To Cure and Heal

Gospel: Luke 9: 1-6

Jesus sends out his disciples to undertake a simple mission - to cure people of their infirmities and heal them of diseases of all kinds.  The mission is the same one in which Jesus has been engaged, a mission that involves direct encounter with people in their homes, the marketplaces of villages, the fields and seashores where they work, and on the margins where outcasts are consigned.  In short, Jesus goes out and meets people wherever they are in order to heal and cure.  

In this work we have no permanent home and no possessions either.  We are to be utterly dependent on the hospitality of others and the providence of God.  Does all this resemble in any way the work of the modern church?  Nowadays the focus of "mission" is filling pews and financial coffers, and we have a great dependence on a vast array of possessions that we find necessary to complete the "mission."  We measure success of the mission in attendance data and financial reports.

This Gospel portion strikes the modern person as quaint.  We do not take it seriously at all.  Yet the original disciples and the early church did take it seriously, for it was the way Jesus himself lived and undertook his mission while on earth.  When we replace direct encounter with others with performative liturgy and mass media people become an abstraction and transactional agents rather than images of God and the neighbor we are called to be with in their hopes and fears, in their joys and sorrows. 

What Matters

First Reading: Proverbs 21: 1-6, 10-13   Gospel: Luke 8: 19-21

Today's readings dispel two very popular false beliefs in religion.  The first is the idea that our sacrifices and liturgical performances are the most important things in the spiritual life - that these are the key to salvation.  The first reading reminds us that it is doing good, being merciful and loving to the poor and needy is what matters most in the life of religion.  Our sacrifices and liturgies only matter if they help a person to do good and show mercy to others.

The second false idea is that lineage back to Jesus, either through blood lines or some unbroken tradition, is what matters in our salvation.  Jesus rejects this idea, stating quite plainly that what matters is doing the will of God - performing the deeds of mercy and loving kindness toward others - is what matters in life.  These blood ties and apostolicity only prove ancestry.  They say nothing at all as to whether you are a good person or not.  

A great many people who put their trust in liturgical finery and tracing links back to Jesus malign the poor and marginalized, create large numbers of migrants and refugees that they then spurn and reject.  So many who talk of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist deny his presence in other human beings.  The primary presence of God on earth and God's primary temple is in every human being.  To show mercy and loving kindness to others is the authentic liturgy and worship of God in the world.

Table Reservations

Gospel: Matthew 9: 9-13

Jesus comes upon the booth of a tax collector, whereupon Jesus invites the man to follow him.  This invitation might be shocking enough were it not followed by Jesus entering the man's home, dining with his fellow tax collectors and their array of prostitutes.  The scene is just too much for the Pharisees to handle, and so they complain loudly about Jesus eating with sinners and inviting them to follow him in his religious ministry.  

The reader is mindful of the fact that not so long ago Jesus dined in the house of a Pharisee where a prostitute had been, and the Pharisee had violated Jewish hospitality law by not providing the proper washings for guests.  The Pharisee is perfectly fine with finding a place for himself and other Pharisees at table with Jesus, but he cannot accept the presence of another group of sinners he finds objectionable eating with the Lord at table.

We like this story because we think it inclusive, but only for ourselves and those like us.  When pressed to consider other people at table with the Lord whom we find objectionable, we raise our voice in protest.  Even those claiming to be inclusive either exclude others from the table of the Lord or excuse themselves from that table because they cannot be with those they find objectionable.  Today's feast and Gospel portion present us with an opportunity for examination and deep change in our attitudes and practices.