Texts of the Readings
July 16,
2006
Fifteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Dr.
Terrance Callan
Amos 7:12-15
X
Eph 1:3-14 X
Mark 6:7-13
Invitations summon us to action and demand a response. As Christians we
have received an invitation from God through Jesus. God has invited us to
continue the work of Jesus by bringing the Word of God to the world.
The reading from the gospel of Mark tells how Jesus sent the
Twelve out, two by two, to extend the scope of his own mission. Just as
Jesus himself preached repentance, cast out demons and cured the sick, so he
sent the Twelve to do the same. And he told them to take nothing for the
journey except a walking stick and sandals - no food, no sack, no money in
their belts, no second tunic. These words of Jesus moved St. Francis of
Assisi to embrace poverty as he followed Jesus.
In the reading from the book of the prophet Amos, Amos explains
how he was sent by God. Amos had come from Tekoa in the southern kingdom of
Judah to Bethel in the northern kingdom of Israel, to pronounce Gods
judgment on Israel and its king Jeroboam. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,
told Amos to return to Judah and earn his bread by prophesying there.
Amaziah assumed that Amos was a professional prophet who hoped to support
himself by prophesying at Bethel. Amos replied that he was not a
professional prophet; he was a shepherd and dresser of sycamores. He became
a prophet only because God sent him to deliver a message to Israel and its
king. We are encouraged to see the mission of the Twelve as a parallel to
this.
The reading from the letter to the Ephesians is a prayer of
praise with which the letter begins. The prayer praises God for what God
has accomplished in Jesus. In this way the prayer presents the message that
followers of Jesus proclaim to the world.
The prayer praises God for blessing us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavens. And the prayer goes on to say that this
is the execution of a design formed before creation - God chose us in him,
before the foundation of the world. But human beings only realized that
this was Gods plan when he carried it out in Jesus. By means of our faith
in Jesus God has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with
his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times.
The prayer also spells out what is meant by every spiritual
blessing in the heavens. First, it means that in Christ we have redemption
by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions. Thus we are holy and
without blemish, having become adopted children of God through Christ.
Second, it means Gods summing up all things in Christ, in heaven and on
earth. In particular this refers to the unification of Jews and Gentiles
in Christ: Jews were the first to hope in Christ; but in Christ the
Gentiles too were chosen. Finally, it means the gift of the Holy Spirit,
the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as Gods
possession, to the praise of his glory. It is the presence of the Holy
Spirit in our midst that assures us that what has been begun in us will be
completed.
This is the message that followers of Jesus brought to the world
after his death and resurrection. It is the message that we continue to
bring if we accept the invitation to do so.
Terrance Callan
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