Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
The text from Luke for today is simple and breathtaking. Jesus spends a night in prayer. In the morning, he names the twelve apostles from among his disciples. Together, Jesus and his newly appointed apostles join a large crowd that had gathered. Jesus heals many there who sought liberation from their diseases and unclean spirits.
In the midst of that simple story, I am completely arrested by the idea that from among his many disciples, Jesus named twelve apostles. One minute they are garden-variety disciples—people who are amazed by his teachings and the miracles he performs and who follow him around with enthusiasm. The next, they are apostles—specially chosen followers of Jesus.
What must that moment have been like for them?
I imagine they were both thrilled and terrified. Thrilled that they would be his special disciples as they would now enjoy a special kind of access to his teachings and his works. But terrified too. Could they measure up? Could they really follow Jesus (be like Jesus) as he healed the sick, ministered to outcasts, was rebuked by religious authorities? Were they really up to being apostles?
The text from Colossians that accompanies the text from Luke today, seems to me to give such a wonderful answer to this question. Can we follow Jesus? The writer of Colossians seems to be saying, of course we can. If we remember three things:
1. The thing that we most needed to do to follow Jesus we have already done. We have received Christ. And that being so, we need only “walk in him” with abundant gratitude. We need not chase after him or worry about to what degree we are falling short of him. We are already at peace with Christ. All we need to do is live into that peace.
2. We need to actively and persistently resist the so-called wisdoms of the world that distract us from the peace we have in Christ. Especially “wisdoms” that teach us to fear this sort of person or hate that sort of person or destroy some other sort of person, we must resist those. Such worldly “wisdoms” are ignorance that turns us from the peace of Christ.
3. When we received Christ, we also received his forgiveness from all our transgressions and with that we were liberated. Whatever had bound us before was taken away. There is no obstacle—no shame, no guilt, no fear—that can get between us and other human beings to whom we are called to show love and mercy. We are free.
Remember who we are as people who have received Christ. Resist worldly “wisdoms” that divide us from other human beings. Show love and mercy.
Can we do these things? My prayer is that we can. Not only so that we might experience the peace of Christ ourselves but also that we might extend that peace to all whom we encounter. What a difference we could make.
- Sue Trollinger