The gospel reading for next Sunday, the 13th in Ordinary Time in Year A, contains an extraordinary statement about the importance of Jesus’ disciples, both the original twelve and the rest of us who have been recruited and trained to follow in their footsteps down to this day and beyond. Did I say importance? Maybe that should be unimportance, certainly not self-importance. It is a paradox really: on the one hand, anyone who welcomes us and receives our ministry is welcoming and receiving Jesus, and thereby welcoming and receiving God. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter what they think of us for this to happen, as long as the reception is positive rather than negative. They can put us in any pigeon-holes they find congenial, and the lower the status they accord to us the better. After all, in Jesus’ eyes we are all just his “little ones”, nobodies. Not a scheme to massage our egos, that’s for sure, but it may just be a very effective way of spreading the gospel, provided we are prepared to go along with it. Now that could be a bit of a challenge….
You can listen to my comments on the text here…
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Howard Pilgrim