JEREMIAH 20:10-13 | ROMANS 5:12-15 | MATTHEW 10:26-33

In this brief passage, Jesus speaks a simple message to everyone who believes in him. “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed.” In other words, the truth he speaks cannot be stifled. In spite of every imaginable opposition, the truth will come to the light, and it will find a place in every heart that accepts it.

Jesus is also alerting us, his disciples, to the challenge we’ll have in proclaiming this message. It will prove to be a dangerous and difficult battle. So, three times he cautions us not to be afraid to speak the truth.

That phrase, do not be afraid, is repeated 365 times in the bible. I guess God wants us to hear it and take it to heart. When the Gospels were written Christians were under persecution. They had plenty to fear. But in spite of the danger they shared the Good News Jesus announced, “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” He’s calling each of us, in our own unique way, to share the Good News – to preach the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Don’t be put off with the idea of preaching Jesus’ message. You don’t have to be preachy to preach; but you do have to believe that the Kingdom of God is within reach – you have to open your heart to it.

In the only prayer Jesus bequeathed to us, he defined the Kingdom of God; it’s life in perfect harmony with God’s will. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The Kingdom of God will manifest itself to the world through the hearts of disciples like you and me. When we, one step at a time, hand over our will to God, the Kingdom of God takes a step into our world.

Handing over our will isn’t easy to do. So, he encourages us, over and over again, “do not be afraid.” Let’s go. Freefall into God’s hands and begin sharing the message. The Kingdom of God is at hand.

DEUTERONOMY 8:2-3, 14B-16A | JOHN 4:7-16 | MATTHEW 11:25-30

The gospel begins with a beautiful image: Jesus looking over the crowds that are following after him. He had delivered his sermon on the mount a while ago and had been curing the sick as he traveled from town to town preaching in the synagogues. His heart is filled with pity for them. They’re troubled. He has awakened feelings they’ve buried long ago, feelings of poverty, and emptiness. They’re orphaned, motherless, fatherless, abandoned. They’re lost souls. They’re sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus turns his gaze to the disciples around him and announces, “The harvest is abundant.” Then he begins to pick his first laborers, twelve of them: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Simon, Judas. But what a group!

One will deny that he ever knew Jesus. Another will betray him by handing him over to the Jewish authorities. One will deny that Jesus rose from the dead. One, the tax collector, was a traitor to the Jewish nation. One was an assassin! This is the first set of laborers. Others will follow, but this is the first group, the model group. How did they accept the call to labor in the vineyard of the Lord?

This group of misfits preached throughout the Roman empire and beyond. They established many Christian communities in Italy,

Syria, Greece, Lebanon, Turkey, Armenia and even India. Peter and James wrote letters to their communities instructing them in the Christian way of life. They trained and assigned leaders to the communities to nurture them and to see to the continued spread of the gospel message. This group changed the world.

We’re the recipients of their labor. This account of the first disciples was given to us today so that we could hear the same call they heard. “But I’m not good enough,” you might say. “I’m not learned enough,” you might protest! “I’m not holy enough.”

Well, you’re not! And neither were they. But they said, “yes.” Look at the power of that word, nothing has been the same since they uttered it.

Jesus’ words are directed to us today: “Without cost you have received. Without cost you are to give.” He’s listening. Are you brave enough to say yes?

PRAYER

A third time the Lord called.

“Samuel. Samuel.”

Samuel answered:

“Speak Lord. Your servant is listening.”

(1 Samuel 3:10)

DEUTERONOMY 8:2-3, 14B-16A | 1 CORINTHIANS 10:16-17 | JOHN 6:51-58

“As regards the Eucharist, give thanks in this manner. First for the cup. We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David, your servant, which you have made known to us through Jesus, your servant. Glory be to you forever. And for the broken bread. We thank you, our Father, for the life and knowledge which you have made known to us through Jesus, your servant. Glory be to you forever. As this bread that is broken was scattered upon the mountains, and gathered together, and became one, so let your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom: for yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.”

This quote is from a first-second century document, “The Didache.” It’s a handbook written by an anonymous Christian Community before the composition of the four gospels but after Paul wrote his letters to the Christian communities. It gives instructions for living the Christian life and directions for baptizing and celebrating the Eucharist. This passage I’ve quoted gives the words of blessing for the bread and wine. It’s certainly different from the ritual we celebrate today. It consists of three prayers of thanksgiving: thanks for the cup, thanks for the broken bread, and finally a prayer of thanks for all who share the bread.

The prayer recognizes Jesus as the holy vine of David, the messianic king, inaugurating the kingdom through the life and knowledge he brought from the Father. The bread, broken and shared, celebrates the community’s participation in Christ’s life of selfgiving.

The early vision of the eucharistic gathering that the passage from the Didache provides, can, I believe, help enrich our present experience of the Sunday gathering. It stresses the unity of those gathered. As the blessing reminds us, wheat was gathered and made into one loaf. So, we pray that the community will unite so profoundly that it will become the one body of Christ. The breaking and sharing of the bread symbolizes Christ’s breaking and sharing of himself and invites our participation in his unconditional love.

We may forget, sometimes, that the Eucharist speaks prophetically. When we pray that we become one body – the body of Christ – we should be aware that we are being challenged to live the unity that we celebrate. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian he admonished the community for dividing into factions. He asked them, “Can Christ be divided?”

It’s more important than ever for Christians to heed the prophetic call for unity. The world we live in is suffering so profoundly because of its disharmony and disunity. The Eucharist we celebrate compels all true followers of Christ to plant the seeds of unity in a disunited world by the way they live and interact. This is no easy task. That’s why Jesus warned us, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

As we celebrate the Feast of the Body of Christ today, let’s lift up the Didache’s prayer consecrating the bread and the community. Let’s commit to Christ’s call break and share the bread of unity. “As this bread that is broken was scattered upon the mountains, and gathered together, and became one, so let your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom.”

EXODUS 34:4B-6, 8-9-11 | CORINTHIANS 13:11-13 | JOHN 3:16-18

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

This is our gospel message today. Can there be any message that carries more hope and consolation? When we contemplate the accounts of what Jesus said and did, these words stand out as a summary of his teachings and actions – love – love with no limits love unconditionally poured out.

Think of some of the things Jesus did. He told the religious leaders to throw the first stone if they themselves hadn’t sinned when they dragged an adulterous woman before him quoting the law that she should be stoned. He healed a leper by touching him, an act of horror and disgust to the people of his day. He entered into communion with traitors and sinners, like the tax collectors, Matthew and Zacchaeus, by eating with them. He offered “living water” to the Samaritan woman who was rejected by society because of her numerous marriages. He assured the revolutionary who was crucified with him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He looked down from the cross at the crowd condemning him and prayed, “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” Can anyone deny God’s love for us when we look at Jesus’ actions?

Did Jesus get angry at people? Yes. He was angry with the religious leadership who were rigid and judgmental. Did he get frustrated by people who refused to hear his message of love and forgiveness? Of course! But as today’s gospel passage goes on, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

Never forget his teaching, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He was calling us to act like him, to think like him, to be like him. Paul testified to this call when he wrote to the Galatians: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” As followers of Jesus we have to be so careful not to fall into pre-Jesus ways of thinking: accusatory, intolerant, judgmental. We’re called to open our hearts to divine love to be healed by that love, just as the leper was healed by the touch of Jesus’ hand. We’re not called to self-righteous condemnation of others. We’re called to preach hope, consolation and God’s unconditional and unending love.

Let’s conclude this reflection by reminding ourselves of what Paul wrote to the Romans. “In all things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”