Eleventh Sunday Ordinary

Eleventh Sunday Ordinary
June 12, 2005

"Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people... ." (Exodus 19:2-6). "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." (Matthew 9:36-10:8)

The Most High speaks to his people through Moses, claiming them as his own even though "all the earth is mine". Jesus calls his apostles and gives them a short definition of the kingdom of heaven which they are to proclaim to all.

I'm not sure how these passages strike you, but I get a wonderfully warm and secure feeling when I read them. Precisely the way I feel when family and friends are around to look after me. Being a part of God's dear ones, special and important, without any cost on my part. An ALS research scientist and friend of mine said recently that he was convinced that my longer than expected survival, and flourishing life is due to all the love and care around me. No doubt in my mind about that. I have noted recently how "family and friends" are no longer very distinct. Friends have become family, family have become friends. I wonder if this is not exactly what the Most High and Jesus have in mind. We are the instruments of the kingdom of heaven here and now. We are the family of God, our fate and well-being linked intimately together.

Making the necessary shifts into a 21st-century mentality, don't we have our own ways of curing the sick, driving out demons and raising the dead? Divine intervention occurs many different ways. My niece Molly was at death's door due to a stroke at the tender age of 22 barely a month ago. Thanks to rapid and competent medical treatment she is now graduating from college this week and has already given a talk to the local stroke support group. It is possible, though less likely, that this would have happened without all the medical expertise available to her. None of us escapes the physical, emotional and spiritual trials of life, or death itself. Life and health have a considerably wider definition than what immediately meets the eye. The real point is that we do not have to wait for divine intervention even if we do still have to live with the realities of life and death on our little planet. The kingdom of heaven is close at hand in the lives of Molly and her family.

Without cost we have received, without cost we give back. Jesus referred to this as a "pearl of great price". We often say to each other, barely thinking about what we say, got the best things in life are free. The more we let go of our anxieties about of what we must have to survive, the more lavishly are we rewarded in the kingdom of heaven.