July 3, 2023
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) on July 2, 2023 at the Paulist Center in Boston, MA. The homily is based on the day’s readings: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a; Psalm 89; Romans 6:3-4, 8-11; and Matthew 10:37-42.
Through most of Christian history, Matthew has been the most influential gospel. That’s partially because Matthew has arranged the teachings of Jesus into five systematic discourses. And in the first half of his gospel, Matthew places the material in a different order than Mark or Luke, leading us to synthesize Jesus’ teachings in new ways.
Today, we wrap up the second discourse, which is often called “the Missionary Discourse.” It features the instructions that Jesus gave to the twelve apostles before sending them out two by two to proclaim the gospel. However, given the way Matthew has assembled the material, it’s worth asking: when we proclaim the gospel, who is giving and who is receiving? Are the “prophets” the ones who bring the word to others, or are the “prophets” the people receiving the word and interpreting it through their own experiences?
Whether we are giving or receiving, may we continually conform ourselves more closely to the merciful love of Jesus Christ!
Matthew has assembled verses within the “Missionary Discourse” that don’t seem to go together. The kingdom of heaven is at hand…. Take… no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick…. As you enter a house, wish it peace…. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak…. the Spirit of the Almighty will be speaking through you…. You will be hated by all because of my name…. Do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed…. You are worth more than many sparrows…. Whoever receives a prophet… whoever receives a righteous person…. whoever gives only a cup of cold water… will not lose their reward.
Scripture professor M. Eugene Boring once wrote, “To the extent that [this discourse] seems alien, it is a call to reexamine our own version of Christianity and ask whether we have remade the Christian faith to our own tastes.”
So, let’s start with the obvious questions: Jesus sent his earliest disciples out as missionaries. Do we consider ourselves to be missionaries? If not, why not? Do we feel uncertain about what to say? Do not worry about how you are to speak…. the Spirit of the Almighty will be speaking through you. Are we afraid of being rejected or hated by those we meet? Do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed.
I’m really struck by Matthew’s contrasting analogies in describing the people to whom Jesus is sending the disciples. We’re told that Jesus has pity on them, because they were “like sheep without a shepherd,” instructing the disciples to seek out “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But then Jesus cautions the disciples that he is sending them “like sheep in the midst of wolves.” So, are the people to whom Jesus is sending the disciples lost sheep in need of pastoral direction, or wolves who will hate them or persecute them? Even one wolf among a flock of sheep means that all the sheep are in danger. How much danger must there be for two sheep to be among a pack of wolves? Maybe this is why we’re scared to be missionaries. In a time when it has become more acceptable for strangers to publicly criticize people’s religious beliefs, we recognize that we may be criticized or attacked for sharing about our faith in the public square.
Instead of telling the disciples to be on their guard and trust no one, Jesus suggests radical hospitality. Jesus says that we must love him more than mother or father, daughter or son, but then he says that people of faith will show their love for him by treating others with respect and compassion. This is all the more striking when we recall that Matthew is writing to a group of Jewish Christians who have been rejected by other Christians for being Jewish and rejected by other Jews for being Christian. In today’s passage, I guess Matthew is suggesting how the Jewish Christians should treat everybody they meet on the journey. That is, he’s probably saying, whenever you recognize someone as a prophet, as a righteous person, or as someone worthy of receiving a cup of cold water, that proves that you are living out the Sermon on the Mount. But could it actually mean the reverse, that Jesus is speaking about how strangers will receive the apostles as they go on their missionary journey? That is, is he saying, whoever recognizes you as a prophet, as a righteous person, or gives you even a cup of cold water – that stranger is someone who lives out the Sermon on the Mount? In other words, when you, as a pair of sheep, enter into a pack of wolves, don’t presume that all the wolves will devour you; maybe you’ll show them how to feast on the Word of God instead! If we presume to know in advance that certain kinds of people are not open to discussing the faith, perhaps we should meditate on that famous quotation of the writer Anne Lamont: “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
If we don’t share our faith with anyone, are we really living out the gospel as Jesus instructed us? Think about it: the Jewish Christians that Matthew was writing to had more in common with both non-Jewish Christians and non-Christian Jews than either of those groups had with one other. Could God have destined the Jewish Christians be skilled bridge builders between disparate groups? Could God have destined you and me to be similar bridge builders in this time of toxic polarization?
As we heard from Paul today, because we have died with Christ, we shall live with Christ. We will effectively invite others to join us in this new life not by pointing out how we are different from them, but by celebrating our common bonds. Christians are supposed to be people who try to be charitable, to do good, and to love… but almost everyone else in the world is trying to do the same. Isn’t that enough of a common bond to have a starting point to talk about our faith?
And when it comes to thinking of ourselves as missionary disciples in positive ways, Pope Francis is endlessly quotable. After all, he literally wrote the book on The Joy of the Gospel. In one of his earliest homilies as pope, he declared that Christians should not be “sourpusses.” (Well, literally, he said that they should not have “the face of a pickled pepper.”) He continued: “Joy is a gift from the Lord. It fills us from the inside…. If we want this joy just for ourselves, in the end it will make us sick and our hearts will shrivel up and our faces will not transmit that great joy.”
Jesus says: “whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” May we lose ourselves in sharing the source of our joy with others!
Art credit: “Sheep and Hunted Wolf” etching by Samuel Howitt (1765?-1822) from Wellcome Collection under CC/BY/4.0 license