I’d like you to imagine this scene. You are in grade school standing with a group of your friends on the school playground. Two people emerge as captains and begin picking their teams. You stand there, waiting for your name to be called and to be chosen. What are some of the emotions that are running through your mind? Is it excitement in anticipation of your name being called? Is it anxiety and the stress of waiting? Is it doubt that maybe you don’t feel like you’re worthy of being chosen? Or is it fear, thinking to yourself, “Please don’t let me be picked last.” Finally, you’re picked. What were you feeling? Was it relief that you landed on a team? Were you hesitant because you weren’t sure of what was to come? Or were you filled with exuberance, ready to jump in and get started? I remember one time in grade school, there was a boy named Billy who had absolutely no athletic skill at all, and neither captain wanted him on their team. Eventually he was the last kid standing. When he was finally chosen, he didn’t reluctantly mosey over to his team because he was last. He was filled with such joy and excitement that he began yelling at the top of his lungs, “Woo hoo! Yeah! Alright! Let’s do this!” The rest of us kind of looked at each other in complete shock because we had never seen anyone so excited to be chosen.
In all three of our readings today, we experience what it really means to be chosen by Jesus; chosen to become his disciples and to follow our call to love and serve the Lord. This is not always easy to do and often comes with series of challenges or difficulties along our journey of life – including a host of wild emotions.
Perhaps there’s a feeling of doubt in following the Lord, that we are not worthy of the call. Both Amos from the first reading and the disciples in the gospel felt this same way. Amos was a shepherd and an orchard keeper, not a prophet. The disciples were just ordinary men doing ordinary jobs to survive in life. Then they are asked to follow and serve the Lord by spreading the good news – and we are called to do the same. Yet often we feel that we are not qualified to be a disciple of Jesus. We’re afraid that we are not fully equipped to face any potential challenges that may accompany this calling. We might feel anxious because we think that we need to possess some extensive religious credentials before we are prepared to carry out our mission. Maybe we think that we need to fully understand the Bible, or have a degree in Theology, or even be an ordained minister. But these are just excuses, and it often prevents us from going out and sharing the good news with others. We shouldn’t have to worry about acquiring more “stuff” to aid us in our mission. All we need to do is put our trust in the One who has called us, and God will provide us with everything we need to complete the work he has given us to do.
When we go on a trip, we carry bags with us with the things we need while we are gone. But Jesus tells us that we don’t need to pack any bags for our mission. Why? Because we often take things that we don’t need, and these things will only become a burden along the way. We think that we need to take all kinds of stuff with us. And then we see people with other stuff that we don’t have, and we think that we need that stuff as well. We have all this stuff, but we want more stuff. And that’s exactly the struggle that Jesus is talking about. We always want more stuff. But the more we have, the more we have to carry. The more we have to carry, the more we have to worry about how we’re going to carry it. The extra baggage is not needed. It’s not about how much we have, but what we do with what we have.
Just like Amos and the disciples, the only ‘thing’ we really need is to discern the will of God in our lives and faithfully respond to it. As St. Paul said, it’s accepting the fact that a loving God chose us and brought us into existence so that we might be God’s beloved possession and praise his glory by serving him by serving others.
This means that not only are we chosen, but we are also being sent – to spread the kingdom to a world that is not always willing to accept the good news of Jesus. We see this daily: our world is filled with so much anger, hate, mistrust, and violence. But that is exactly what we have been chosen to do; to be a light in the darkness for others – to preach, teach, and heal – just like Jesus did. To preach through our actions so others can witness how we are to love and serve one another. To teach by being the voice of Jesus in a world that cannot hear that voice any longer because greed and fear has drowned it out. And to heal by forgiving others as we have been forgiven by Christ.
Being chosen is all about living and sharing the good news of Jesus! Will we be rejected at times? Most certainly. Will we fail every now and then? You can count on it. So how do we carry on? I believe that we need to fall back on three things that already exist in our missionary survival kit:
- The Word. When we rely on the power of Jesus’ words, we are forever strengthened and changed. God’s word is life, so let it come alive in us so we can carry it to others.
- Trust. God is always with us – in front of us, next to us, and within us. Knowing this will provide us comfort and peace throughout our day.
- Faith. We need to firmly believe that each of us has been chosen and is worthy of the call. God continues to give us exactly what we need to complete our mission. We need to not only believe that, but act on it.
Each one of us is called to be disciples and to lead others to a life with God. Therefore, we must cast away our doubts, fears, hesitations, and feelings of unworthiness and fully accept the fact that God wants us on his team.
My sisters and brothers, you have been chosen by Jesus. You have a mission. You are being sent. You are equipped for the journey. May you always respond with pure joy and excitement.
“Woo hoo! Yeah! Alright! Let’s do this!”
