"Totus Tuus" to Christ! - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A): Concluding the Two Consecutive Sundays on Mission: Selflessness for Christ-Centeredness as a Key

Being Christian means being apostolic, as professed in the Nicene Creed. It also means to be able to carry our own respective crosses or to generously support those who carry their crosses on mission. Whether to be on mission or supporting mission, we need to let our self-centered life die and live a new Christ-centered life - so that we have no reason to hold back to ourselves out of fear of losing, whether losing life or possession. We must be "Totus Tuus"  to Christ!

                                                                   *****

For the 12^th Sunday and the 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time on Cycle A, two Sundays in row, we are reading from Matthew 10, which is about Jesus giving detailed instruction to his twelve disciples on doing missionary works. For the 12^th Sunday, we read vv.26-33, and vv. 37-42.

We reflect on dealing with fear and anxiety regarding being sent out on mission with vv. 26-33 on the 12^th Sunday, as Jesus boldly reminded the twelve of danger on being on mission for persecution with this hyperbolic statement:

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves “ (Matthew 10:16).   Danger that a missionary may face is like the danger of a sheep surrounded by wolves.  To this, Jesus reminded them that God is in control of the situation and therefore let God take care of the dangerous situation. So, he said:

“When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19-20).

It means that we are not to fight or struggle with wolves, when surrounded.  Instead, we surrender ourselves not to the wolves but to God – God’s providence.  This does not necessarily mean that your life is spared from persecutors (the wolves), as the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were miraculously spared even amidst of the fire of King Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace (Daniel 3:1-30).  Rather, you may end up becoming a martyr, like Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 7) and a woman and her seven sons (2 Maccabees 7).

Is being killed by persecutors, as the mother, Chanah, and her seven sons is like a poor vulnerable sheep devoured by a bunch of wolves? Not so, according to 4 Maccabees 8-18.  In the below words, you can see why martyrdom is not giving in to the power of evil persecutors (though it may seem to those who do not understand what Jesus said in Matthew 10:19-20),  reflecting the significance of the martyrdom of the mother and her seven sons.

O mother, who with your seven sons nullified the violence of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs, and showed the courage of your faith! Nobly set like a roof on the pillars of your sons, you held firm and unswerving against the earthquake of the tortures. Take courage, therefore, O holy-minded mother, maintaining firm an enduring hope in God. The moon in heaven, with the stars, does not stand so august as you, who, after lighting the way of your star-like seven sons to piety, stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them.  For your children were true descendants of father Abraham  (4 Maccabees 17:2-6).

O Israelite children, offspring of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and exercise piety in every way, knowing that devout reason is master of all emotions, not only of sufferings from within, but also of those from without. Therefore those who gave over their bodies in suffering for the sake of religion were not only admired by mortals, but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance. Because of them the nation gained peace, and by reviving observance of the law in the homeland they ravaged the enemy (4 Maccabees 18:1-4).

Think of the words spoken by Stephen and the mother (Chanah) and her seven sons to their persecutors. These words out of the mouths of the martyrs are spoken by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father (Matthew 10:20).

Not to mention, it was Jesus, the Lord, himself submitted himself to his persecutors, like a lamb to a slaughter. No, he did not struggle with his persecutors.

Executioners and another crucified criminal mocked him why he cannot save himself (Luke 23:37, 39), thinking, “What a wussy king he is – the king of Israel, who thinks himself as the messiah but look at him! He is such a helpless man, who cannot save even himself! How can he be the messiah, then! ”. But, as what the martyrdom of the mother and her seven son contributed the Maccabean victory of Israel over the evil hands of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (2 Maccabees 8-9), the death of Jesus on the Cross has led to the victory of life over death through his Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-28, 54-55; 2 Timothy 1:10), fulfilling Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14). Namely, surrendering ourselves to the providence of God when surrounded by evil persecutors, though it may look like surrendering powerlessly to slaughtering hands of evil persecutors, is to let something good happen according to the will of God. Therefore, we need to let the locus of control go off ourselves to God. Otherwise, how can we face a bunch of wolves as a sheep sent into?

It is not us but God. As long as we put our own egos at the center of our lives, we may never become apostles – to be sent out throughout the world to do the missionary works of the one who sends. It can be too fearful of a prospect of persecution. In other words, to be sent on our mission as apostles, our faith must be mature and strong enough to die for the Lord, who sends us. As our fear and anxiety make up a major obstacle to our mission, Jesus told the disciples not to be afraid three times in the 12^th Sunday Gospel Reading (v. 26, v.28, and v.31, in Mathew 10:26-33). Not to be afraid of demons because the Gospel truth is revealed to fight them (v.26), not to be afraid of persecutors, who may destroy our bodies (v. 28) because of God’s providence (vv. 29-30), and therefore not to be afraid of not having enough to be on mission, either (v. 31).

For the 13^th Sunday Gospel Reading (Mathew 10:37-42), there are two themes in regard to mission. One is to reflect the theme of dealing with fear and anxiety carried over from the 12^th Sunday Gospel Reading (Matthew 10:16-33)(vv. 37-39, and the other is the importance of support for missionary works (vv. 40-42).  While the Second Reading (Romans 6:3-4, 8-11) corresponds to the first part of the Gospel Reading (vv.37-39 of Matthew 10:37-42), the First Reading (2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a) is reflected in the second part of the Gospel Reading (vv. 40-42 of Matthew 10:37-42).  

For those who are sent must overcome fear and anxiety by replacing our own egos with Christ at the center of our lives (Matthew 10:37; cf. Romans 6:3-4, 8-11) so that we can carry our own respective crosses (Matthew 10:38). And those who overcome fear and anxiety on mission by living a Christ-centered life, first dying to old sinful self, letting self-centered old self die, and therefore are able to carry their own crosses all the way to completion of their missions will enjoy their due rewards from the Lord (Matthew 10:39).

For those who are not sent on mission now can also participate in active missions through your support, including hospitality,  are also entitled to their rewards because receiving those who are on mission also means receiving the one who has sent them (Matthew 10:40-42), reflecting how the extensive hospitality and kindness to Elisha by the Shunammite woman in the First Reading  (2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a) rewarded her with a son (2 Kings 4:16-18a) and even having him raised from the dead by Elisha (2 Kings 4:18b-37).  God sure rewarded the Shunammite woman for her support for Elisha, who was sent by God. 

So, in the 13^th Sunday Gospel Reading, Jesus tells that not only those who complete their missionary works by carrying their respective crosses receive their due rewards but also those who support missionaries (apostles) sent by him also have their fair share of wards.

Whether you are called to be sent or not yet, you are certainly called to take part in Christian mission, as missionary workers to be sent or generous supporters for missionary workers.

Either way, we must overcome our own self-centered tendency and live a Christ-centered life, as Paul has said in the Second Reading (Romans 6:3-4, 8-11; cf. Galatians 2:19-20). Otherwise, we cannot give our lives for Christ by carrying our crosses – or we cannot give our generous supports to Christ by giving generously to missionary workers sent by him. 

Participate in a mission is about giving. Whether it is your life and what you have, you cannot give willingly if you have not died to yourself and renew your life with the risen Christ living in you to center your life on.  Otherwise, you will be too anxious to give up your life for Christ or too worried not to have enough for yourself if giving for missionaries. Then, you sure will forfeit your reward from God.

Not everyone may give as martyrs. But, any of us may be called to give our lives for the sake of God. As Tertullian has famously said in his Apologeticus, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”. We as the Church thrive on the blood of the martyrs, upon the blood shed by Christ on the Cross. And, any of us can be next.

In this word, there are those who support God’s missionary workers, while there are those who persecute God’s missionary workers. But, persecutions will never stop the missionary workers from completing their missions because they are mature in faith and sent by the Lord, filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

So, what is your mission now?  Have you overcome obstacles on your mission, your own ego, weather to be sent on mission or to receive missionary workers?

Remember, how much God cares for us if He cares so much even for sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31)! God provides, even you may have to lose your life. And, He sure provides rewards for all of us, who contribute to the mission of God to build the Kingdom through salvation of all souls, for which the Church is being apostolic.