15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 15, 2012
Amos sent on mission
Amaziah, priest of Bethel, said to Amos,
"Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread
by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's
sanctuary and a royal temple." Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no
prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a
dresser of sycamores. The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me:
`Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’"
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to
Mark
Glory to you, Lord.
The Twelve
sent on mission
Jesus called twelve disciples
together and sent them, two by two, on
mission. He gave them authority over evil spirits. He instructed them to take
nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their
belts. They could wear sandals, but were not to have a second tunic. He also
told them, "Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you
leave that town. If you come to a place where people do not welcome you or will
not listen to you, leave that place and shake its dust off your feet. This will
be a warning to them!” So they went off and preached that people should turn
away from their sins. They cast out many demons, and anointed many sick people and cured them.
The
Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
The great missionary
mandate
Jesus called the twelve disciples together and sent them, two by two, on mission. (Mk. 6:7) Later on,
He appointed another seventy-two disciples and sent them on mission. (Lk. 10:1)
After his resurrection, He appeared to the eleven disciples and gave them the
great missionary mandate to “Go forth into the whole world and make disciples
of all people, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.“ (Mt. 28:19) Scholars agree that that mandate with its very
explicit Trinitarian formula (which reads like an excerpt from a baptismal
ritual manual) is more the command of the early Church community bent on growth
and expansion, than it is the command of the historical Jesus.
Christianity – a staunchly
missionary religion
Christianity is, indeed, a staunchly missionary religion.
Jesus is presented as sending twelve and then later on seventy-two disciples on
mission.
But what, we ask, is the mission on which they’re sent? Is it to make
the whole world Christian? St. Cyprian (200-258) seems to think so. He is famous
for his dictum: “Extra Ecclesiam nulla
salus “ -- “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” Cyprian’s ambiguous dictum
has always needed `a ton of explaining away.’ He seems to be saying that all people
must become Christian if they are to be saved, for “Outside the Church there is
no salvation.” His Dictum was and still is fraught with mischief, as the dark
history of Christian missionary activity proves. It seems to make the Christian
Church God’s only instrument of salvation. It seems to look down upon
non-Christians as `jobs-to-done’ (as people to be converted and baptized),
instead of human beings to be loved and served.
Islam – a staunchly missionary religion
Like
Christianity, Islam also is a staunchly missionary religion; its task too is to
make the whole world Muslim. One of Islam’s five great Pillars is Shahada. That’s a proclamation of personal faith that there is no
God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet. Subliminally at least, Shahada is loaded with a missionary
urgency. Sometimes listed as a sixth
Pillar of Islam is Jihad – Holy War.
That can innocently mean “a holy war of self discipline” waged upon
one’s self in the struggle to surrender to the will of Allah. (In fact, the Arabic word Islam
means `to surrender.’) On the
other hand, Jihad – Holy War – is sometimes used to denote something
much less noble and very violent. Staunch
Islamists like staunch Christians also have their own dictum: “Outside the Mosque
there is no salvation.” That, too, is fraught with mischief, as the dark history of Islamic missionary activity
proves. It makes the Mosque God’s only instrument of salvation. It looks down
upon all non-Muslims as `jobs-to-done’ (as people to be converted), instead of human beings to be loved
and served.Judaism – not a staunchly missionary religion
Unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism is not a staunchly missionary
religion. In the early Church when a
problem arose about Jews mixing with
Gentiles (Acts 10:28) Peter Simon, a Jew, got up and said, “I now realize that
God has no favorites but gives welcome to the man of any nation who fears Him
and acts uprightly." (Acts 10:34-35)[1] If God has no favorites but gives welcome to
any one from any nation who fears Him and acts uprightly, then there is no
urgent need for Judaism to go forth and make the whole world Jewish. Judaism rests in peace; it lives and lets
live, and it wishes itself to be left in peace. It does not look upon
Christians or Muslims as `jobs-to-done’ (as people to be converted), instead
of human beings to be loved and served.
Mission after Vatican II
A missionary who baptized everyone
The old view of mission was singularly embodied in the
legendary missionary St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552).
Born in the Basque area of Spain he
joined up with St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit Order. With the
possible exception of St. Paul. he became the greatest of all Christian
missionaries. He could `chalk up’ for
himself hundreds of thousands of converts, and that’s why he’s called `The
Apostle of the Indies.‘ When he died in 1552, his body was buried in the city
of Goa, India, but his right arm (which baptized so many thousands of `converts’)
is preserved in a glass reliquary in the Gesù Church in Rome, for all to
see!
A
missionary who baptized no one
In
sharp contrast to this great missionary who baptized everyone, stands another
great missionary, Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta (1910- 1997) who baptized no one! Founder of the Missionaries of
Charity, her mission was not to do something to the poor Hindus she found
dying in the streets of Calcutta (i.e., convert and baptize them); her mission
was to do everything she could for
them. She gathered up those poor souls and carried them to her hospice for the
dying. There she and her sisters bathed and fed them. Then without pouring one
drop of baptismal water over their heads, Mother Theresa and her sisters kissed
them and sent them off to heaven. And those poor souls died believing, at long
last, that they were human beings worthy of being loved. That indeed was
`mission accomplished.’
A new approach to
mission
Rev. Dr. Joseph Hough, President of Union
Theological Seminary in New York, calls on Christians to take a new theological
approach to other religions, and therefore a new approach to mission. Born into the Calvinist
Tradition, which stresses the absolute freedom and sovereignty of God, he uses his
background to find a new approach to mission. God, he says, is absolutely free
to do whatever God wants to do. That means God is free to reveal Himself to us
in any person God chooses. But if I
limit God’s freedom to reveal Himself to us only
in the person of Jesus, then my God is not really free. Rev. Hough maintains that to be passionately Christian doesn’t mean we have to believe “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” To be passionately Christian doesn’t mean we have to believe that God can reveal Himself only in the face of Jesus. We can be passionately Christian and still believe that God can reveal Himself in anyone He chooses to reveal Himself. Rev. Hough’s approach to other religions is much more generous than merely `tolerating’ other believers. It’s much more generous than merely bestowing on them a `live and let live attitude.’ His approach to other religions is generous and humble. It enables us to see other believers “not as foreigners or strangers” (Eph. 2:19) but as brothers and sisters travelling variant paths to one and the same God.
Conclusion
“Fruit salad can be
delicious.”
The Vietnamese monk, Nhat Hanh opens his book Living Buddha, Living Jesus with a little incident. At a conference
of theologians and professors of religion, an Indian Christian friend of his
told the assembly, “We are now going to hear about the beauties of several
religious traditions.” But then he added a kind of warning which surprised some:
“That, however, doesn’t mean we’re going to make a fruit salad!”
The Indian Christian friend was trying to reassure any Christian (who
might be dead-sure of the absolute superiority of his faith) that he wouldn’t
have to give up anything! Not even his feeling of superiority! When it came Nhat Hanh’s turn to speak, he
simply said, “Fruit salad can be delicious.” And then he added, “I don’t see any reason to spend one’s whole life tasting just
one kind of fruit.”
It’s all about fruit salad! It’s all about a
God who can reveal Himself in Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Congregationalists,
etc. It’s all about a God who can reveal Himself in Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists,
etc. What a relief it is to be able to look on other believers “not as
foreigners or strangers”(Eph. 2:19) but as fellow travellers on the same
human journey of seeking God.
[1] The same theme that God has no
favorites is found also in Deuteronomy 10:17, II Chronicles 19:7, Job
34:19, Wisdom 6:7, Romans 2:11,
Galatians 2:6 and Ephesians 6:9.
