Carmelite homily for Wednesday (Week 14), July 8, 2020 – Lectionary 385 (Matthew 10:1-7)
everyone here is ‘people’ – you know, with politics going on, and turf going on, and judgmental and maybe gossiping going on. It can get sometimes pretty negative and they’re surprised. In today’s Gospel we have Jesus calling the Twelve. And when you look at these Twelve, you have
- Peter – Peter, remembered, doubted when Jesus told him to walk on water and he sank; and then he denied him three times when Jesus was arrested.
- Andrew – Peter complains about Andrew, ‘when my brother wrongs me how many times do I have to forgive him?’
- James and John – who send their mother because they’re ambitious to get the premier spots on Jesus’ left and Jesus’ right.
- Thomas – who doubted.
- Matthew – who is a Roman collaborator because he is a tax collector.
- Simon the Cananite, who is a Zealot and Zealots took a vow to kill Roman sympathizers. How are Matthew and he going to get along?
It’s a hodgepodge of problems. That’s what people are, but that’s where salvation is. I think that’s the gift and the warning and the instruction of today’s Gospel. Yes, we’re all working towards sanctity, but we start off as people.
