Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 10:1-12, 17-20

THE CHURCH JESUS FOUNDED GREW VERY RAPIDLY. IT'S ESTIMATED THAT SAINT PAUL TRAVELED 10,000 MILES HIMSELF; AND HE WAS JUST ONE OF THE MANY WHO GAVE UP EVERYTHING TO GO AND PREACH THE KINGDOM. WE KNOW THAT CHRISTIANITY WAS PRESENT IN CHINA IN THE 6^TH CENTURY; WE KNOW THAT SYRIAN MISSIONARIES BROUGHT CHRISTIANITY TO INDIA AND WHAT ARE NOW THE GULF STATES. THE TWELVE APOSTLES DIDN'T DO IT ALL, BUT PEOPLE LIKE THE 72 MENTIONED IN TODAY'S READING. WHEN WE READ SAINT PAUL'S LETTERS, IN ONE OF THEM HE INSTRUCTS HIS PEOPLE HOW TO TELL WHETHER A MISSIONARY WHO IS VISITING IS GENUINE OR MERELY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THEIR HOSPITALITY. AND WE FIND IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES AND PAUL'S WRITINGS CONTROVERSIES THAT WERE POPPING UP AS DIFFERENT MISSIONARIES PREACHED DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE GOSPELS. BUT THE QUESTION COMES, WHERE DID ALL THIS ENERGY COME FROM? REMEMBER, THERE WERE NO RELIGIOUS ORDERS, AND PAPAL AUTHORITY WAS PRACTICALLY NON-EXISTENT OUTSIDE OF ROME. WHAT SET THESE PEOPLE ON FIRE? AND WHY DON'T WE HAVE THAT KIND OF FIRE TODAY?

JESUS IS ALWAYS A MASTER OF THE HUMAN HEART. HE TOLD HIS DISCIPLES TO DO TWO THINGS – FIRST, GET RID OF ALMOST EVERYTHING; SECOND, DEPEND ON GOD TO PROVIDE FOR YOUR NEEDS. AND HE PROMISED THAT IF THEY WERE SINGLE-MINDED ABOUT THEIR MISSION, GOD WOULD NOT ONLY LOOK AFTER THEM, BUT WOULD GIVE SUCCESS TO THEIR MISSION. AND I THINK WHEN WE READ ABOUT THE GREAT MISSIONERS DOWN THROUGH THE AGES, THAT'S WHAT WE SEE. FRANCIS XAVIER WHO SINGLE-HANDEDLY PLANTED CHURCHES ALL OVER THE COASTS OF INDIA, CHINA, AND JAPAN, WENT FROM ONE SPOT TO ANOTHER BY BEGGING SHIP CAPTAINS FOR A FREE RIDE. MOTHER CABRINI, WHO LEFT ITALY FOR THE UNITED STATES WITH NOTHING, NOT EVEN A KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH, ESTABLISHED HOSPITALS AND SCHOOLS AS FAR OFF AS DENVER, AND LEFT BEHIND A THRIVING RELIGIOUS ORDER. AND THE STORIES GO ON AND ON. I HEARD A STORY FROM A PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER. WHEN THE PRESBYTERIANS SENT MISSIONARIES TO THE UNITED STATES, THEY HAD TO HAVE CALVIN'S “INSTITUTES OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION” – A REGULAR SET OF ENCYCLOPEDIA – AND SEVERAL OTHER BOOKS. THE LUTHERANS WEREN'T MUCH DIFFERENT. BUT THE METHODISTS AND THE BAPTISTS – ALL THEIR MISSIONARIES NEEDED WAS A BIBLE. WHILE THE PRESBYTERIANS WAITED UNTIL THE RAILROAD COULD BRING THEM AND THEIR LIBRARIES INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE COUNTRY, THE METHODIST CIRCUIT RIDERS WERE SETTING UP WORSHIPPING COMMUNITIES WHEREVER THEY COULD.

NOW WE CAN'T ALL BE MISSIONARIES – OR MAYBE WE CAN. MAYBE TODAY'S GOSPEL TELLS US SOMETHING ABOUT HOW OUR MESSAGE CAN BE THE MOST EFFECTIVE. IF WE DON'T WAIT AROUND UNTIL EVERYTHING IS JUST RIGHT; IF WE DON'T DEPEND ON COORDINATED EFFORT; IF WE ARE WILLING TO BE REJECTED, WHICH ALWAYS HURTS, WE WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. WE WILL HEAL THE SICK AND CURE THE LAME, AND JESUS WILL TELL US THAT OUR PLACE IS SECURED IN HEAVEN.

THE GOSPEL IS SUPPOSED TO BE PREACHED TO ALL HUMAN BEINGS. THAT'S YOUR AND MY RESPONSIBILITY. THERE IS URGENCY HERE. HOW MANY PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE COME TO KNOW JESUS IF WE WERE A LITTLE MORE BOLD? THAT NEIGHBOR OF OURS, THAT RELATIVE, THAT EMPLOYEE – WILL A DAY COME WHEN THEY WILL SAY, “WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THE GOOD NEWS?” AND WE WILL HANG OUR HEADS IN SHAME.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE LOCATION OF THIS GOSPEL IN THE BIBLE, YOU WILL NOTE THAT THE READING COMES FROM THE TENTH CHAPTER OF LUKE, VERSES 1-12 AND 17-20. WHEN I SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS I ALWAYS WONDER WHAT WAS LEFT OUT. LISTEN TO WHAT WAS LEFT OUT:

“WOE TO YOU, CORIZON! WOE TO YOU BETHSAIDA! FOR IF THE MIRACLES HAD BEEN PERFORMED IN TYRE AND SIDON WHICH OCCURRED IN YOU, THEY WOULD HAVE REPENTED LONG AGO SITTING IN SACKCLOTH AND ASHES. BUT IT WILL BE MORE TOLERABLE FOR TYRE AND SIDON IN THE JUDGMENT THAN FOR YOU. AND YOU, CAPARNUM! YOU WILL NOT BE EXALTED TO HEAVEN, WILL YOU? YOU WILL BE BROUGHT DOWN TO HADES. HE SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES THEN (AND THAT'S YOU AND I) “THE ONE WHO LISTENS TO YOU LISTENS TO ME, AND THE ONE WHO REJECTS YOU REJECTS ME. AND HE WHO REJECTS ME REJECTS THE ONE WHO SENT ME.”

SO THE LESSON HERE IS NOT TO WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE PERFECT, NOT TO WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS, NOT TO WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE SURE YOUR MESSAGE WILL BE RECEIVED FAVORABLY. BECAUSE WE ARE LOSING THE WORLD. THE EQUIVALENT OF WHOLE CITIES WILL BE LOST BECAUSE NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS ARE PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS. INSTEAD, WE ARE LOST IN THE CONFUSION THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO ELIMINATE; OUR CHRISTIANITY HAS BEEN MISSIONIZED BY THE WORLD AND WHEN YOU DO STUDIES, YOU FIND THAT AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN CATHOLICS HOLD EXACTLY THE SAME ATTITUDES AS THE NON-CHRISTIANS, STATISTICALLY. IF WE HAVE BEEN CONVERTED TO THE WORLD, IT'S VERY SAD, BECAUSE JESUS TOLD US THAT WE WOULD BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.

GO OUT TODAY AND BE A MISSIONARY TO SOMEONE THIS WEEK. BRING UP JESUS CHRIST AND HIS GOOD NEWS. YOU WILL FEEL SHY AND A LITTLE SILLY. AND YOU MIGHT GET LAUGHED AT. BUT YOU MIGHT FIND SOMEONE WHO NEEDS TO HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY, BY YOUR WORDS AND BY YOUR LIFE, AND FOR WHOM IT WILL MEAN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE. AND THAT PERSON WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL TO YOU – LITERALLY FOREVER. ISN'T THAT WORTH THE EFFORT?