15th- sunday ( two by two)

15th Sunday-B

Good morning/evening every one. I am so happy to see you all and our special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today. Dear friends, every time we come to church we celebrate our discipleship- our way of life in Christ. We celebrate the Good News of Christ our Lord in our life and every time we come to church, we prepare ourselves to go out and proclaim the love and forgiveness of Christ to all.

Once a preacher who preached against drinking alcohol and said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I would take it and throw it in the river”. If I had all the wine in the world, I would take it and throw it in the river and if I had all the whiskey in the world, I would take it and throw it in the river’. When he finished saying this, the choir lady with a big smile announced, “ For our closing hymn, let us sing, “shall we all gather at the river”.
The preacher was not happy with the choir lady and the next Sunday he preached on forgiveness. After preaching thirty minutes, he asked the people how many are going to forgive others and about fifty percent of them raised their hands and again he explained the importance of forgiveness for ten more minutes and this time all of them raised their hands except the choir lady. So the preacher looked at her and said, “ do you not like to forgive your enemies” she said, ‘ I don’t have any enemy” The preacher invited her to the front and pointing her said to the congregation, “look at her. She is ninety-two years old and she does not have any enemy. Then he asked her, “ please tell us what is the secret of not having any enemy’ she looked at the preacher and said, ‘I outlived all those stupid idiots”.


In today’s gospel our Lord Jesus Christ calls the twelve disciples whom He chose in a special way and called them all with new names and He kept them for three years with Him and thus they were with the Master and learned the importance of the kingdom of God. When Jesus healed the sick or gave sight to the blind or even raised the dead to life, they personally witnessed the miracles and wonders. They all become His disciples by proving their fidelity to their Master but still He sends them two by two to proclaim the kingdom of God because they could support each other in faith. Between the two, usually one will be weak and the other strong. The weak is sent to support the strong. Because Satan is more interested in the strong rather in the weak. He will tempt the strong and make him weak. When the strong becomes weak the destruction will be huge and immense. For example, Sin and death entered into the world when Eve was alone. She was tempted to go against the will of God. So if you are strong in faith, then you will be the one who will be tested and tempted.
And also as Jesus our Lord promises in the gospel, when two or more in His name, there He will be with them, giving them courage and strength. For example, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, though they were sad and confused, they discussed to each other about Christ and Christ joined them and gave them new life. Though they went two by two, it is not they who did the preaching and healing but Christ. Yes, through them Christ performed miracles and wonders.
Dear friends, when we preach the good news and heal people in His name, it is not we who do but Christ who lives in us does everything. So all the praise, honor and glory goes only to Him.
As Jesus sent them two by two, He gave them power and authority to do their mission. The power and authority were given to them to humble themselves in the presence of Christ and others. Though Christ had divine power and authority in His humanity, He was obedient to His Father. He respected and learned from His parents. Power and authority mean responsibility and they help a person to humble himself before God and others.
And in today’s gospel, Christ asked His disciples to go empty-handed to preach the Good News namely they carried everything in their hearts. When the heart is full, a person will never go after material things because they will come to him. Yes, they will be blessed with everything.
Christ told them about welcoming and rejection too. He said if anyone welcomes you, stay there and preach the Good news. If they reject you, even shake off the dust that is on your feet that means do not hold grudge or anger against people who did not welcome you. Be happy with everyone.
Conclusion:

Dear friends, as they apostles went, in the name of Christ, they preached the Good news and did miracles and wonders. And today we are asked to continue His divine miracles and wonders by going out two by two namely finding peace at home first; it is important to be nice to our own family members and friends and then our hearts will be filled with divine love and kindness to go out to preach the Good News to all. Amen.