6-14-26 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time
There is an old saying: “A
man there was, and they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had.”1 As I was looking over the readings
for this weekend’s liturgy, the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, one
word kept coming to my mind. That word
was “generosity.”
In the first reading
this Sunday, we see God talking to Moses and giving him a message for the
people of Israel. Is this also not a message for us? “Thus, shall you
say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites…...” Yes, we are not Israelites but are we too, not
“a chosen” people as they were. They were to listen, as we are to listen, to
what God has to say through Moses: Therefore, if you hearken to my voice
and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all
other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of
priests, a holy nation.” (Book of Exodus 19:2- 6a)
Indeed, the Israelites were the smallest of all of the nations of that time,
and yet God chose them, even though they were not large in terms of population, nor powerful, nor especially equipped to be his
messengers. He chose them to relay his
message, and to honor his name in a sacred way. “You shall be to me a kingdom
of priest, a holy nation,” God proclaims
through Moses. Is that not also our invitation as disciples of Christ to be a
holy nation, a sacred people sent by God. Like the Israelites perhaps many of us are
not unique in any special way and yet through our baptism, we were chosen
(anointed) by God to be “a priest (i.e., one who blesses others); a prophet (i.e., one who speaks of and for God); and a king; (i.e., one who guards and protects all
the treasures of creation). Later, perhaps, by the bishop, we were confirmed
in our Christian identity and again we were told that we are sent forth as a
holy people to proclaim the love of God to all peoples. “God
chose the people of Israel as a symbol for every people.” 1 He chooses us no less to be symbol of
his continuing love, mercy, and generosity for all peoples. It
would seem by this commission that God is empowering us generously with
abilities to turn people from sin to God. For “we are the people of
God…” says the opening lines of the next reading, the Responsorial Psalm, and
therefore as such we are to “Sing joyfully to the Lord,; (and
to) serve the Lord with gladness;” In the second reading, St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, we again see the
wonderful generosity of God, in that even before we turned to him and have done
perfectly, all that he has asked of us, he came to us. And so, Paul writes: Brothers
and sisters: Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed
time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with
difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one
might even find courage to die. But God proves his love (i.e., his generosity) for
us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans
5:6)
Again, God does not
wait till we are perfect to save us and to give us a mission to the nations.
Christ came not to the power of Rome, but to the littleness of the
Israelites. He comes to them to show his generous love (through the signs of healing,
the driving out of the demons, the raising of the dead) and Paul reminds the Roman
Christians that they are to reflect this generosity of God, in terms of their
love for one another. As St. Paul said in his letter to the Christians in Corinth "We are to boast”) (2 Corinthians 10:17) about what God has done for us. To boast means to talk with excessive pride
and gratitude. In the gospel, we have a wonderful scene of all the needy people
gathering around Jesus in anticipation of him granting what their needs are.
Like sheep, they were wandering in search of food and care. He is concerned for them as he is for us that
as vulnerable as they are, like sheep, they could wander into dangerous places if
the shepherd is not there to guide them. Jesus looks at them and has great compassion and generosity toward them.
And rather than addressing each of their needs himself, he calls to himself twelve
people, the apostles. These 12 are very unlikely people in and of themselves to
meet the needs of this group that has gathered around Jesus. Of those twelve, some are fishermen,
illiterate, and not necessarily religious individuals. And if you have ever been around fishermen who
are doing that for a living, they can be
a rough and ready group at times. And
we see that evidence in Peter who himself often speaks before his mind has
thought out what he is saying. Then we have persons like the apostle Philip who
after three years with Jesus, at the last supper is asking for more proof-
“Show us the father and that will be enough for us.” (John 14:8). Or you have Matthew, who is a tax collector,
and everybody hates the tax collectors even today. Finally, you have a thief
being chosen, Judas. Jesus sends all
of them off to heal the crippled, to raise the dead, and do other
astounding things. They must’ve all wondered, how do we do what Jesus has asked of us? He gave them a
mission to be generous to people and meet their needs. “Without cost you have received; without cost
you are to give.” (Matthew 10:8) Even
today we as his disciples, are sent into the world, through our baptism, to
proclaim God’s mercy and generosity, to heal the brokenhearted, to restore those
who have been rejected or devalued, and to encourage those who are hopeless. It matters not to God, who we are or what we
have done with our lives, for like the apostles, he chooses men and women from
all levels of society and from all sorts of situations, to go and be disciples
for him. He charges them to go and to
tell the world of the generosity of God’s love.
“A
man there was, and they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had.”
1. 1. Voicings.com for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary
time.
2. 2. ..Food for the Soul, Peter Kreft, pg. 581
