MARK 6:7-13
I KNEW A PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER IN
BUFFALO. A LONG TIME AGO, CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES WERE ESTABLISHED
IN NEW ENGLAND BY PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED JOHN CALVIN. LATER, ANOTHER
WAVE OF CALVINISTS CAME TO THIS COUNTRY TO ESTABLISH CHURCHES. THERE
WAS AN AGREEMENT THAT THEY WOULD LEAVE NEW ENGLAND ALONE AND WORK ON
THE REST OF THE COUNTRY. IF YOU WERE A PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER
PLANNING TO ESTABLISH A CHURCH, YOU NEEDED TO BRING ALONG A LOT OF
BOOKS NOT TO MENTION YOUR OWN BELONGINGS. THE TRAINING OF A
PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER WAS LONG AND HARD; MOST OF THEM HAD THE
EQUIVALENT OF DOCTORATES. SO THEY TENDED TO GO WHERE THE RAILROADS
WOULD TAKE THEM. ON THE OTHER HAND, METHODIST MINISTERS DIDN'T TAKE
VERY LONG TO TRAIN AND MOST OF THEM HAD AN ABILITY TO PREACH AND A
FAMILIARITY WITH THE BIBLE. THEY WOULD GO BY HORSEBACK TO MINING
CAMPS, FARM TOWNS, AND WHEREVER THEY COULD FIND AN AUDIENCE. MY
FRIEND SAID THAT THIS WAS THE REASON THERE WERE SO MANY MORE
METHODISTS THAN PRESBYTERIANS.
JESUS WOULD PROBABLY RELATE MORE TO
THOSE METHODIST CIRCUIT RIDERS THAN TO THOSE HIGHLY EDUCATED
PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS. HIS APOSTLES HAD HEARD HIM PREACH, LISTENED
TO HIS PARABLES, WITNESSED HIS MIRACLES OF HEALING AND DRIVING OUT
DEMONS, AND THEN ONE DAY HE TELLS THEM, GET OUT THERE AND DO IT
YOURSELF. HE SENT THEM IN TWOS, BECAUSE ONE PERSON ON MISSION MIGHT
BE TOO TIMID, OR GET THE MESSAGE WRONG. THREE OR MORE WOULD BE RIPE
FOR DISCORD. JUST TRY TAKING THREE GRANDCHILDREN ON A TRIP. THEY
ALWAYS FORM A TWO AGAINST ONE SITUATION, WHICH MIGHT CHANGE DAY TO
DAY, BUT IT'S ALWAYS THERE. TWO IS JUST RIGHT; THEY CAN FORM A BOND,
THEY CAN SHORE UP EACH OTHER'S COURAGE, THEY CAN CORRECT EACH OTHER
ABOUT THE MESSAGE THEY ARE PROCLAIMING. HE TELLS THEM TO TAKE NO
MONEY OR EVEN A CHANGE OF CLOTHES; IN THOSE DAYS PEOPLE WERE MUCH
MORE HOSPITABLE THAN THEY ARE NOW, AND GIVING HOSPITALITY WAS
CONSIDERED A HOLY ACT. BESIDES, IF YOU HOSTED A TRAVELER, YOU GOT TO
HEAR THE BEST GOSSIP FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD, SO YOU GOT SOMETHING OUT
OF IT AS WELL. AND JESUS TELLS THEM TO WEAR THEIR SANDALS AND TAKE A
WALKING STICK. GOING ABOUT BAREFOOT IN ADDITION TO THE OBVIOUS
HAZARDS, WAS A SIGN OF BEING A SLAVE. SLAVES WERE KEPT BAREFOOT
BECAUSE IF THEY TRIED TO RUN AWAY THEY COULDN'T MOVE AS FAST AS
SOMEONE WITH SHOES. CARRYING A STAFF OF COURSE WAS HELPFUL IN
PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM WILD ANIMALS BUT IT WAS ALSO A SIGN OF
AUTHORITY. SO SANDALS AND STAFF WERE MORE LIKELY TO GET YOU AN
AUDIENCE THAN WITHOUT.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE APOSTLES
PREACHED. MARK SAYS “REPENTANCE” WHICH IS HOW WE TRANSLATE THE
GREEK WORD “METANOIA”. IT LITERALLY MEANS “ABOVE THE MIND”
AND HAD THE CONNOTATION OF LOOKING AT THINGS A NEW WAY. LATER, AFTER
JESUS' ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN, WE HAVE A LOT OF EXAMPLES OF WHAT THE
APOSTLES PREACHED – BASICALLY, THE LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF
JESUS AND WHAT IT MEANT ABOUT GOD AND HUMAN BEINGS. BUT THIS EARLY
PREACHING WAS JUST A PRELUDE, ENOUGH TO GIVE HOPE TO AT LEAST SOME OF
THE HEARERS THAT SOMETHING NEW WAS IN THE AIR, THERE WAS HOPE FOR
PEOPLE WHO HAD UP TILL THEN VERY LITTLE HOPE. AND THE PREACHING WAS
ACCOMPANIED BY ACTS OF HEALING AND DRIVING OUT SPIRITS. LATER WE'LL
LEARN THAT WHEN THEY GOT BACK TO JESUS, THEY WERE THRILLED AND
EXCITED, AND JESUS TOLD THEM HE HAD SEEN SATAN FALLING FROM THE SKY.
IT'S HARD TO BE AN EVANGELIST,
ESPECIALLY IN OUR SOCIETY. WE MIGHT BE A RELIGIOUS COUNTRY STILL IN
TERMS OF THE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY ARE MEMBERS OF THIS FAITH
OR THAT, BUT OUR WHOLE SOCIETY CONSPIRES TO KEEP RELIGION OUT OF THE
PUBLIC SPHERE. RELIGIOUS PEOPLE HAVE HAD SETBACK AFTER SETBACK IN
TRYING TO MAKE OUR SOCIETY MORE “RELIGIOUS”. PRAYER WAS KICKED
OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS; ABORTION WAS FOUND TO BE A CONSTITUTIONAL
RIGHT; MARRIAGE WAS REDEFINED BY THE SUPREME COURT; AND WITHIN THE
NEXT FEW YEARS, THEY WILL PROBABLY DISCOVER A RIGHT TO PHYSICIANS
ASSISTED SUICIDE IN THE CONSTITUTION AS WELL. SOME PEOPLE LOOK AT
ALL OF THIS AND DESPAIR. WILL WE END UP LIKE FRANCE OR ENGLAND WHERE
PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY ADMIT TO A FAITH CONNECTION NUMBER FIFTEEN TO
TWENTY PERCENT? WILL WE END UP LIKE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE
MIDDLE EAST WHO ARE EITHER BARELY TOLERATED OR ACTIVELY PERSECUTED?
BUT MAYBE ITS TIME TO ADMIT WHAT WE
TRIED TO DO IN THE PAST DOES NOT WORK, AT LEAST IN THE LONG RUN. IN
JESUS' TIME IT DIDN'T WORK EITHER; THE KINGDOM OF THE JEWS, WHICH HAD
BEEN TRYING TO ESTABLISH GOD'S LAW IN THEIR OWN TERRITORY, HAD GONE
FROM A PROUD INDEPENDENT KINGDOM TO A TINY REMNANT OF WHAT THEY HAD
BEEN – AND ALLOWED TO EXIST BY THE ROMANS, AT LEAST FOR NOW. ALL
THROUGH THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY PEOPLE HAVE DREAMED OF
ESTABLISHING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON THIS EARTH – FORGETTING THAT
JESUS HIMSELF SAID, “MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD.”
SO WHAT DOES WORK? THE ONLY HOPE FOR
THE CHURCH IS THAT HER PEOPLE GO OUT LIKE THOSE APOSTLES, PREACHING
TO THEIR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS A CHANGE OF HEART. IT'S A LOT HARDER
TO EVANGELIZE ONE ON ONE THAN TO PASS LAWS THAT CAN BE CHANGED
OVERNIGHT, OR CALL PEOPLE SINNERS WHO HAVE NO SENSE OF SIN
THEMSELVES. IT'S A LOT HARDER TO EVANGELIZE BY FORMING RELATIONSHIPS
OF FRIENDSHIP AND TRUST THAN IT IS TO WITHDRAW INTO A CIRCLE OF
PEOPLE WHO THINK LIKE WE DO AND SHUT OUT THE OUTSIDE WORLD. WE'RE
NOT READY! IT'S WAY TO BIG A JOB FOR ME! I DON'T KNOW MY FAITH ALL
THAT WELL! WHO AM I TO PREACH WHEN I AM NOT VERY GOOD MYSELF? I
LEAD A GOOD LIFE, WHAT MORE DOES GOD EXPECT FROM ME?
BUT THE APOSTLES MUST HAVE SAID THE
SAME THING AND STILL JESUS SENT THEM OUT. AS WE WILL SEE LATER, WHEN
THEY RETURNED FROM THEIR MISSION, THEY WERE OVERJOYED, BECAUSE OF ALL
THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE. JESUS COMMENTED “I SAW SATAN FALL FROM THE
SKY”.
EVANGELIZATION IS A DUTY FOR EVERY
CATHOLIC. IT IS OUR JOB TO MAKE JESUS CHRIST KNOWN. IF WE REALLY
BELIEVE THE TEACHINGS OF SCRIPTURE AND OUR CHURCH, WE WOULD LIKE
EVERYONE WE KNOW TO GO TO HEAVEN. WHILE WE KNOW GOD IS THE ONLY
JUDGE AND ONLY GOD GIVES THE GIFT OF FAITH, WE ALSO BELIEVE HUMAN
BEINGS CAN MAKE CHOICES WHICH HAVE CONSEQUENCES. IF THOSE CHOICES
COME ABOUT BECAUSE OF IGNORANCE OF JESUS, THEN THEY ARE OUR FAULT.
PRAY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE A FEW SOULS AS YOU JOURNEY THROUGH
YOUR LIFE.
