Jesus sending out over 70 disciples into the surrounding villages. They are to travel light but are armed with special powers. When they return, it seems they had great success.  

People who write scholarly books about St. Luke’s gospel note that Luke alone mentions this story. Some think the number 70 refers to the non-Jewish nations, the “gentiles” evangelized by Peter and Paul and company. We read about their missionary endeavours in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s second volume of his history of Jesus and the first Christians.  Jesus sends his followers into “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the furthest parts of the earth.” Jesus created a team to assist him and sent them into the world.  

We continue to believe that these people were the first clergy. In this we are both right and wrong. We are right that among those called and sent were those who would be pastors, preachers, celebrants of the sacraments, those who led emerging Christian communities. We are wrong if we think that all those called and sent filled that description, or were rather like our full-time, paid, professional clergy.

Those called and sent today, as then, are not merely the ordained, but rather they are the baptized.  

The gospel tells two things about every baptized Christian. The first is that the task of telling the Good News to others is given to us all. We may achieve that task in many different ways, quietly or spectacularly, verbally or by our loving care for others, but the task of showing Jesus to others is one of the chief reasons why we exist. That is not an exaggeration. We have to grasp the idea that each of us has been created, was born, for a purpose, and that purpose is in the mind of God and is more important than any other purpose we may take on.

The second truth the gospel tells us is that we have been “empowered” so to do. That’s an assurance and a challenge. We tend to absolve our passivity by muttering things like,  “It’s not in my nature,” “I get embarrassed.”

The Gospel assures us  – and St Luke later stresses this at the beginning of Acts – that we are all empowered to witness in the world and that empowerment is not the same as natural talent.

Imagine that you find yourself  in line at a store; an irate customer is yelling at the sales assistant. It’s not her fault. She is close to tears. When you get to her, your notice her name, speak it to her, smile and offer her silent comfort. In so doing you use the grace given to you in baptism.

You see, our second problem, apart from consigning the task of witnessing to the clergy, is that we don’t recognize spiritual gifts because we think they must be spectacular. Yes, the 70 were given the power to cast out evil, but to do so may merely be the offering of goodness and kindness, objective love.

That may sound trite. Practicing consistent, objective love, particularly toward people we hardly know, or are not like us, or are people that repel us by their actions is no trite or easy thing. It’s much easier to lump them in a convenient group, label them, espouse an all-embracing cause and keep one’s distance.

Jesus, present among us today, continues to call us, send us, and empower us. We all have a vocation to ministry.  

When the disciples come back overjoyed at what has happened. They are amazed to report that, in his name, the destructive forces have been overcome. They hear Jesus say that even Satan, our accuser, has been overcome, and in the presence of God ‘nothing will ever hurt you’.  Let us rejoice then, as we begin to open ourselves to God, and realise God is with us. 

This joy is at the heart of the First Reading, where the prophet Isaiah says that, on their return from exile, God will comfort his people and give them peace.  Then, in the Second Reading, Paul speaks of the peace and mercy that are the fruits of our becoming a ‘new creature’ in Christ.

As we begin to live like this, we will come to know what the late Pope Francis called the joy of the gospel. We can be missionaries, he said, if we “feel happiness in seeking the good of others, in desiring their happiness”. This is a challenge for us but, as followers of Jesus, it is what we are called to do. 

 

[Archaeology cat]

Beautiful as always, Fr Cappie.

[MAttew18]

On 7/5/2025 at 4:12 AM, cappie said:

St. Luke tells of Jesus sending out over 70 disciples into the surrounding villages. They are to travel light but are armed with special powers. When they return, it seems they had great success.  

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We continue to believe that these people were the first clergy. In this we are both right and wrong. We are right that among those called and sent were those who would be pastors, preachers, celebrants of the sacraments, those who led emerging Christian communities. We are wrong if we think that all those called and sent filled that description, or were rather like our full-time, paid, professional clergy.

Those called and sent today, as then, are not merely the ordained, but rather they are the baptized.  

The gospel tells two things about every baptized Christian. The first is that the task of telling the Good News to others is given to us all. We may achieve that task in many different ways, quietly or spectacularly, verbally or by our loving care for others, but the task of showing Jesus to others is one of the chief reasons why we exist. That is not an exaggeration. We have to grasp the idea that each of us has been created, was born, for a purpose, and that purpose is in the mind of God and is more important than any other purpose we may take on.

The second truth the gospel tells us is that we have been “empowered” so to do. That’s an assurance and a challenge. We tend to absolve our passivity by muttering things like,  “It’s not in my nature,” “I get embarrassed.”

The Gospel assures us  – and St Luke later stresses this at the beginning of Acts – that we are all empowered to witness in the world and that empowerment is not the same as natural talent.

Imagine that you find yourself  in line at a store; an irate customer is yelling at the sales assistant. It’s not her fault. She is close to tears. When you get to her, your notice her name, speak it to her, smile and offer her silent comfort. In so doing you use the grace given to you in baptism.

You see, our second problem, apart from consigning the task of witnessing to the clergy, is that we don’t recognize spiritual gifts because we think they must be spectacular. Yes, the 70 were given the power to cast out evil, but to do so may merely be the offering of goodness and kindness, objective love.

That may sound trite. Practicing consistent, objective love, particularly toward people we hardly know, or are not like us, or are people that repel us by their actions is no trite or easy thing. It’s much easier to lump them in a convenient group, label them, espouse an all-embracing cause and keep one’s distance.

Jesus, present among us today, continues to call us, send us, and empower us. We all have a vocation to ministry.  

When the disciples come back overjoyed at what has happened. They are amazed to report that, in his name, the destructive forces have been overcome. They hear Jesus say that even Satan, our accuser, has been overcome, and in the presence of God ‘nothing will ever hurt you’.  Let us rejoice then, as we begin to open ourselves to God, and realise God is with us. 

This joy is at the heart of the First Reading, where the prophet Isaiah says that, on their return from exile, God will comfort his people and give them peace.  Then, in the Second Reading, Paul speaks of the peace and mercy that are the fruits of our becoming a ‘new creature’ in Christ.

As we begin to live like this, we will come to know what the late Pope Francis called the joy of the gospel. We can be missionaries, he said, if we “feel happiness in seeking the good of others, in desiring their happiness”. This is a challenge for us but, as followers of Jesus, it is what we are called to do. 

 

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