July 3, 2016
When someone has an important agenda, for example, he or she is running for office and has an original, significant platform to offer, they send out advance men. Today this takes the form of news conferences, political rallies, media interviews, public debates and so forth. Well, we see in today’s Gospel ,Jesus also had his own way of sending out advance men and women and his own particular instructions. If he were doing this today, Jesus would not have given those precise instructions that we just heard. It would not be politically correct or even sociologically advantageous to curse those who did not accept his platform.. Also shaking dust off of the feet is not today a very effective method of communicating disapproval.
Even personally I know that when I leave the monastery several times a year to go on a mission teaching centering prayer or the process of forgiveness and sharing,if you will, the platform of my community, the only limitations I observe in my packing are the requirements of United Airlines.
Today we are, each one of us, the advance men and women for Jesus. Christianity has grown. Instead of 72 Jesus now has millions. We take a different approach today. In fact we take millions of different approaches. Each one of us according to his or her own calling, own graces, own talents, station in life, occupation, personal relationships and even own weaknesses serves as advance persons for the platform and the coming of Jesus into our world.
We are the inheritors of those 72 disciples and Jesus sends us into our times with the same message of peace and love. When we sincerely try to do this, we will discover that even the demons are subject to us and Satan will fall from the heavens.
There is a very real sense in which we can say that what we read in the Scriptures is not the last word. While we do understand that Jesus is the first and the last word, the Alpha and the Omega, that word is today communicated to the world through us, through you and me.
Do you know what the last word is? It is not what Jesus said 2000 years ago it is what you do yesterday, today and tomorrow. The last word of divine revelation is spoken by the Holy Spirit through you and me. The last word is the last kindness you did to someone else, it is the last time you prayed for others, it is the last time you fed someone who was hungry, clothed someone who was naked, sheltered someone who was homeless, instructed someone who was ignorant, encouraged someone who was doubtful, admonished someone who had fallen from grace or comforted someone who was in grief.
Indeed the kingdom of God is at hand. Look about you. It is on your right hand and your left. It is where you were yesterday, where you are now and where you shall be tomorrow. You don’t have to pack for it or even sally forth into the world, it is at hand. God has sent the Spirit of his son into our hearts and you and I and the Holy Spirit are his advance men…Are you ready?
May you be happy,
May you be free,
May you be loving,
May you be loved.
Father William Meninger