20210707 STRATEGIZING OUR MISSION
07 July, 2021, Wednesday, 14th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
Genesis 41:55-57,42:5-7,17-24 © |
Joseph's brothers in his power
When the whole country of Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. But Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.’ There was famine all over the world. Then Joseph opened all the granaries and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine grew worse in the land of Egypt. People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, for the famine had grown severe throughout the world.
Israel’s sons with others making the same journey went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan. It was Joseph, as the man in authority over the country, who sold the grain to all comers. So Joseph’s brothers went and bowed down before him, their faces touching the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers he recognised them. But he did not make himself known to them, and he spoke harshly to them. Then he kept them all in custody for three days.
On the third day Joseph said to them, ‘Do this and you shall keep your lives, for I am a man who fears God. If you are honest men let one of your brothers be kept in the place of your detention; as for you, go and take grain to relieve the famine of your families. You shall bring me your youngest brother; this way your words will be proved true, and you will not have to die!’ This they did. They said to one another, ‘Truly we are being called to account for our brother. We saw his misery of soul when he begged our mercy, but we did not listen to him and now this misery has come home to us.’ Reuben answered them, ‘Did I not tell you not to wrong the boy? But you did not listen, and now we are brought to account for his blood.’ They did not know that Joseph understood, because there was an interpreter between them. He left them and wept.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 32(33):2-3,10-11,18-19 © |
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp,
with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
O sing him a song that is new,
play loudly, with all your skill.
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
He frustrates the designs of the nations,
he defeats the plans of the peoples.
His own designs shall stand for ever,
the plans of his heart from age to age.
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
The Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.
Gospel Acclamation | James1:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
By his own choice the Father made us his children
by the message of the truth,
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits
of all that he created.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mk1:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The kingdom of God is close at hand:
repent and believe the Good News.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 10:1-7 © |
'Go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel'
Jesus summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the one who was to betray him. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows:
‘Do not turn your steps to pagan territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town; go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
STRATEGIZING OUR MISSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Gn 41:55-57; 42:5-7, 17-24; Ps 33:2-3,10-11,18-19; Mt 10:1-7]
Many of our established churches, especially those with a good number of members, have become maintenance churches. They do not see the need to bring more members to the church because their churches are full. When we see our churches that way, we reduce our churches to membership clubs where we are entitled to some privileges provided we pay our subscription fees. Perhaps this explains why churches that are packed do not feel the need to go out to proclaim the gospel as they are not even able to handle their current membership.
But the gospel is not about building churches and establishing our mini-kingdoms. It is about mission beyond our churches. Yesterday, in the gospel we read, “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.'” (Mt 9:35-38) Jesus was never contented to station Himself in one place and build His Kingdom. His heart was with the multitude of people waiting to hear the Good News. At the outset in Mark’s gospel, when the people were searching for Him, He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” (Mk 1:38)
Even if we know that our mission is to go out and preach the gospel, many of us are so used to the structure of established churches that we have no inkling or strategy as to how we can evangelize. Indeed, when we ask our Catholics to evangelize, the first question they ask is, “how do we evangelize?” Evangelization requires direction and strategy, otherwise we will fail in our mission. Of course, at the end of the day, we must be led by the Holy Spirit who is the sole agent of conversion and mission. But that does not exempt us from using our common sense to adopt the right methods and approaches.
Sometimes, we think that Jesus carried His mission without any sense of direction or strategy. This is far from the truth. Not even St Paul was without strategy. He had to decide what was the best way to proclaim the gospel to the Jews and the Gentiles, for example, whether he should use scriptures alone or natural theology in seeking to convince the audience. (Acts 17:16-33) Jesus too had His own strategy in His mission. He knew that He would not be able to do it alone by Himself as the harvest was too great. He would not be able to reach out to all individually and personally.
In the gospel, we learn from Jesus that the first thing we need to do for our mission is to choose leaders to help us. It was after much prayer that He began to select from among the disciples those whom He would call to be His apostles. It is significant that He chose a diverse group of disciples to be His apostles. The group was diverse so that the mission could reach out to different groups of people. With diverse ideas and experiences, they could complement each other. Jesus also only chose male apostles as they had the stamina and freedom to travel easily. Most were uneducated and some were middle-income professionals like the tax-collector. Some were revolutionaries. But none of them associated with any religious or social elite. Most of all, He did not invite those who were already religious professionals, as they would be schooled in fixed ideas about God and religious traditions. So, they were all totally inadequate to carry out the mission.
Secondly, He gave them His authority to represent Him. Apostles are ambassadors. As ambassadors, they represent Jesus. This explains why “He gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness.” They too were given the power to do what Jesus did. Their authority of course was dependent on the authority of Jesus and the powers delegated to them. They were to heal the sick and cast out evil spirits. However, they too were asked to “proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” In other words, the authority to do good and to preach go together. It is not enough in our mission to just talk and preach about Jesus; we must accompany our words by our actions in good works and especially works of charity.
Thirdly, Jesus sent them out. Jesus did not keep them with Him all the time to form them. The best way to form evangelizers is to send them out. They must have a direct experience of witnessing for the Lord. Indeed, this was the way Jesus trained them, by having them accompany Him in His ministry of healing, exorcism and preaching. Then, He sent them out two by two to do the same. After that, He would call them to do some reflection over what they had experienced. When the 70 disciples returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” He said to them, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Lk 10:17-20) The best way to be formed is to form ourselves through practice and not just through observation and study.
Fourthly, Jesus was realistic. Although the Good News is meant for all, He knew that He could only reach out to the Jews first. At this point of time, Jesus was clear that they were not ready to preach beyond Palestine. “These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows: ‘Do not turn your steps to pagan territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town; go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” The apostles were still in formation and they lacked the knowledge of Paul to be able to preach to the Gentiles. So, instead of trying to do too much and in the end lose focus, Jesus told them to just preach to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. We, too, in our mission must also be realistic and focused. Sometimes, we try to do too many things at the same time and as a consequence, we are fragmented and distracted. We must know our limitations so that we can direct our energy to something that is achievable. The larger mission will be fulfilled if we focus on what we need to do now.
In the first reading, Joseph too taught us the necessity of having a strategy in getting things done. He was appointed second in command in Egypt after interpreting the dream of Pharaoh and providing them the strategy for overcoming the seven years of famine that would follow the seven years of plenty. (Gn 41:25-49) Joseph indeed was a wise man. “So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are; you shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” (Gn 41:38-40)
In today’s first reading, Joseph too had a strategy to ensure that his brothers had truly repented of their evil deed when they sought to have him killed. On the surface it might seem that Joseph was vindictive in imprisoning his brothers by accusing them of spying. He demanded that they bring their youngest brother, Benjamin, to prove their innocence. Initially, he had wanted to release only one of them, but eventually he only retained Simeon in prison, allowing the rest to return home. They had to bring back Benjamin to show their integrity, otherwise Simeon would not be set free. Joseph did this as a test to remind them of how they threw him into the well. At the same time, he wanted to know whether they had treated Benjamin the way they treated him. Only after ascertaining their remorse and repentance was Joseph willing to reveal himself. We, too, can learn from Joseph and Jesus on the need to strategize so that we can truly bring about the fulfilment of God’s plan for His people.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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