Not for What We Done, But for Who We Are

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The first three Gospels, the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, are called the synoptic Gospels. The word “synoptic” means “affording a general vision or view of a whole.” When applied to the first three Gospels, it tells us that these three authors are trying to tell the entire story of the life of Jesus. If we set the three Gospels next to one another, we will immediately recognize that there are different elements depending upon the author. That is particularly true of the Gospel of Saint Luke because Saint Luke was a Gentile, and he was not an eyewitness to the life of Jesus. He had learned about Jesus through the preaching of the apostles and was a Gentile convert to the Christian faith. In St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, we are told that Saint Luke was a physician. St. Paul identifies him as a dear friend. Although we are not told so, it may be that Saint Luke learned of Jesus through the preaching of St. Paul.

There are several stories in the Gospel of Saint Luke that do not appear anywhere else in the Scriptures. Today’s Gospel passage is such an example. While St. Mark and St. Matthew speak of Jesus commissioning the 12 apostles to preach the nearness of the Kingdom of God, Saint Luke tells us that he also commissioned 72 disciples to preach, to heal, and to expel demons.

The number 72 is important for several reasons. Perhaps the most important reason lies in the fact that in first century there were 36 known countries in the world. Saint Luke tells us that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. Therefore, Saint Luke is telling us that Jesus wanted the Gospel to be preached to all people. He entrusts his primary mission to these disciples; namely, he tells them to preach the nearness of the Kingdom of God. He gives them the power to heal and to expel demons, a power that until then was limited to Jesus himself. When they returned to Jesus, the 72 disciples reveled in the fact that they have been able to do the same miraculous deeds that Jesus had done. However, Jesus gently reminds them that what they have done is not as important as who they are; namely, the children of God whose names are written in heaven.

True glory comes from God. We live in a world that constantly measures worth by output — by what we accomplish, build, win, or prove. But this Sunday’s readings offer a radical reorientation. In Luke’s Gospel, the disciples return from their mission elated by their success. Yet Jesus gently corrects their focus: “Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Their true glory doesn’t come from what they’ve done, but from who they are in God’s eyes.

We are God’s children, the object of God’s love. Our relationship to God and with God is far more important than the work we do. In his Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul makes a similar point. We must remember that Jesus has called us to carry a cross. Jesus has marked us with the sign of the cross at our baptism. As the parents carry their baby into the church, the first thing that a priest or deacon does is to ask the baby’s name and to sign the baby’s forehead with a cross. By this sign we are made the disciples of Jesus. St. Paul makes this point clearly when he says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

The season of Ordinary Time has a specific theme; namely, the cost of discipleship. As Jesus resolutely makes his way to Jerusalem, he sends out his disciples before him to carry his message to the world. He reminds them that there are dangers involved as he sends them out “like lambs among wolves.” He knows that not all people will receive them well. If he has been persecuted by the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem, they will also be called upon to suffer.

As we listen to the Scriptures today, Jesus asks us to continue his mission on earth – to preach the nearness of the Kingdom of God to all people regardless of ethnicity, race, or creed. All are invited to participate in God’s Kingdom. No one is excluded; everyone is included because we are all loved by God who knows each of us by name.