15th Sunday of the Year

Things that weigh us down

In this season of travelling and planning foreign trips – packing even for a journey of a weekend can be tricky. Who does the packing at home? Packing liquids and toiletries and saving money rather than paying out for baggage and hidden extras.

We all have stories to relate regarding packing for a journey. We might remember that there were things that are vital, and that we have forgotten. Things too we might have brought and wish we hadn’t, and the things that we always need.

What is today’s Gospel about for us? three simple words: ‘God will provide’.

What does that mean now today for us? Even the smallest hand-held luggage becomes cumbersome and dead weight if you are held up, transferred, unduly delayed for a long period - or any such inconvenience in your travel - at airports as at this time of year.

You may even wonder: why did I pack that? – I never wore it/used it/needed it. It became a nuisance, even a hindrance or of no use whatsoever. Did you ever return home with something that you had packed and never even used? It was deadweight. Jesus teaches us the same with material possessions on life’s missionary journey – material possessions and concerns and worries and anxieties which after all we cannot bring with us in any case.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND FREEDOM FROM WORRY HELPS US SEE THAT OUR JOURNEY IS NOT SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT WE CAN TAKE WITH US ALONG THE WAY, BUT WHO WE ENCOUNTER, WHAT WE HAVE TO SHARE WITH THEM and they with us AND WHO IT IS HAS SENT US IN THE FIRST PLACE. By focusing on what is in our carry-on luggage we are not only burdened but distracted, and hence not free. Our concerns weigh us down, concerns that are not as pressing as what God wants us to focus our attention in the first place.

Time spent distracted and consumed with earthly concerns alone means that we are doing the Lord a disservice BECAUSE time THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER UTILISED in proclaiming the Gospel is now lost forever. We are ‘distracted’ and are caught up in worldly cares and concerns of our own, and hence sucked dry of resolve and our true purpose - simply to know love and serve God and to make Him further known, loved and served; to preach to others and to provide evidence in our behaviour that ‘there is a difference that Jesus makes’.

The urgency of the message is stressed and effectively preached because the Lord Himself provides all the necessary but secondary requirements of the disciples. In fact it is a challenge to the rest of us who are not at the coal-face to consider how we can be the providers for the Gospel-carriers (MISSIONARIES) to carry out their mission effectively and lighten their work-load through prayer and financial support, to provide for all the things that the disciples themselves are to deprive themselves of. Our prayers and sacrifices are necessary and ‘duly noted’ by the Father of all – who will never leave us short-changed because we have been generous.

To what extent therefore am I aware or conscious of my responsibility to build up God’s Kingdom – even with the basic raw materials?

– are similarly called to be disposed to the spreading of the Kingdom.

We are all part of the plan.  Detachment is therefore a Gospel necessity and a virtue so that my possessions are just that and that they do not possess me instead.

My voluntary deprivation of some material things means that others who have no choice in the matter in this materially inequitable/unequal can be provided for from my and our surplus.

We can teach others thereby the importance of trust in His Providence and that makes our mission our message and its content all the more credible and therefore make others receptive - they are convinced because we have conviction and integrity of purpose.

All this stems from the renewed sense of urgency we feel and the efficacy of a greater propagation of the Gospel message in the shortest possible time allocated before the coming of the Lord Himself in person ‘to judge the living and the dead’.

We are not called, therefore, to be ‘baggage handlers’ concerned with weight restrictions and dimensions and what is allowable or not. We are to jettison all excess baggage – it comes now with a price tag after all (!) – we are better off without it –and we more readily trim down to what we will definitely need for the journey. The Lord will provide. Let our concerns for others be aligned to His CONCERN – and our trust in His will. All else will follow in due course. It is a matter of first things first.

THERE IS A GREAT SENSE OF FREEDOM AND RELEASE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT WE HAVE DE-CLUTTERED OURSELVES THIS WEEK, DECLUTTER –

THE REAL PURPOSE OF THIS EMPHASIS ON BEING THUS ’LIGHT-WEIGHT’ IS THAT THE DISCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM ARE TO BE FREE OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER WORLDLY MATERIAL BURDENS AND CONSIDERATIONS IN ORDER TO RELIEVE OTHERS OF THEIR CRIPPLING SPIRITUAL BURDENS – ESPECIALLY IN THEIR CALL TO RELIEVE PEOPLE OF THE FOLLOWING

TO WHAT AM I BEING CALLED TODAY?

• GREATER TRUST IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

• GREATER GENEROSITY TO THOSE IN NEED

• RELIEF OF SIN THROUGH REPENTANCE

• RELIEF OF CLUTTER IN MY LIFE - AND THEREFORE SIMPLICITY OF LIFE

• GOD WISHES TO RELIEVE ME OF MY BURDENS AND TO TAKE PART IN THE GOSPEL MISSION OF RELIEVING OTHERS OF THEIRS

• GENEROSITY AND KINDNESS TO THE STRANGER IN MY MIDST