Is
66:10-14c; Gal 6:14-18; Lk 10:1-12, 17-20
Jesus
appointed seventy men (other translations have it seventy-two) and sent them in
pairs to every place and people he intended to visit. The number “70” meant a
lot to the Jews and this was for them symbolic. The Sanhedrin, for example,
which was the supreme council of the Jews, was composed of 70 members. In the
book of Genesis, seventy of Jacob’s descendants moved with him from Israel to
Egypt in order to start a new life. In the book of Exodus, seventy elders went
up the mountain with Moses to learn about the new covenant with Yahweh. And in
the book of Numbers, Moses selected 70 leaders to lead the people of Israel in
the wilderness. The Jews also believed that “70” is the number of nations in
the world. Thus, bible scholars thought that this figure could be the
Evangelist’s way of telling us the missionary task that belongs to the Church
since its foundation, that is, to bring the good news of God’s love to the
world.
Jesus
gave the missionaries some specific instructions. We need to reflect on these
directives because they are essential to our Christian life and mission in the
Church. First of all, there was the challenge for a life of simplicity and
detachment. Clearly, Jesus did not want his missionaries to be bothered with
material things in their mission to bring the good news. They were to travel
light, with even the basic necessities kept to a minimum. Jesus knew that if
disciples became attached to the world, they became detached from God and from
the people. Thus, they had to live simply and depend primarily on God’s
protection and on the generosity of the people. They were told to eat what was
place before them and not move from house to house seeking better accommodations.
The missionaries deserved their pay, but the Lord did not want them to seek for
comfort and luxury.
Moreover,
there was the challenge for genuine and serious commitment. The missionaries
were to greet no one along the way. The point of this saying was the urgency of
what the disciples were called to do. There was a sense of urgency because
there was a shortage of laborers and the harvest was plenty. Jesus knew that
the missionaries could easily lose their determination if they stayed to
converse with many acquaintances.
And
finally, there was the challenge to share the gift. The disciples were to give
the blessing of peace to every community and household they enter. In Hebrew,
the word translated as peace is shalom,
the meaning of which goes beyond the mere absence of conflict or war. Shalom refers to a dynamic condition of
wholeness and harmony in every aspect of human life (physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual). Basically, shalom
includes pleasure, happiness, peace and well-being, which really means “the
sum total of all God’s good gifts to his people.”
The
mission given by Jesus to the seventy continues in the Church today. Who are
the contemporary missionaries of Christ? We easily refer them to priests,
sisters and religious. Indeed, priests, sisters and religious are given the
special call to do the missionary work of Jesus. But let us not forget that all
of us, by virtue of our own baptism, have a share in the task of
evangelization. Every Christian is
called to take part in the mission of Jesus. This means that everyone here is
part of the seventy. Each one of us is also challenged to live the spirituality
of the first Christian missionaries. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we have
the task to proclaim, by words and actions, the compassion of God.
Allow
me to end this homily with an inspiring story:
A statue of Jesus
wrecked by the shelling during the war stood just outside the small village
near Normandy. Its hands had been totally destroyed. After the war, the
villagers gathered around the ruined statue to decide its fate. One group
argued that the statue was so badly damaged that it should be trashed and a new
one erected in its place. Another group objected, arguing that the village
artisan whose specialty was the restoration of damaged art objects could easily
take care of the job. Finally, a third group voiced a proposal that ultimately
carried the day: that the statue be cleaned up, but remain handless; and that a
plaque be placed at its base with the inscription: “I have no hands but yours.”
(The
story is from Urgings from the Heart by
Wilkie Au and Noreen Cannon).
