July 7, 2022
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) on July 3, 2022 at the Paulist Center in Boston, MA, as his first week serving as the Director there. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Isaiah 66:10-14; Psalm 66; Galatians 6:14-18; and Luke 10:1-12, 17-20.
Luke is called “the gospel of the Holy Spirit,” and the Spirit is abundantly present in today’s gospel passage. We celebrate how Jesus sent disciples to the villages he planned to visit, including Samaritan towns close to where, only last week, Jesus himself had been rejected. And yet, if Jesus had asked us to be on his advance team, I can imagine that most of us would have felt a combination of excitement in proclaiming the gospel and fear of being rejected.
All three of our Scripture readings present the seemingly contradictory idea that we can gain confidence by embracing our vulnerability. Paul says that from now on, no one will make troubles for him… because he bears the marks of Christ crucified. Through the words of Isaiah, God calls us to remain… as children, fondled and nurtured on the lap of Jerusalem. And Jesus himself tells the disciples that he is sending them… like lambs among wolves.
Every time we gather for Eucharist, we are reminded that we are chosen, blessed, broken, and filled with gifts to share with others. How graced we are! Let us give thanks for God’s gift of mercy!
Some of the most ancient copies of Luke’s gospel say that Jesus commissioned 70 disciples; others say 72. Either way, I think Luke is referring to an older Scripture from – where else? – the Book of Numbers. In chapter 11, God instructs Moses to assemble 70 elders from the tribes of Israel. God says, “Bring them to the tent of meeting. When they are in place beside you, I will… take some of the spirit that is on you and will confer it on them.” A few verses later, after God confers Moses’ spirit on the 70 assembled elders, we learn of 2 others – named Eldad and Medad – who were not present in the tent but also received a share of Moses’ spirit. That makes a total of 72 elders.
No matter the exact number Luke used, there are staggering implications from his connecting it to the Book of Numbers. After Moses embraced his Israelite identity, he endured the horrors of Egyptian enslavement with these elders. They were with him during the Exodus, and they witnessed – from afar – his receiving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. But unlike the elders in the Book of Numbers who had already been with Moses, Jesus’ companions went forth before the Transfiguration, the Passion, or the Resurrection had occurred!
Approximately 120 people arrived with Jesus in Jerusalem at the end of this journey (Acts 1:15), and some people joined the group as they traveled south from Galilee (Mark 10:52). Therefore, it seems that the main qualification to be commissioned by Jesus was simply to have been following him. The story of Eldad and Medad implies that the bar for being a “follower” is probably lower than we expect. And think about St. Matthias, who was selected before Pentecost to take Judas’ place among the apostles: even though Luke never mentions Matthias in his gospel, he tells us in Acts that Matthias had been with the disciples from the beginning. Surely Matthias was among the commissioned disciples; I just imagine that he was an introvert who didn’t draw a lot of attention to himself.
There are at least three practical applications for us sharing in this liturgy today.
First, if we feel that we are on the margins of the Church in any way, I think that Jesus would still have commissioned us as disciples. Even while we lament the imperfections in the Church on earth and advocate for a more inclusive Church, let us not forget that we can proclaim the less-controversial-but-still-extremely-life-giving parts of the gospel!
Second, if you don’t feel safe coming back to Mass in person yet, you still share in what happens here in Holy Spirit Chapel. Please don’t let the physical separation delude you into thinking you are less a part of this community!
Third and last, it seems clear that the majority of the Paulist Center community members are growing more comfortable with participating in in-person ministries over the next few months. Please pray this summer if Jesus’ Spirit is empowering you in this moment to take on a new role in our liturgy, faith formation, young adult, or justice ministries. We’ll be announcing opportunities in the upcoming weeks and months.
No matter how extraverted we are, and no matter how much theological training we have, I doubt many of us would feel confident enough to pair up with a friend and ask strangers to let us stay with them as we proclaim the gospel from a soapbox in their neighborhood. Granted, there are probably better ways to proclaim the gospel today, yet we’re called to have sufficient faith to do it that way, too.
How do we reach such confidence in our faith? Our readings today invite us to embrace our vulnerabilities. Right now, even management consultants are telling business leaders to promote an atmosphere where it’s safe to be vulnerable. Let’s be clear: there are lots of situations when it’s inappropriate to share our ignorances, our deficiencies, or our anxieties. However, it’s all too common for us to use that excuse so that we never seek out the people and places where we can articulate our personal weaknesses.
So, since I’m the new Director here, and we want this to be where it is not as risky to be vulnerable, I guess it falls to me to go first. And I get to do it on video! I am thrilled that the Paulists have accepted my petition to become the Director of the Paulist Center. I bring some important gifts to this role, but each comes bundled with a shortcoming. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m an extreme extravert with a naturally excited, positive personality. But we extreme extraverts do our mental processing out loud, which means that other people tend to interpret the ideas that I throw out for discussion as finalized decisions. I love to collaborate with other people, except that my excitement leads me to interrupt people even as I’m eagerly listening to what they have to say. (If I interrupt you, feel free to quietly say, “Excuse me: I’m still talking.” I won’t mind, and it will increase my awareness of what I need to change.) I have some skills for visioning, but I want everyone to like me. If that’s left unchecked, it can prevent us from transitioning from open-ended discussions to reaching a final decision. I’ve never been a director or pastor before, so I’m very glad to be surrounded by such an experienced pastoral team, including Susan, Norm, Chuck, and Patty. As much as I want people to communicate openly with me, I can never seem to keep up with my emails, texts, and voicemails. I’m hoping Chuck – belovedly called “Fr. Detail” by the Paulists – can help me devise some much-needed routines and strategies.
In preparing to proclaim the faith, we need to stretch ourselves outside of our comfort zones, not allowing the anxiety we naturally feel to overwhelm us. If we wait until we feel completely comfortable, we won’t accomplish even a fraction of what God invites us to do! We must be humble enough to acknowledge that we can’t do it alone… which paradoxically gives us the confidence that the Holy Spirit will provide what we need.
Thankfully, we each have enough afflictions, foolishness, and weaknesses to confidently proclaim the gospel far and wide. Remember, the disciples returned from their missions rejoicing, amazed to find that the Spirit had given them the ability to bring peace, proclaim the gospel, cure the sick, and drive out demons. And maybe – just maybe – the demon that holds us back is the one that tells us that we shouldn’t do anything, unless we can do it perfectly. Together, we can drive out that demon by sharing our vulnerabilities with one another!
Friends, together, in our blessed brokenness, let us proclaim the reign of God!