This Sunday's reading compares the mission of Amos with that of the Twelve. Amos is being kicked out of Bethel, and told he is no longer welcome there. The priests say, Go back to Jerusalem and earn your keep with prophesying there. Amos responds that he is not a professional prophet, but a "dresser of sycamores" -- a tree pruner -- by profession. The implication is that when he speaks, it is the Lord who speaks, since Amos has no personal, monetary interest in the matter. His words, then, should be heeded all the more since he will not profit from them.
The Twelve are sent out penniless and vulnerable. They get to wear sandals and use a walking stick, but "no food, no sack, no money in their belts." And no second tunic! This is to demonstrate their utter reliance on the people to whom they will preach. This is risky business, and puts them entirely at the mercy of the people -- and of God's will. If the people's hearts are hard, the Twelve will starve and freeze. But if their people have been touched by God's benevolence, the message will take root. The Twelve found success -- they "drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them." Such actions require the acceptance and trust of the recipients. The hard-hearted are not open to cures and do not receive them. But the Twelve found an audience that was ready for God's work to be accomplished.
Did Jesus know this would happen? Was this exercise an excuse to have the Twelve learn dependence on the people of God for their sustenance -- and actually get it? Did they need to be "brought down a peg" to realize that without the Lord's work in people's hearts, their preaching would be of no account?
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Lord Jesus, do we trust our neighbors enough to make ourselves completely vulnerable to them? Do we trust that there is enough goodness in the world that we can be sustained by it? Or do we truly believe that we must be in control of everything and that everyone is a rat and a thief? Do we believe in a God that is at work in all people? Are we ready to trust that God has turned the earth that is our neighbor and is ready to receive the seed of the Word?
Make us trust in others beyond ourselves. Make us believe in the power of your presence in our own lives, but in that of others as well. Amen.
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photo from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~colleen/Ireland2004/pages/DublinWearyTravelerFeet.htm, a site about Colleen Everett's trip to Ireland in 2004
People who are willing to put themselves at the mercy of others have the power to change the world. Jesus Christ, Ghandi, and Martin Luther King Jr all showed that this is true. If they could change the world, surely we can hope to change other peoples' hearts.
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