Being Faithful to God's Call

Dear Friends,

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus sends out the Twelve, two by two, on their first missionary journey. They had freshly discovered Jesus, been chosen by him, and said “yes” to his call. Now they go off for a short time to do what Jesus did:

            to proclaim the good news

            to cast out demons

            to heal the sick.

Did the Twelve succeed? Did Jesus expect and require that they succeed? For that matter, did Jesus succeed in changing people’s hearts and transforming society? What is success in God’s terms?

Did the prophet Amos, in today’s first reading, succeed in his own mission? God sent him to preach in the north to the externally pious, the uncaring wealthy and the unscrupulously powerful. They turned a deaf ear to this unlettered man, a dresser of sycamore trees, whom God had chosen. Instead, they listened to Amaziah, who told them what they wanted to hear.

Looking at the span of their lives, Amos, Jesus and the Twelve could not lay claim to success. But they tried their best to be faithful to God’s call, to preach and practice compassion and justice. And they prayed that God would take their work to the next time and place. That, dear friends, was enough.

You and I are their spiritual descendants and are called upon to do the same.

Hold on, you might say. They were messengers and prophets. I am only a hearer, a follower. I am little, and in the grand scheme of things, I am unimportant.

We need to be careful with this way of thinking, though, because that’s precisely where God seems to look – throughout Scripture – among the least, the little and the obscure. We have already been marked, as the letter to the Ephesians tells us, with the seal of the Holy Spirit. God sends us out, two by two, with a variety of partners to our neighbors and friends, coworkers, fellow patients or diners. We are called to preach the true word, the kind word, the God-word.

There are demons we are called to cast out as well – attitudes that claim our culture: violence, prejudice, racism, exploitation, ruthless and unhealthy competition, apathy and self-hatred.

We heal, too, when we patch up a child’s scraped elbow, unlock a frozen mind or help lift grief and sadness from others.

All that the Twelve were called on to do, we are called to do in our own time together here in Rochester and beyond, knowing that it is in Jesus’ name and with his power that we speak and act.

So let’s travel light, do our best and believe that God seeks, not success as an outcome, but a firm conviction in our hearts that God will bring forth what is needed. 

~Sister Joan Sobala