Canonization of Mother Marie Eugenie
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gospel reflection
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 8, 2007
Isaiah 66: 10 - 14C
Galatians 6: 14 - 18
Luke 10: 1 - 12, 17 - 20
Instructions for the Mission…
In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends his disciples on mission as lambs in the midst of wolves and he warns them about what they should expect. Must we understand that Jesus sends his disciples into a hostile world warning them that they will be torn apart? We can better understand if we go back to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah: Luke sees the Servant in Jesus who allows himself to be led to the slaughter like an innocent lamb who is silent when he is the victim of so much injustice. Accusations and curses are lost in his silence (Is 53: 7). The disciples are invited, like Jesus, not to respond to violence with violence.
Jesus also invites them to enter each house with a greeting of peace. But, when he tells the missionaries, if they are not well received, to say that they shake off the dust from their feet – to give it back to the town – he invites them to perform a symbolic act. This action manifests that they wish to have no debt with regard to the inhabitants of the area, that they break off communion with them. The dust may then be a symbol of a judgment (cf. Is 5: 24 ; 17: 13) . And to shake off the dust can mean that they rise to go and seek a better future. (cf. Is 52: 2). For the towns that do not welcome the disciples, Jesus pronounces judgment. At the same time, this rejection will not keep God’s plan of salvation from being accomplished.
The seventy-two disciples return joyful from their mission because evil spirits were subjected by the Name of Jesus. It is the same power to work miracles of healing that God gave to his Son that is active in those who invoke the Name of Jesus. Through their ministry, the empire of evil crumbles, - what Jesus mentions symbolically when he speaks of the serpents and scorpions which were the first mortal danger that the People of Israel encountered at the time of the Exodus (cf. Dt 8: 15) – and it also represents the power of the enemy. The disciples, however, should not rejoice in the power, which comes from Jesus, but because their names have been written in Heaven.
Here we have three counsels which should help us in our mission to proclaim the Good News: never respond to hostility or violence by violence; following Christ, take on the role of the servant; desire peace but break an alliance with those who do not promote it. We are invited to be joyful and thankful for the Reign of God which is growing through us.
- Sr. Sophie Ramond, RA