May you receive the grace to be always attached to Christ and so empowered to fulfill the prophetic mission that is your duty by virtue of your baptism. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye.
Doctrine And Faith
(Amos 7,12-15; Ephesians 1,3-14; Mark 6,7-13: 15th Sunday Year B 2018
The theme that emerges from the readings of this Sunday (first reading and the gospel) is clearly that of mission in its original Latin (missio) connotation of sending one out for a particular task. God sends his prophets out to deliver messages to his people Israel. In the same way, Jesus sends his apostles and disciples to announce the coming of the reign of God. These readings show that God chooses ordinary people and confers on them extraordinary responsibilities. Amos was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. Most of the apostles were rustic fishermen. Paul was a tent maker. None of them was particularly distinctive according to the standards of the world; they were not celebrities. Yet one of them, Amos was called for a total re-evaluation of the social structure of his people, another, Ezekiel helped an entire nation come to grips with its exile, and the rest, the apostles set out to convert the entire world. These ordinary people were truly extraordinary.
In the first reading, we read about the dialogue between the prophet Amos and Amaziah, the priest of the shrine at Bethel. Amos had been called by God and sent to prophesy to the people of Israel. Amaziah, on the other hand, was an official employee of the crown and was responsible for the cultic activities at Bethel, the royal shrine. Bethel was an important shrine in the northern kingdom of Israel. In this reading the priest directs the prophet to go to Judah, the southern kingdom, and there to earn his bread. This passage does not explicitly tell us why Amos was not wanted. It does say that Bethel was the royal sanctuary. This may imply that all prophesying that went on there had to abide by the good will of the king. Having no loyalties to this court, Amos could not be depended upon to conform to its wishes. He might even be setting himself up against royal authority. Perhaps that is why Amaziah tells him to flee, to leave quickly, lest harm come to him. However, wanted or not, he had been sent by God and he was determined to stay. The prophet defends on his call from God and, in doing so, his right and responsibility to prophesy in Israel. He had not chosen to be a prophet, he had been chosen. He was not the kind of prophet who enjoyed royal patronage and was not connected with the court or a particular shrine, nor had he belonged to any prophetic guild. He was a prophet of God, independent of any institution. He had been a herder and a dresser of trees. From these simple occupations he had been summoned by God to be a prophet and then sent to the people of the northern kingdom. His coming to Bethel was due entirely to the command he had received from God. God the Father sent Jesus Christ to inaugurate his kingdom on earth. In the gospel reading Jesus brings the Twelve into God’s saving work. They are commissioned and sent out as one in authority sends out delegates or envoys. The authority is not theirs, nor is the message. However, it is through their agency that wonders are performed. In it they were given some explicit directions on what to take with them on their journey and how to act. Although, they were given the power to drive out unclean spirits, it is quite clear that they can only do this through the authority of Jesus. In other words, they are now commissioned to participate in the ministry of Jesus with the very power of Jesus. After receiving instructions, the Twelve set out. The ministry they were to perform was a combination of words and deeds: preaching repentance, driving out demons and healing the sick. This was in accord with the very first words proclaimed by Jesus: The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel (Mark 1,15). Since the presence of demons and the diminishment caused by illness were considered concrete evidence of the power of evil in the world, people believed that exorcisms and healings were victories of God’s power, which broke the bonds of evil. Through them, the reign of God was established in place of the reign of evil. The message of salvation that accompanied these wonders was testimony to this salvific power of God.
From the foregoing we are acquainted with the nature of the prophetic ministry and the kind of people who are called to it. As baptised Christians the word of God confronts and challenges us to take up our responsibilities as the prophets of today who are to continue the expansion of the reign of God which Jesus inaugurated. He chose disciples and sent them out to continue the work he had begun, to preach his gospel, and through healings and exorcisms to conquer the forces of evil that threatened that reign. And now we have been called; in him we have been chosen in all of our brokenness and vulnerability. The task to which we have been called to is awe-inspiring; and every spiritual blessing in the heavens has been bestowed upon us so that we will be able to accomplish it. If we allow Christ’s saving power to take possession of us, we too will further his prophetic ministry. We will bring the saving grace of God to the world that is terrified and writhes in pain; we will bring it to those places where healing is needed and where demons still hold sway. We will bring all things under the headship of Christ. May we pray in the Eucharistic celebration of this Sunday for the grace to be always attached to Christ and thereby empowered to fulfill the prophetic mission that is our duty by virtue of our baptism. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye
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