July 14, 2024 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Indianapolis, Indiana
Amos 7: 12-15 + Psalm 85 + Ephesians 1: 3-14 + Mark 6: 7-13
Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union, and a guy from Memphis named Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Sister George McGoey was teaching 8th grade at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parochial School, and I was over there in a desk looking out the window at Public School 84. It was 1956. Finally, after 68 years, I find myself standing here where I so often served Mass for Father Sahm. When I look that way or from side to side, everything looks the same, maybe a little smaller. When I look that way nothing is familiar, and I’m glad about that because change is a consistent sign of life. If this place were exactly the way it was in 1956, something would be terribly wrong. We are not here to preserve the past. Yet, it is important to know where you have come from just in case you find yourself there again which means you’re lost. The Kingdom of God is not behind us.
There is great danger in longing for the past. It is easy to sit back in this grand old place built by some of our parents and think that the job is done. The permanence of buildings like this poses a challenge to us all. The permanence of this building allows us to risk thinking that this it, this is the Church. No it isn’t. This place is the starting line. It was for me, and hope it is the same for you. This is the place where the mission begins. This is the place we come to listen for the voice of God. If you’re here, you are chosen. What we learn from this Gospel today is that Jesus does not invite or ask disciples if they will do something. They are sent, commissioned. What they are to do is not optional or a choice they make. It is about who they are, and what they do because of it.
It is obvious to anyone who learns from the Gospel that God is not interested in the best or the perfect. That group of twelve we just heard about were not really good at anything except ambition, confusion, and a remarkable ability to miss the point of nearly everything they heard. I’ve often suspected that some of them were not particularly good at fishing. If they were, they may not have left it all so easily. Nonetheless, they get sent out with all the power found in the name of Jesus Christ to do what he does. That number Mark deliberately gives us is an important detail. Mark says: “Jesus called the Twelve.” For those to whom Mark is writing at first, that number means everyone. They would think of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and know what it means. Everyone!
If there is a reason behind the long delay for the Kingdom of God to be lived and made real, if there is a reason for people to still experience isolation, loneliness, and feel cast out or abandoned, if there is a reason for lingering racism, sexism, or hostility toward those who are different from us, it is because we have not realized the implication of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. There are no spectators among disciples. Action and mission are their identity. They are never heard to say: “Someone should do something about that.” They know who should do something.
We might also note that the mission we are given is not just spiritual. They preach repentance and they heal. Along with the spiritual, there is a social dimension to the mission we are given. Praying for the poor and homeless is fine, but that’s not all there is. Something must be done about it in order to fulfill the command we are given.
We, the Church, are by our very nature missionary. Even though the Church possesses some permanence made obvious by this grand building, we are, nonetheless, always on pilgrimage moving forward without too much baggage, excited about the promise the future holds for this world entrusted to us when we remember who we are.