Bragging Rights: The Cross of Christ
Photo from Unsplash.Last Sunday, the church celebrated the Solemnity of Peter and Paul, Apostles. While tradition holds both to have found their fate as martyrs, Christians continue to see in them famous and steadfast models of the faith. This Sunday’s readings highlight another group of loyal followers, the anonymous seventy-two disciples who Jesus sent out on mission. Like Peter and Paul, their fate was not contingent on worldly measurements of success or failure, but on faithfulness to the will of God.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).
How do you relate to Paul’s talk of becoming a new creation?
What does God’s will look like for you at this point in your life?
When was the last time you boasted about being close to the cross of Christ?
In this Sunday’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah proclaims to the Israelites living in exile that they will find comfort and fulfillment when they come back to Jerusalem. “Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts!” (Is 66:11). The opposite was closer to the truth, however. When the Israelites did have the opportunity to return to Jerusalem, many chose to remain in Babylon. Their new homeland on the Euphrates River was more comfortable and prosperous than the dusty backwater that their ancestors’ lands had become. Isaiah urges them to imagine an alternative, “In Jerusalem you shall find your comfort” (Is 66:13). Isaiah understands the forces tempting them to remain in Mesopotamia, but he knows that Israel’s fate will always be tied to their holy city and their prosperity will be bound up in the will of God. To flourish truly, Israel had to return to the ruins of Jerusalem and rebuild.
A commitment to renewal appears in this Sunday’s second reading too. Paul claims that his only reason to boast was that Christ was making something new out of him through the power of the cross. “For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation” (Gal 6:15). All matters of law or righteousness are secondary to one important question: Does any situation or circumstance lead one closer to or farther from becoming a new creation in Christ? According to Paul, if one has any reason to boast of success, it would be to boast of one’s commitment to dying with Christ and rising again as a new creation.
In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus sends a large group of disciples on missions of their own. “At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit” (Lk 10:1). Jesus emphasizes the many failures that they will face, promising them hunger, poverty, conflict and rejection. In a previous chapter, Jesus calls the twelve apostles by name and sends them out on mission. In this episode, the seventy-two remain anonymous. By sending out such a large second group, Jesus indicates the way that the burden of evangelization ought to be borne by all.
When the seventy-two return to Jesus they boast that powers and spirits are subject to them. By contrast, they recount no stories of rejection. Gently but firmly correcting their perception of “success,” Jesus invites them to remember what is truly important. “Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Lk 10:20).
The latest from america
