Lectionary reading
First reading: Amos 7:12-15
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 84(85):9-14
Second reading: Ephesians 1:3-14.
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13
Link to readings.
Commentary
The theme that linked the readings last week, that of the “rejected prophet,” in some respects carries on today, appearing in both the First Reading and the Gospel.
The First Reading, taken from the Book of Amos 7:12-15, tells of the prophet Amos’ rejection by the priest at the shrine of Bethel. Amos preached at a time when the southern and northern Kingdoms of Israel (Judah and Israel, respectively) existed side by side. Amos was a southerner given the unenviable task of being sent as a prophet to the northern kingdom. Bethel, the royal sanctuary of that kingdom, became the target of Amos’ critique since the worship established there condoned and legitimated glaring social inequality, in particular, the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy.
Threatened by the denunciation and regarding Amos as a representative of the “professional” class of prophets – seers chiefly renowned for ecstatic behaviour rather than the delivery of challenging messages – the priest of Bethel tells the prophet to go back to his own land and do his prophesying there. Amos retorts that he is not one of those “tame” professional prophets but a simple shepherd, who was called to be a prophet by the Lord and sent with a message to Israel. It is the Lord’s authority, then, that lies behind his message, guaranteeing its validity and its eventual vindication by events.
SENT OUT TO PREACH
The Gospel, Mark 6:7-13, places the Twelve in the line of this authentic prophetic tradition in that they are ordinary people sent out with the authority of Jesus to carry on the preaching, liberating, and healing role that has been his alone up till now.
What is striking is the “lightness” with which they are to travel. They are to submit themselves to the risk of hospitality. No bread – that should be provided for them; no haversack (the modern equivalent would be a sleeping-bag) – lodging should also be provided; and, for the same reason, no money. Sandals, yes, and a staff (as a walking stick, but also to ward off dangerous animals) because they will be constantly on the move.
If they do meet with inhospitality and rejection in any place, then they are to respond with a prophetic gesture indicating judgment (shaking the dust from under their feet; cf. Acts 13:51) and move on.
The lightness of equipment is so as not to compromise their absolute trust in the divine authority that has been given to them and to avoid any suspicion of self-seeking in the enterprise. They must have confidence that the “treasure” they bring to people in the shape of the Good News of the Kingdom vastly outweighs any burden of hospitality that they will impose and that this will be recognized by those destined to be gathered into the community of the Kingdom.
PILLARS ON WHICH THE CHURCH IS BUILT
The Twelve, of course, are the “pillars” upon which the later Church will be built. Their mission here foreshadows that of the Church, establishing something essential for its life: that it is always a community on mission, entrusted with the supreme treasure of the Gospel and the healing ministry carried out in the Sacraments.
How it is to imitate these first missionaries in the “lightness” of its travel is far more of a problem, granted the massive institutional plant and wealth that the Church has acquired in the course of the centuries. There are no facile solutions to this – save perhaps the otherwise traumatic experience of persecution. But the Gospel reminds the Church that the effectiveness of its prophetic role – its critique of prevailing cultural assumptions and practice – will largely be in proportion to the “lightness” with which it travels, the trust in the goodness (hospitality) of ordinary people and the lack of self-seeking it presents to the world. This is perhaps all the more necessary at a time when the Church’s credibility has been so seriously eroded by the sexual abuse crisis.
In the Second Reading, we begin a series of readings from Ephesians (1:3-14), a letter which offers a systematic distillation of the theological vision of Paul.
Absolutely central to that vision of the Apostle of the Gentiles is God’s design to unite Jews and Gentiles in the one body of the Church. It not easy for us believers of a much later age to appreciate Paul’s continuing wonder at that divine achievement.
We are not so conscious of the rigid Jew/Gentile division which, before his conversion, he would have jealously preserved. Here he records for his Gentile converts the great privileges of Israel – especially that of being chosen before the foundation of the world – and his prayerful wonder at the way God associated Gentile believers with that choice in order to forge, through Christ, one people to praise God’s name. The reading seeks to catch us up in that wonder and prayerful praise.
Brendan Byrne, SJ, FAHA, taught New Testament at Jesuit Theological College, Parkville, Vic., for almost forty years. He is now Emeritus Professor at the University of Divinity (Melbourne). His commentaries on the Gospels can be found at Pauline Books and Media