Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr C 2025

Title

We rejoice with Jerusalem, but only if our values are transfigured

Outline

The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few

In our Gospel, Luke, this is said in the appointment of the 72, while in Matthew it is said in the sending of the Twelve. But in each he calls for a conformity to Christ and a crucifixion to the world. They are like Jesus to be like lambs among wolves. Like Jesus they are not to carry supplies for the journey, but rather to accept the hospitality of towns, villages, and households. Like Jesus they are not to be concerned about whether they are eating poor fare or good, whether it is kosher or not. Instead they remain where they are first received and speak peace to the household or village. They give the signs of the kingdom freely and speak the word of the kingdom. And if they are not received, while they do not take with them even the dust of the village, they still witness to the coming of the kingdom. They do not curse the village or call down fire. How like Jesus.

And like Jesus they are not to pay attention to miracles, even to exorcisms, nor to other ways they defeat the enemy (do not try discalced treading on scorpions in this house or you will experience you’ve missed Jesus’ point), but they are to focus on their names being written in heaven.

So, says Paul, our values are turned upside down

“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.” That was nonsense in the Roman world. But he did not live by the values of the Roman world or the Jewish world, for “only a new creation” mattered to him.

He spoke peace and mercy “to all who follow this rule and to the Israel of God.” That is, to the new creation, to Jew and Gentile as the renewed Israel. Paul’s literal scars “the marks of Jesus” showed he lived what he exhorted, and because of this he could speak “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” upon those to whom he wrote.

Sisters, this is for our meditation and practice

There is not currying favor, charging for services, taking up a collection here, but rather accepting hospitality as God’s provision, whether it be mean or abundant. There is no denunciation or cursing, but the offer of grace, of healing, of kingdom membership and a clear declaration if the offer is refused that the kingdom is on offer and the minister has not profited.

And in all of this scars and wounds are worn with joy as marks of identification with Christ and evidence of our blessedness.

This is how the kingdom message transforms the minds of its laborers and transfigures their vision of the world.