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When I came to Egypt for the first time three years ago I was invited to preach in the morning mass. It was a big deal. I felt it. The students felt it. My friend John asked the question of his students that morning after my first homily, "do we need to check the foundation to make sure it doesn't have any cracks in it"?
I have been privileged to preach in the morning mass each year that I've been here and this year I was asked to preach twice. More than one student asked Abuna Michael if I might not preach a second time. Hany, our resident gopher for the summer, told me, "We all look forward to hearing you preach in the mass." Now mind you, these are the same students who will argue why woman should not have a bigger role in the Catholic church, but for some reason they respond to me. God is good and I'm grateful!
Anyway -- I thought I'd share with you the second homily that I preached this past Monday. The text for the day was Matthew 10:1-15 -- Jesus calling his disciples. This was at the start of the week when my students began sharing their homilies in the morning mass and so the sending of the apostles was a perfect text for the day. The language is simple because I'm trying to communicate with as many students as possible.
I pray the Holy Spirit will speak to you in these words as well.
A Mixed Bag
Matthew 10:1-15
Jesus had a very big job to do as he worked to bring the kingdom of heaven to this world. There were evil spirits to drive out and diseases to heal. And so, Matthew tells us, he gave his disciples the power and authority to help him.
I don’t know how it is in Egypt - but in America when we want to find someone to do a job - any job - we spend a lot of time coming up with a list of all the responsibilities and duties that person will have to do. And then we ask people to tell us why they are the best person for the job. And then we pick the person we think will do the job the best.
I think Jesus could have made better choices when it came to calling people to be his disciples. I hope you know that I’m joking with you, but truly, Jesus chose some people to be his disciples who were not perfect . . . most of them weren’t even close to perfect.
According to Matthew there was Simon who Jesus called Peter/Boutros - he was a rock - either solid as a stone or sometimes as hard-headed as a stone. There was Andrew, Peter’s brother, who had been a disciple of John the Baptist, but who was quick to follow Jesus and bring others to him as well. There were James and John, brothers and sons of Zebedee, who Jesus called “sons of thunder.” I think he called them this because they were always arguing with each other about who was greater, about who Jesus liked best.
There were others who we know, some of theme we don’t know much about. There were Philip and Bartholemew, Thomas, the doubter, Matthew, the tax collector, another James, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas - the betrayer.
In English we would call this group of people a “mixed bag.”
They had some good, some not so good. Some who could do the job well, some who could not. We know from reading the Holy Bible that many times they didn’t understand what Jesus was doing or saying. We know that sometimes their faith was not strong enough to move a grain of sand, to say nothing of moving a mountain. But for Jesus it didn’t matter if they were the best people for the job, for Jesus what mattered was that they had heard his invitation to come, and they said, “Yes.” For Jesus what mattered was that they were people willing to accept and receive the love and forgiveness that he offered them.
I think we are a lot like Jesus’ disciples - we are also a mixed bag. We don’t always understand what Jesus is saying to us, our faith is not always strong. Sometimes we are like Andrew and can bring our friends to know Jesus in a new way, but many times we’re more like James and John who are always arguing about who’s right, or like Peter who wants to walk on the water to Jesus, but loses his focus and sinks.
We are all disciples - followers, students, learners of the way of Jesus; but Jesus also calls us - and by us I mean all of us, men and women alike - to be his apostles sent with his message to the ends of the earth.
Beginning tomorrow, nine of your brothers in level three will be the ones who are called to be apostles in our morning mass. They are apostles not because they are smarter than anyone else or more holy than anyone else, they are apostles because they have received the invitation to bring the message of Jesus to the world - and they have said yes.
You know each other well - maybe you know each other too well sometimes. You know each others weaknesses and blind spots. You know each others failings and faults. It can be easy to hear the words of a brother and focus on where they have failed to live up to their words and ideas.
But Jesus did not call the 12 apostles to be perfect - he called them to hear his invitation and to say “yes”. They did. And all of us here have heard that invitation and spoken our “yes” as well. Trust that the authority to speak in the name of Jesus, trust that the authority to act in his name, comes not from our righteousness, but from God’s goodness and grace made know to us through Jesus Christ.
Amen
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Emily M.
non-member comment
Thank you for sharing this, Pr. Amy! I'm happy that you are preaching over there. I miss hearing you over here! God bless you.