Salvation Is Free, But Discipleship Costs

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐈𝐬𝐚 𝟔𝟔:𝟏𝟎-𝟏𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟔𝟔:𝟏-𝟕, 𝟏𝟔, 𝟐𝟎 “𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐨𝐲.”

𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐆𝐚𝐥 𝟔:𝟏𝟒-𝟏𝟖

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟎:𝟏-𝟏𝟐, 𝟏𝟕-𝟐𝟎 𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟎:𝟏-𝟗

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, ‘𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖.’ (𝒗.9) 

This Gospel today speaks of what our roles are in relation to our journey towards the kingdom of God. It tells us of the right attitude that we should have when we are sent to go and be an evangel to others.

         In our lives we have been winnowed to become Sharers for the Marriage Encounter Weekend and the Life in the Spirit Seminars and, when we facilitate teachings in parishes and charismatic communities, my late spouse Malou and me have practically experienced both extremes from first-class accommodations to places that have limited or no facilities at all.

But as emissaries of Christ, we must be the epitome of what humility is as workers in the vineyard of the Lord should not complain or grumble. For Malou and me, we have “𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒎𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔” (𝑷𝒉𝒊 4:11).        

And as we enter into the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, we are once again being reminded by Jesus in today’s Gospel narrative that the harvest is great, but the workers are few. Jesus frequently uses the harvest scenario to remind us of the coming of the kingdom of God.

         As with the 72 disciples whom Jesus is sending out into the field that we read in 𝑳𝒌 10:1-12. 17-20, we are reminded of the agricultural process that leads to the harvest. This process includes tilling the soil, sowing, planting, weeding, watering, nurturing and reaping and this is the kind of patience we all must have when we go to evangelize others.

         This process is the same with the mission that Jesus had entrusted to his disciples and which he is entrusting to us now. And in this Gospel Jesus is showing us from where our mission is to begin. It should begin with prayer: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒘. 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒔” (𝒗.2).        

Christians are, in truth and in fact, representatives of Christ just like an ambassador of one country to another. “𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔.” (2 𝑪𝒐𝒓 5:20) As such, we in today’s post-modern world are sent with his message of reconciliation to the world. As emissaries sent to help reconcile man with God, we have  an important responsibility, and we should not take our roles lightly and at some point in time we will have to ask ourselves how we are fulfilling this commission from Christ?

         We should remember that the 72 disciples whom Jesus sent in pairs are not better educated than the people they will be trying to draw. They also are not better situated as do the people to whom they will bring the message of salvation. What they had was the training and equipping they received from Jesus Himself. In other words, all that they had to stand on was the empowerment that Jesus gave to them and the vision they had to bring people to the kingdom of God.

         This is the same with us who are now being sent to be the good news to others. And to be one, we are to remind ourselves that we are to travel light and we are not to greet anyone on the road (𝒗.4) which means we are not to be distracted from our focus on the mission that lie ahead.

         We also need to be aware that there are wolves (𝒗.3) or those who will oppose our mission, but we are not to meet this with aggression but with love and gentleness. This is also what we need to do when we face opposition or find ourselves in the middle of disputes and disagreements in the church, parish or community to which we belong. As Jesus became the sacrificial lamb for the atonement of our sins, so we too need to humble ourselves and sacrifice for the love of God.

         This poverty of the spirit that manifests when we humble ourselves in the pursuit of our mission for Christ will take our minds off our preoccupations with material possessions and will make us depend more on what God will provide.

         To bring to others and stand witness to the Word of God is a tremendous privilege. Still, greater responsibility rests on those who will hear the Word of God because they will ultimately be judged according to the measure of their actions in relation to what they heard.

         “𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎; 𝒊𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗𝒗.5-6). This is a warning from Jesus which means that it would be a terrible thing to reject the invitation of God that comes when the Word of God is spoken.

         But there will also come a time when “𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓; 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” (𝑰𝒔𝒂 11:6) This is a prophesy of Isaiah which was an image of the second coming of Christ when all the people will rise as one to worship God.

         As with the Lord’s disciples in this Gospel, God has chosen us to be Christ’s representatives on earth. In light of this truth, Paul challenges us to “𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕; 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.” (𝑮𝒂𝒍 6:14) and as such we are to live a life worthy of the calling we have received – the awesome privilege of being called Christ’s very own representative. This includes being humble, gentle, patient, understanding and peaceful. People will be watching our lives. So, the question is can they see Christ in us? How well are we doing as his representative?

         And we whom Christ have called to minister to the world around us need to do what we are told to do, and this Gospel reminds us to go without counting the cost. We can all begin by asking ourselves – have we witnessed to our own passion, death and resurrection in Christ to those around us?

         Because at the end of the day, the world will look not just at us but whether Christ is indeed present in us. That’s the bottom-line my friends. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 6, 2025)