Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist
After today’s reading I was left humming the tune of a popular pop song by the little known artist Taylor Swift. The song is called "Shake It Off", you may have heard of it and if not that’s okay. The song consists of Taylor saying she isn’t going to let the negative words, thoughts or actions of others affect her feelings or her actions, she is simply gonna shake it all off. Why did this song pop into my head after reading His holy word? Not only was it Jesus’ advice to his disciples before sending them out on a mission, saying “whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you” (Luke 10: 10-11, two versus after today’s gospel Luke 10: 1-9). But this shake it off mentality was also Paul’s attitude for coping with his sense of abandonment by his followers and his oppression by his adversaries. Even in his trial, Paul writes “At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it” (2 Tim: 16-17).
2000 years have passed since Jesus and his disciples have walked in the world. 2000 years. Sounds like that amount of time would be large enough to make our world completely different than the world Jesus and his disciples knew. In some ways our worlds are completely different; the landscape, the architecture, the medicine even the technology are diverse and advanced. But the anatomy, the emotions and the psychology of human beings remain the same. The words spoken and the actions performed around us affect us in a similar way. Imagine putting yourself in Paul’s shoes, to have been put on trial and have no one, no friends nor allies show up to speak on your behalf. How would you feel? I’d feel hurt, angry, sad and alone. In the heat of that moment, my reaction may not have been the same as Paul’s to say let it not be held against them.
I am a disciple of Jesus and it’s not easy living out God’s mission in this world. When I feel persecuted or rejected my initial reaction isn’t to just let it all go. Shake it off, seems simple in concept, but proves to be challenging in execution. However, God calls us to walk the holy path, not the easy path. So today, what is something that you can shake off and trust that our lord will take care of it?