We enter Ordinary Time with Jesus’ call to proclaim the
reign of God. The preacher’s challenge today is to wed that proclamation to the
healing Jesus’ gives his messengers authority to bring about. Where is the
healing happening in your community?
Matthew 9:35––10:8[9-23]
By joining together these verses,
the lectionary shows Matthew's intention that the disciples should do what
Jesus did. Jesus proclaimed the “good news of the kingdom of heaven” (9:35);
the disciples are to proclaim the good news that “the kingdom of heaven has
come near” (10:7). Jesus cures every disease and sickness (9:35) and gives the
disciples authority “to cure every disease and every sickness” (10:1). Jesus views
the crowds “like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36) and sends the disciples to
“the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6).
The mission of the Twelve is not
just to preach about the kingdom but also to actualize it through deeds of
spiritual power: driving out demons and curing diseases (manifestations in
human life and evil and brokenness). . .
The descriptions attached to the
names [of the apostles] show what a motley crew this was: Simon was called
“Rock” (Peter); Matthew was a tax collector; the other Simon was a Canaanite, a
zealot for the law (from the Aramaic kanana, enthusiast, not a resident of
the land of Canaan), and Judas Iscariot was a traitor. Those who are gathered
by Jesus and commissioned for leadership roles in the church are a diverse and
imperfect group, and this was apparently the Master's intention. – Frank C.
Senn
Exodus 19:2-8a
This pericope affirms God's call to
his people to be “holy,” that is, to belong to God. Holiness or sanctification
means that the people have been set apart like priests in order to offer a
sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord. Holiness in the biblical tradition
implied that the people should be like God, who is distinct from the creation.
Therefore, the people of God are to be distinct from all the peoples and
cultures around them, both morally and ritually. –– Frank C. Senn
Romans 5:1-8
Peace is here understood as
reconciliation (making peace), which is referred to explicitly in verses 10–11.
The condition of reconciliation through Christ gives us access to the grace of
God. This access gives us the right to boast not only of glory but also of
suffering. We highly regard suffering because it leads to endurance, which
produces character, which produces a hope that does not disappoint because it
resides in hearts into which God's love has been poured through the gift of the
Holy Spirit. A homily might unpack each of these concepts, showing how one
builds on the other.
God has overcome his own wrath
against sin. . . by the sacrifice of his Son. This is an expression of God's
love for his weak and fallen human creatures. Paul never speaks of God being
reconciled with us but of us being reconciled with God, since we were the
estranged party. Christ's blood is the condition of our restoration to divine
favor. This has consequences for both the present and the future. Christ's
sacrificial death reconciles us now in our present life before God and also
saves us in the final judgment. – Frank C. Senn
Frank C. Senn, an
ELCA pastor who served Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston, Illinois, from
1990-2013, has also taught liturgy courses at a number of seminaries and
divinity schools and published thirteen books mostly on the history of the
liturgy.
Homily Service 41, no. 3 (2008): 54-62.
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