The Sent Ones

We might describe Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter as opportunities to reflect on and be shaped by different aspects of the God revealed in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Ordinary Time is when we reflect on how we join the disciples living in response to this God in our context and time. This week we are given Matthew 9:35-10:25 – Jesus sending out the “sent ones” or apostles.

We hear these words in the promise of Pentecost and John’s experience of the Spirit of Ascended Jesus being breathed into each of us, gifting us peace; inviting us to rejoice and forgive and live the gospel.

We continue our walk in Ordinary Time by returning to Matthew and his version of Jesus sending out the apostles. For Franciscans this is a very important story. On hearing this gospel reading in 1208 on the Feast of Saint Matthias, Francis of Assisi heard his calling and with his brothers found the basis of the rule of life for his order. He, like those first apostles, heard the call to continue the transforming work of Jesus who healed, restored, and reconciled. He heard the call to win others for love. Or as Jesus says, to proclaim in words and actions that the reign of heaven has come near.

While Francis was inspired by these words, and cast aside his sandals, belt, and cloak, spending the rest of his short life seeking out the poor and discarded, I suspect most of us struggle to know what to do with this. These are tough and uncomfortable words. Brian McLaren in “We Make the Road by Walking” says that the way of Jesus is a way of vulnerability. It is “…a summons, a challenge, a life-changing invitation. Do we dare to step out and follow Jesus, to make the road by walking, to risk everything on an uprising of peace, an uprising of generosity, an uprising of forgiveness, an uprising of love? If we believe, we will make it real.” (p.150)