15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Twelve whom Jesus had called were the Lord’s disciples, meaning that Jesus was their teacher and they were His students.  In today’s gospel, they become apostles as well, meaning that they were those who were sent.  Jesus had work for them to do and so He sent them out with His authority to do what He had been doing.

In Baptism, we are joined to Jesus and become both the Lord’s disciples and apostles.  Each of us enters into a relationship with the Lord and learns both from Jesus and about Jesus.  We are also apostles, sent by the Lord to continue His work in our world.  At the end of every Mass, having been enlightened by God’s word and nourished with the Body of Christ, we are commanded to go forth, to continue the work of the Lord.

There are three lessons to learn from Jesus’ instructions to the Twelve that will help us to become better disciples and apostles.

Jesus sent the Twelve out “two by two.” The lesson there is that we need to work together – all of us – no one ought to be alone because no one can do it alone.  We all have different gifts and God needs all of them in order for the Church to do her work.  We ought to complement each other, to do what we can, and to let others do what they can.  The possibilities of serving Christ and His Church are many and there is a place for everyone to make a contribution. 

Jesus told the Twelve to take very little with them.  They were to travel light and to be content with where they found themselves.  The lesson there is that we need to trust God for everything.  When God has a work for us to do, God will supply our every need.  When we have many possessions, we run the risk of relying on them, rather than on the Lord.  St. Paul, one of the most powerful apostles in the history of the Church, assures the Ephesian Christians in today’s second reading that God has given us every spiritual gift.  We lack nothing if only we trust God to give it to us.

Jesus instructed the Twelve that they were to do what He had been doing: to preach repentance, to drive out demons and to heal the sick.   Those same works are needed today and they are not limited to the clergy.  When a person speaks to a family member or friend about the need to get a new way of thinking and living, it can be powerful and lead to serious change and growth.  There are so many ways to help others to be set free.  Again, these are but a few works that the Lord asks of all of us, His current apostles in the Church today.

Going to Church on Sunday and offering a prayer or two each day is not enough.  We need to have a relationship with the Lord so that we can hear what He asks of us.  Jesus will send us out to do what He did and to do what the Twelve did.  We will continue the work that has been done for centuries: preaching, helping others to become free and healed through the person of Jesus, alive and active in the Church today.

When we go forth and work together, trusting the Lord for everything, Jesus’ work continues and lives are saved.  We, disciples and apostles of Jesus, are called to this.  May we ask Him for direction and guidance and then beg the Lord for the grace and fortitude to carry it out.