Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 12, 2015
Listen to this homily (.mp3 file)
God calls unlikely people to do his work. The prophet Amos whom we heard
from in today’s first reading is a good case in point. Amos was an
unlikely prophet if ever there was one. He was a shepherd and, when he wasn’t
tending his flock, he did some moonlighting by tending sycamore trees (an odd
job, to be sure, but sycamore trees, if properly cared for, produced a kind of
fig that poor people ate for nourishment). So, sheep and sycamores were
Amos’ world – until the day God came up with a whole new job for him, a much
more demanding job than herding sheep or tending trees. The job God came
up with for Amos – the job God called him to do – was the job of prophet.
We talked a bit about prophets last week. What I
would add this week is that being a prophet – speaking for God - was the last
thing Amos ever wanted. He knew it only would get him into trouble because
the word God wanted him to speak was controversial and confrontational. God
wanted him to denounce the sins of the King of Israel, Jeroboam, who, in his
decadence, was egregiously unfaithful to God’s Covenant. And God also
wanted him to expose and rail against the sins of the wealthy people of Israel
who were oppressing the poor of the land for their own gain. Who would
want a job like that? Not Amos, that’s for sure!
And, of course, Amos was right. Prophesying turned out
to be no picnic. In today’s reading we heard him being unceremoniously
dismissed, banished, sent on his way from the King’s sanctuary at Bethel.
In the gospel we came face-to-face with yet another
prophetic call – the call Jesus gave to the Twelve when he called them together
and sent them out two-by-two to preach and heal, and to stand down the power of
evil. The call of the Twelve, not unlike the call of Amos, was a daunting one.
They were to journey far and wide but they were to take nothing for the journey
- nothing but a walking stick and a pair of sandals – “no food, no sack, no
money in their belts.” In other words, they were to rely solely on God’s
Providence - not on their own resources or possessions. God was to be
their security, not satchels loaded with food and provisions, and not money in
their belts. But it didn’t stop there. They were not even to have the security
of a house to live in or a place to lay their head.
Now I ask you: Would you sign up for that? Well,
speaking for myself, I kind of like things to be predictable. And dependable.
And reasonably comfortable! I certainly believe in God’s Providence but I also
incline to the philosophy of ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ In my better
moments I want to “let go and let God,” but what I seem to want even more is for
God to let me be in charge.
Maybe some of you can relate to that. If so, it’s good
for us to get faced – confronted – with readings like today’s. If the readings
shake us up a bit and get us thinking, if they make us vaguely uncomfortable –
or even quite uncomfortable – with where we are in life or what we’re doing or
not doing, that’s probably good.
My friends, each of us at our baptism was given a call
– a call not unlike the one Amos received; not unlike the one the Twelve
received. We were called to be prophets and disciples. And that call comes
before anything else we do in life – whether we’re engineers or nurses, school
teachers or mechanics, lawyers, students, or techies, janitors or doctors,
homemakers or accountants. Before any of that comes our call to witness to our
faith. Sometimes we do it by what we say; more often we do it by what we
do and how we do what we do. But no matter what it is we do in life, our
baptismal call comes first. And sometimes that call will get us into
trouble – as it did the prophet Amos – and sometimes it will even mean letting
go of just about everything, as it did for the Twelve.
One of my heroes who lived out his baptismal call with
great fidelity was Blessed John Henry Newman, the great 19th century theologian
and writer. Cardinal Newman witnessed to his faith with every breath he drew
and, yes, suffered the trials that every prophet suffers. Here are some
memorable words of his:
“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He
has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my
mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next….
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. God has not
created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do God’s work; I shall be an
angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place…if I do but keep the
Commandments. Therefore, I will trust God. Whatever, wherever I am. If I am in
sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him;
if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. God does nothing in vain.”
It is true, my friends. God does nothing in vain –
beginning with the call he gave us at our baptism. Sober thoughts for a
mid-summer Sunday, but salutary thoughts, too. As we move to the altar to
celebrate the Eucharist may we gain new strength to live out our call.
Father Michael G. Ryan
