REJOICE FOR YOUR IDENTITY NOT YOUR WORTH
We are called as Christians to rejoice in our identity and not our worth in terms of what we have done or accomplished. The challenge of the Christian life is for us not to become obsessed with our significance, accomplishment and influence, but to rejoice that we are privileged to be associated with God`s work. With a living hope of having our name written in heaven. That is having our identity ingrained with and in God.
The source and root of our joys and rejoicing in the Christian life are not what we are or have, or what we do but who we are in Christ Jesus. The mark of our adoptive sonship and daughterhood in God is always the cause of our joys, peace, happiness and fulfilment in Christ.
OUR THEME
The readings of this Sunday invite us to be evangelizers of the Gospel of the Lord. This is a Christian calling to all baptized to announce the Good News by words, deeds and life. That is by the qualities of their lives and testimonies.
The readings focus on the joys, peace, and fulfilment that come from truly serving God and humanity without gimmicks. The Christian life of pastoral service or work is not all about what God is doing through us but in us.
This means that there is an internal transformation of being or welling-in-fulfilment that every true, honest and dedicated servant gets beyond significance, accomplishment or influence in serving God, the Church and the people.
The injunction today is we should not rejoice in our work but in our identity and permanence in the Lord`s presence forever in Heaven. In other words, a heavenly-based reward for Christian pastoral ministry is far better than self-inflated accomplishment or remuneration of any kind.
FIRST READING: ISAIAH 66:10-14
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah announces the good news to the returned Babylonian exiles. He assures them that they will live in the certainty of Yahweh’s promises of love, peace, protection, prosperity and salvation – just ¨as a mother comforts her baby son.”
The first reading of today has these words: Rejoice, glad, love, rejoice, joy, satisfied, consoling breast, delight, glorious bosom, prosperity, a wealth of the nations, overflowing stream, a mother comforts her child, comfort, be comforted in Jerusalem, your heart shall rejoice, and your bodies shall flourish like the grass. These words and phrases emphasized an interior transformation and not achievement.
The challenge to us is to have a happy, contented, fulfilled life serving God and others and not a miserable fill with achievements, power, authorities, and influences. This internal joys and rejoicing is not human making but divinely in-dwelling to fulfilling life service.
SECOND READING: GALATIANS 6: 14-18
St. Paul in the second reading Galatians 6:14-18 conveys the good news that it is Jesus’ death on the cross which brings one’s salvation and not Jewish heritage or practice of Torah laws. As such, he removes the confusion created by the Judaizers in the minds of the new Gentile Christians of Galatia
GOSPEL: LUKE 10:1-12, 17-20
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus commissions 72 disciples to preach the Gospel or the good news of God’s love and salvation in towns and villages in preparation for his visit with some specific instructions:
1. He sent them ahead of him in pairs- a collaborative ministry of teamwork not a one-person show.
2. The harvest is abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest- it is God´s ministry or mission and not ours, don’t personalize and distort it. The mission of the seventy-two disciples was not a human project, and, hence, they needed strength from God to do the work.
3. Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves- it is a dangerous mission that is tasking as such wisdom, attentiveness and prudence are required.
4. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; – simplicity and detachment are keys to the mission´s commitment.
5. Greet no one along the way – don’t be distracted along the way, of course, there will be many roadside distractions.
6. Peace to this household – be gentle and peaceful as well as friends don’t be stone serious. A missionary must be easy-going and smiley.
7. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you – be present with the people, be relational, and interact in the context of socializing. Don’t be distant and too official in your interaction.
8. Do not move about from one house to another- be purposeful, be ethical and don’t be a vagabond.
9. Cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ – let your message be of healing, restoration and about the kingdom of God: The Good news. Not threat, hell-fear and sin or guilty bound.
10. Shake the dust clinging to your feet and move on – be tolerant and not forceful to impose yourself on people.
11. “Do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” This implies our pastoral and missionary fulfilment is not in our work, worth, or achievements. They are in our affiliation with God in a deep relationship of joys, peace and love.
Last Sunday the liturgy emphasized our vocation, God’s call to a mission in his plan of salvation. Today he sends us on a mission, to bring that Good News of salvation to those who still do not know him.
Our discipleship can be summed up in two phases: “Come and see” and “Go and tell.” If we have personally felt the value of having Jesus in our lives, we will want to tell others about him. There is a difference between witnessing and preaching. We are all called to witness, but not all are called to preach.
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, our mission as members of the Church is to bear witness to the saving power of your cross through a life of sacrifice and self-giving in service to God and others. Help us to exemplary in our lifestyle and not just missionaries of words. And may the joy of knowing that our names are written in Heaven be a source and cause of rejoicing for us always and everywhere. Amen
