RENUNGAN MINGGUAN – 15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YR B
Renungan Hujung Minggu (14 Julai 2024)
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B
Amos 7:12-15, Ephesians 1:3-14, Mark 6:7-13
Shalom brothers and sisters in Christ,
The theme for this Sunday missal readings is the missionary church, and the focus is God’s call and mission.
In the first reading, we see how God choose ordinary people to carry out His work. He chose Amos who was an unwilling shepherd to carry out His mission to prophesy to Israel’s northern kingdom. Amos was asked to tell the people of Israel to change their ways, to stop exploiting the poor and the weak and also to bring sacrifices which were a real expression of homage to God who champions the needy and the powerless. Being an ordinary man, Amos was no expert and all he wanted was a quite life looking after his flocks and herds and his sycamore-trees, but the Lord insisted on giving him this special task. This shows that God can call anyone He is pleased with for His mission.
Anyone of us can be called to do God’s work, to be a missionary, evangeliser or whatever God wants us to do. The first reading also reminds us, that God’s choice of us was not a product of chance, but a deliberate one. God knew there were prophets in Israel northern kingdom, however He was not pleased with them, they were not His choice because they had compromised their calling. They were corrupt and distracted by materialism. So, they no longer delivered justice or spoke the truth. Instead of speaking for the poor and the oppressed, they worked for their pockets. Hence, in their place, God chose Amos because he was not tainted by the corruption and materialism of his time. Despite the opposition and challenges he faced, he fulfilled God’s purpose for choosing him.
When God calls us to do His works, we cannot hide from Him. Just look at Jonah. He tried to run away from doing God’s work but in vain. God sent him to preach to the city of Nineveh and called it to repentance, but he fled to a boat sailing on the Mediteranean Sea. But God raised a storm, and in order to calm the storm, Jonah told the sailors to throw him into the sea. He was then swallowed by a great fish and in the fish’s belly he repented of disobedience and asked for God’s help. God had the fish spew Jonah out on dry land, and Jonah then went and preached to Nineveh where, the people of the city repented and received God’s mercy.
In the second reading, Paul not only reminds us that God chose us in Christ, but He also equally reminds us of the reason He chose us: “To be holy, and spotless, and to live through love in His presence that we should become His adopted sons”. The same reason why He chose untainted Amos instead of the corrupt prophets already in Israel to deliver His message. God knows whether we are worth His calling or not. The attribute to be worthy of His calling is to be holy and spotless and to live a life of loving God and others. We must strive to live a holy life that is free from sins. If we do not compromise this primary purpose, we shall become outstanding disciples and instruments for His mission. So, as no disciple lives for himself or herself alone, the secondary goal of God’s choice of us is to reach out to others. That is, to develop a missionary spirit. Both of these primary and secondary purpose form the ultimate purpose of God for choosing us.
The gospel highlights Christ’s choice and purpose for his disciples. They were sent to preach and to share His authority to heal and to drive out demons. Christ has been strengthening their faith through His teaching and miracles. He took time to prepare and nourish them spiritually before sending them out as missionaries to preach to others. Therefore, we too must build our faith in Christ, living a holy life in Him before we can go on a mission to bring others to Christ and to help them encounter and experience Him. To help his disciples succeed and not to lose focus of this purpose, Christ gave them instruction on how to go about their mission. His instruction emphasizes on reliance on God’s providence. It also involves faithfulness despite rejection.
Jesus instruction to the apostles is very specific. It is shaped by the urgency of the Kingdom. They are to travel lightly, and they need to wear sandals rather than go barefoot for speed and security. They should not bring food, money, and extra set of clothes. This will mean that they will be dependent on the hospitality of others and to rely for their provisions on the welcome they received, just as Jesus depended on others to provide for His needs when He went about doing His mission. Jesus wants them to go almost empty handed because He did not want them to be distracted by materialism. If they are unwelcomed, they should not waste time on those who reject them.
Jesus’ urgency was because there was little time to spare due to His impending death and resurrection, which is to fulfil God’s plan to restore us to friendship with God. Even now, the reign of peace and justice is not yet established. There is still sorrow, distress, enmity, fraud, jealousy and plenty of other evils which fracture God’s Kingship. We are still imperfect reflections of the light of Christ. We cannot sit back complacently any more than the missionaries in Jesus’ time because, the task of establishing the Kingdom is still imminent.
Jesus sent His apostles in pairs, in order to establish His mission as a communal endevor. Jesus continues to send us into the world as His disciples. But like the first disciples, we are not sent alone. Jesus has given us the community of the Church, which strengthens our life of discipleship. The Christian message can only authentically be proclaimed in and through the community of faith and that is the Church. In our works with others, we build this community of faith and can invite others to share in it. We have to give thanks for the church and commit to spreading the Gospel.
Finally obeying Christ’s instructions is a sure means to fulfilling His purpose for choosing us as His disciples. At the same time, neglecting it is the easiest way of losing focus. So, we must continually remind ourselves that God chose us for a purpose, and we must strive to achieve it. We will never know when the Lord calls us to do some special tasks for Him. Great or small, whenever we are called, we just have to say yes, prepare ourselves, put our trust in Him and surrender everything to Him. And we shouldn’t be bothered so much, whether we have the capability or not. Just pray for it and leave it to God.
Thus, this Sunday, the Church provides us an excellent opportunity to ask ourselves these crucial questions, “What is God’s purpose for choosing me as his disciple? Am I fulfilling this purpose?”
Amen
Richard Jomiji Kinsil
St. Therese Child of Jesus, Kolopis
St. Michael Parish, Penampang
