As a Brit
living in America, I always find celebrating Independence Day a little
odd. Now, I like burgers and fireworks,
so I quickly get over any feelings of oddness and just enjoy myself, but I’ve
often wondered what it might look like if a civil celebration of political
Independence was somehow paired with a more religious celebration of
Dependence: an interior attitude of dependence on God, that’s expressed and
formed by actions which make clear to ourselves and to others our total
dependence on God’s creation, and the humans who crown that creation. By Providence, that’s precisely what our
gospel today encourages us to do.
This gospel
follows right on from last week’s; it’s a direct response to Jesus’ shock at
encountering the lack of faith of the people of his own town, and the dishonor
they show him. Still genuinely wounded
by this hurt (a foretaste of the more physical wounds he would later take on
for our sake), still somewhat relieved that he was still able to heal, even if
just “a few,” it seems his awareness of the greatness of his mission has been
enlarged. There are so many in need of
this healing, in need of a word of hope, the call to repentance, conversion to
the glorious new life in which his grace is “lavished” upon us; and not
everyone is able to receive this. So, he
sends. The Son of God chooses to make
Himself dependent on this ragtag band of disciples, who have proven the severe
limitations of their own faith, who will all abandon and one betray him: this
is who Jesus himself depends on to make his message known! Hardly the cream of the crop, but the crown
of creation still, the ordinary, mundane, human.
But he doesn’t
send them directionless. He sends them
in pairs, able to rely on each other for support, companionship, brotherhood,
to witness to God’s holy love first by their mutual affection. He sends them as his apostles, his sent ones,
with his authority. This is the same
sending that takes place whenever we baptize, anointing each newly baptized
with the strength and dignity to share in the mission of Christ, priest,
prophet and king. It’s a sending that’s
made more solid in confirmation, as God’s gift of His own Spirit is
strengthened, that gift which is but the first down payment of the riches in
store for us, riches we invite others to share in, a sharing that paradoxically
doesn’t dilute ours, but magnifies them.
And he sends
them only partially equipped. They get
sandals (though not their choice of shoe) and a walking stick, but no food, no
money, no second tunic, no baggage – except, that is, for their own spiritual,
emotional baggage, which these men are by no means free of. The sandals and the stick are what they need
to walk. They are to be well equipped
for walking. The mission field is vast
and nothing is to hold them back from traversing it; lack of equipment is not
to give them an excuse to ever become too comfortable to move on to the next
challenge, to become too narrow or parochial in their mindset, to ever start
thinking that they’ve found their true home and forget that they’re a pilgrim
people, with a gospel to proclaim as they go on the way.
But, their
walking provisions are the limit of their provisions. Wherever they arrive, they will arrive
without food and without money, with no sack to carry leftovers, with no second
tunic to dress prestigiously or to keep them warm at night. Wherever they arrive, they arrive totally
dependent on those they come to serve.
And maybe that’s how some of their baggage gets healed. And that kind of healing can be contagious. We’re told that they had great success: they
exorcised demons and healed the sick.
God heals
through our willingness to be dependent: on Him, through our world and those
around us. I’ve mentioned here before my
favorite quote from Saint John Paul II, when he said that in calling us to the
virtue of solidarity, he’s calling us to act out of an awareness that “we’re
really all responsible for all.” Well,
there’s a correlative to that: if we’re all responsible for all, then we’re all
dependent on all too. Each of us, even
the most privileged, stands in need, depends on the most seemingly
insignificant of God’s creatures, of our brothers and sisters. People who aren’t able to depend sometimes
look powerful, look comfortable, but are always acting out of fear, fear of not
being able to take care of themselves, of not being god, fear of being
dependent creatures, a fear that can paralyze us from taking risks, from
picking up our mats and walking, from striding fearlessly dependent through
this vast mission field and proclaiming the wonder of the riches to be found in
God alone!
God heals. God provides.
And God chooses us (you, and me, those we value, and those who ignore)…
God chooses us to make that healing known.
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