Sometimes I need somebody\u2019s help. Usually I ask a person who has proper skills or knowledge. The reason behind that it\u2019s obvious: you wouldn\u2019t ask a plumber to fix your car. When we need help, especially in important or serious matters we look for experts. But these people haven\u2019t been specialists since the cradle; they were taught and trained by more experienced people; they practised and developed their knowledge and skills as they did their job; certainly they may have made mistakes and bad decisions. They know the bitterness of failure. But all these happenings shaped and developed their skills and knowledge.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s gospel we hear about Jesus sending seventy two disciples as his messengers. They had to go to places where Jesus had wanted to go. We don\u2019t know much about them except that the Apostles were not among them. In those happy days when the Church had no clergy the messengers quite likely were ordinary people, who gave their time for the cause of God\u2019s kingdom. At that stage they weren\u2019t very experienced preachers or healers; Jesus gave them clear – though unusual – instructions and tips. When they headed off they started their apprenticeship. Eventually they came back to Jesus joyfully sharing their experience: they were surprised that \u201ceven the devils submit to us when we use you name\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n When Jesus sent the messengers in pairs; it means they visited thirty six locations; as the gospel says: \u201cto all the towns and places he himself was to visit\u201d<\/em>. But I wonder if Jesus personally visited all those places; that\u2019s possible but quite a hard task to do. I think that the answer is \u201cno\u201d and at the same time \u201cyes\u201d. I doubt that Jesus went personally to all those places; but his messengers brought him there: they healed people in Jesus\u2019 name; they drove out evil spirits in Jesus\u2019 name; they spread good news about God\u2019s kingdom in Jesus\u2019 name. Jesus himself extended such a mission after his resurrection; we read about it in Saint Matthew\u2019s gospel: \u201cGo, make disciples of all the nations […] and know I am with you always […], to the end of time\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n The mission from today\u2019s gospel literally concerned those seventy two people; but this mission also concerns us. The mission hasn\u2019t been accomplished yet; there are many people looking for consolation, liberation and acceptance; people who need forgiveness and love. When we listen carefully to today\u2019s gospel we can hear Jesus saying: \u201cCure those […] who are sick and say: \u2018The kingdom of God is very near to you\u2019\u201d<\/em>. Our mission is helping people by bringing relief and words of comfort.<\/p>\n Some of us may think: \u201cI can\u2019t help, I don\u2019t know how to\u201d. Maybe you\u2019re right; but if you don\u2019t start now you\u2019ll never know. Forget yourself: Jesus is at work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes I need somebody\u2019s help. Usually I ask a person who has proper skills or knowledge. The reason behind that it\u2019s obvious: you wouldn\u2019t ask a plumber to fix your car. When we need help, especially in important or serious matters we look for experts. But these people haven\u2019t been specialists since the cradle; they were taught and trained by more experienced people; they practised and developed their knowledge and skills as they did their job; certainly they may have made mistakes and bad decisions. They know the bitterness of failure. But all these happenings shaped and developed their skills and knowledge. In today\u2019s gospel we hear about Jesus sending seventy two disciples as his messengers. They had to go to places where Jesus had wanted to go. We don\u2019t know much about them except that the Apostles were not among them. In those happy days when the Church had no clergy the messengers quite likely were ordinary people, who gave their time for the cause of God\u2019s kingdom. At that stage they weren\u2019t very experienced preachers or healers; Jesus gave them clear – though unusual – instructions and tips. When they headed off they started their apprenticeship. Eventually they came back to Jesus joyfully sharing their experience: they were surprised that \u201ceven the devils submit to us when we use you name\u201d. When Jesus sent the messengers in pairs; it means they visited thirty six locations; as the gospel says: \u201cto all the towns and places he himself was to visit\u201d. But I wonder if Jesus personally visited all those places; that\u2019s possible but quite a hard task to do. I think that the answer is \u201cno\u201d and at the same time \u201cyes\u201d. I doubt that Jesus went personally to all those places; but his messengers brought him there: they healed people in Jesus\u2019 name; they drove out evil spirits in Jesus\u2019 name; they spread good news about God\u2019s kingdom in Jesus\u2019 name. Jesus himself extended such a mission after his resurrection; we read about it in Saint Matthew\u2019s gospel: \u201cGo, make disciples of all the nations […] and know I am with you always […], to the end of time\u201d. The mission from today\u2019s gospel literally concerned those seventy two people; but this mission also concerns us. The mission hasn\u2019t been accomplished yet; there are many people looking for consolation, liberation and acceptance; people who need forgiveness and love. When we listen carefully to today\u2019s gospel we can hear Jesus saying: \u201cCure those […] who are sick and say: \u2018The kingdom of God is very near to you\u2019\u201d. Our mission is helping people by bringing relief and words of comfort. Some of us may think: \u201cI can\u2019t help, I don\u2019t know how to\u201d. Maybe you\u2019re right; but if you don\u2019t start now you\u2019ll never know. Forget yourself: Jesus is at work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-c"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}