The gospel for Thursday of the 26th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Luke, 10th chapter, 1st through the 12th verse. Jesus appointed 72 other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. But he said to them, the harvest is abundant, but the labors are few. So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way. Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money, bag no sacks, no sandals, and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter. First say peace to this household. If a peaceable person lives there, your peace will rest on him. But if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it, and say to them, the kingdom of God is at hand for you. Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say the dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you. Yet know this, the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town. What’s interesting in this passage is the way Jesus gives advice to those that he is called to make his truth known to them.
And it’s so interesting because you’ll notice that there isn’t anything in these statements that imply that they have to convince someone that they have to be successful. No, they have to offer something, peace, healing. And if people are open to it, then you will be able to do that. If not just leave, but leave without a sense of failure, but simply knowing there are others you must reach. Closing prayer Whether or not people accept the message that we offer them. And the message is truly a message of their own dignity, their own worth, their value.
When we love them, as you teach us to love them, and they do not respond, it is just our time to move on. There are people ready to hear this message. There are people who long for it. And when this message reaches them, they will delight in it. So keep us moving in the direction of sharing this truth with all that we meet. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
