My question for today relates to this particular time of the year. This question makes sense only in early June. My question is this: How many of you have attended a graduation within the last few weeks? Most of us have gone to at least one. For my wife and me, it was the graduation of one of our grandsons. And yes, believe it or not, we are too young to have a grandson graduating from either high school or college. No, his graduation exercise was at St Ann’s, upon completion of kindergarten! With the seven grandchildren we now have, I expect we’ll be attending a lot more graduations over the next years.
But what do we really mean by a “graduation?” As the word, itself, says: it’s a time for stepping out, a time to advance upward to a new level. It can be the time for the change from kindergarten to the new world of first grade. Or from high school or college to the world beyond the confines of academic learning. But most important, graduation marks the moment in time when we now must do what we’ve learned to do. A time to share with others what we have learned and experienced. A time to integrate our learning and experiencing so that we may grow, not only in knowledge, but also, in wisdom.
There’s another name for this process of stepping out, advancing to a new level, another name for this opportunity to share with others what we have learned and experienced. That other name is “evangelization.”
Evangelization. A word which literally means: spreading the good news. Good news. What is this good news we are to spread? It is this: the Kingdom of God has begun. The Reign of God has begun. This is what Jesus taught his disciples, his students. We are taught the same lessons.
We are, also, taught the risen son of God is with us now and each one of us is called forward, toward God. We are taught by the Holy Spirit, who was sent forth by the Father and the Son at that first Pentecost. We are taught we, too, are sent forth on a mission. Just as some two-thousand years ago, Jesus sent out his twelve students, we are sent out. And why are we sent out?
Our Gospel reading reminds us: “at the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” And so, he said to his disciples: “the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so, ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” And what did he ask his laborers, his students, to do? He said: “… make this proclamation: ‘the Kingdom of God is at hand.’ cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
We are reminded, once more, all we have, all we truly are, has been given to us by God and we are to share these gifts with others. Paul, in our Second Reading, reminds us it was not through our own merit the gift of eternal life was given to us but, rather, “ … while we were still sinners.” While we were still estranged and separated from God, it was then that “… Christ died for us … [so that] … we have now received reconciliation.” This is why each of us is sent forth: to help others recognize that this reconciliation has been gifted to us by God. And who are these “others?”
In today’s reading taken from the Gospel of Matthew, the disciples were not sent to the pagans who did not believe in God, nor to the Samaritans who believed in the same God as the Israelites but worshiped in a different way. No, instead, Jesus sent them to the lost sheep of his own people.
Often when we think of evangelization, images of Bible-thumping street preachers come into our minds. We focus on the first instruction Jesus gave to his twelve students: proclaim the good news. But there are those other instructions.
● The instruction to “cure the sick,” to attend to those lost sheep who are still in the process of giving up and turning away from God.
● The instruction to “raise the dead,” to attend to those lost sheep who have already given up and have turned away from God.
● The instruction to “cleanse lepers,” to attend to those lost sheep who seem to be beyond the reach of the community, who believe God has turned away from them.
● The instruction to “drive out demons,” to attend to those whose internal addictions to soul-devouring elements prevent them from returning to the God who calls to them.
All of these instructions are instructions for actions. Actions we are to undertake. Actions beginning with ourselves, for once again, it is not a matter of “do what I say” but rather “do what I do.” I must cure my own self-contempt, the belief I am not worthy of God’s love. My belief my body is not good enough: I’m too fat, too thin, too short, too tall. My belief my actions are not good enough: I don’t pray enough, I don’t help others enough. My belief that, because of my shortcoming, God cannot love me.
Just as I am called to cure myself of those parts of me which say I am not worthy of God’s love, I am called to raise the dead parts of myself: those parts which killed me, and others, through hatred. Parts of me that say: others are not worthy of either my love or God’s love, because they are of the wrong gender, the wrong color, the wrong age, the wrong economic class.
And with this healing of self, it is then time for me to step forward and heal others. Not merely by what I say, but equally, in what I do as a result of what God has done, not only for me but, also, within me. Not only must I speak of the kingdom, I must also act. The works of mercy are still needed. We are called to undertake the corporal works of mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned and bury the dead. We are called to practice the spiritual works of mercy: counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner, comfort the sorrowful, forgive injuries, bear wrongs patiently and pray for the living and the dead
I began this reflection with a question about graduations. But now, as we remember all those who have participated in a formal graduation, now is the time to recall how the disciples were sent forth to put into practice what they learned from Jesus. We are, also, reminded in our First Reading from the Book of Exodus, the going forth of the Israelites from bondage to freedom, that the Lord God in his graduation speech to them reminded them “… how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself.”
We, too, have been born up on eagle wings. We remember God has entered into our lives and the lives of others. Each of us must acknowledge this event. Yes, we are to go beyond the mere knowledge held in our heads and acknowledge with our hearts we are loved by God. A God who now asks us to step forward and put into practice what we continue to learn. A God who calls us to our own graduation.
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time; June 13, 1999
Ex 19:2-6a; Rom 5:6-11; Mt 9:36-10/8