Proclaimers of the Kingdom of God

Today’s first reading, Proverbs 30: 5-9, begins with the statement: “Every word of God is tested…”  You and I are not THE Word of God but a word of God.    Every day, our faith, our trust, our love, our humility, our truthfulness, our altruism, our strength, our obedience to the will of God is tested.  We are assured in many places in the Scriptures, including today’s first reading, that God shields us, protects us.

We are a word of God spoken by God when we were conceived in our mother’s womb.  As Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel (Lk 9: 1-6), we were sent into the world “to proclaim the Kingdom of God.”  We do that by our lives, that is, by loving God by loving ourselves and others, who God also sent into the world to be His servants.  As a word of God, as God’s servant, God equips us with what we need to carry out His will (cf. Luke 9: 1-6). Just as Jesus summoned “the Twelve and gave them power and authority,” so, too, he summons you and I, giving us the power and authority to be His disciples, doing even greater things than Jesus did (cf.Jn 14: 12) if we believe in Christ.  Jesus also warns us, however, that we are sent into this world  as sheep among wolves(Mt. 10: 16). Just as He was persecuted in proclaiming the Kingdom, so, too, will we be persecuted as His servants. No servant is greater than his or her master (cf. Jn. 15:20).

Why, then, do we cringe when difficulties cross our paths? Have we forgotten Jesus’ caution and that we are His followers, doing the work He did and for which He sent us? Have we lost sight of the fact that God will shield us as we pass through “the fire,” and give us the strength He gave the apostles and all of the saints before us?

Following Christ

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew, a tax collector and a very wealthy man, called to ministry with Jesus. Tax collectors were despised in the Jewish culture. They were considered sinners in that they cheated the people in their payment of taxes to the Romans. Jesus spotted Matthew at his tax collecting post and said to Him: “Follow me”(Mt. 9: 9-13). Matthew immediately left his lucrative business and became a disciple of Jesus. That, too, abhorred the people. “What was Jesus thinking anyway? Does He not know who this man is?” were probably thoughts that crowded into people’s minds.

 

Despised by others but not by the Lord, Matthew began a journey that day that changed his life. He became so immersed in the teachings and life of the Lord Jesus that he stayed with Jesus throughout His public life. Following Jesus’ death and resurrection and the Pentecost experience, Matthew spread the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom here on earth. Matthew gave his life and accepted martyrdom for the faith.

You and I may be despised by another or by others but not by the Lord ever! As Paul says in the first reading of today's liturgy, Eph 4: 1-7, 11-13, we, God's holy ones--yes, holy, though sinners--are equipped "for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knolwedge of the Son of God, to mature [personhood]. to the extent of the full stature of Christ." That is God's guarantee and our hope in Christ Jesus! What an awesome God!