Evangelization
“Go, therefore, and make disciples….” Matthew 28:16
Tony: Do you pretend you’re not at home when a Jehovah’s Witness comes to your door with a religious tract in hand? Do you cross to the other side of street when you approach a sidewalk preacher yelling bible verses at passersby and suggesting they’re going straight to Hell? If you answered “yes” to either question, you need to know you’re responding negatively to efforts at evangelization – missionary outreach – examples of well intentioned people attempting to do what Jesus commands: “Go…and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
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Gloria: Today’s gospel reading is taken from the concluding five verses of Matthew. The resurrection has occurred, Jesus will soon return to his Father in heaven, and he commissions his disciples to bring others to the faith, to spread the Good News throughout the world, so that when he’s gone, his mission will continue. Christianity, you see, was always intended for active participation by faith-filled people, never for passive observation by people sitting on the sidelines.
A greeter in a rather large city church had the habit of wearing a carnation on his lapel every Sunday morning. He never gave it much thought until one day after church, a visiting boy about ten years old, asked if he could have it. The gentleman asked why he wanted it. The boy told him that when his parents divorced, he went to live with his mother. But, when she remarried, her new husband didn’t want him around so they sent him to live with his father. Soon after he moved in with him, his father said that he was too busy to raise him and so he sent him to his grandmother to live. He told the gentleman that his grandmother takes care of him now. She feeds him, buys him clothes, and helps him with his school work. The boy said that he wanted to give the flower to his grandmother as a thank you for loving him.
The gentleman, barely holding back tears, said, “Young man, you don’t want this carnation. For a reason that special, you need a bouquet. Go get that big bunch of flowers in front of the pulpit and give them to your grandmother.”
As the boy smiled and turned to get them, the gentleman heard him say, “What a great day! I asked for one flower and I got a whole bouquet!”
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Tony: Any doubt that the boy’s grandmother is a disciple, spreading the Good News, influencing her grandson positively, molding and shaping him into disciple, someone who will act lovingly toward others. In my 19 and a half years as a family court judge, I’ve encountered many such grandparents who step up to care for grandchildren when parents aren’t willing or aren’t able to do it themselves. Some of us are called to be missionaries, but we don’t all have to go to foreign mission fields to do what the Lord commands; we can do it right where we are – in our home, our neighborhood, our workplace, or wherever. We don’t have to preach on street corners or go door to door with religious tracts; we can simply live our lives faithfully. Isn’t that, after all, the most common and most effective form of evangelization? St. Francis of Assisi said it well when he’d give this advice to new members of his order: “Preach the gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words.”
How often do we brighten up the life of another with an act of kindness? More to the point, how often do we look for opportunities to do so? Each of us can make a tremendous difference in the life of another. A single act of kindness can actually save someone’s life. We don’t have to be rich or especially talented; we don’t have to be ordained or a member of a religious order. All we have to do is act lovingly. No matter our circumstances, no matter our age, we can all be powerful change agents for good. That’s what discipleship and evangelization is all about.
The world, after all, depends on disciples. Can you imagine a world where no one cared about anyone else? Would you want to live in such a world? Who, for example, would provide food and other aid when a disastrous hurricane like Katrina hits the Gulf Coast. How much more suffering would there be if people like us didn’t help when calamity strikes. Without compassion, the world would collapse into the worst sort of hell imaginable.
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Gloria: As a teacher who taught in the inner city of Rochester, I experienced first hand the heart retching needs of children and families whose lives are full of tragedies and unhappiness. One Thanksgiving I asked my second graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. When they were finished I got the usual drawings of turkeys and moms, but one picture in particular caught my attention. It was a picture of a hand. It was my practice, when I couldn’t quite make out what a drawing meant to ask the artist, “Tell me about your picture.” The little artist responded, “It’s your hand, Mrs. Sciolino, because you’re nice to me.”
Just like my young artist, you and I can always find something to be thankful for, and there is always someone in our life that we can help, no matter how insignificant our help may seem. A kind word, a sympathetic ear, a smile, a hug, a pat on the back can work wonders.
When the resurrected Jesus commissioned the disciples, he expected them and us to reach out to others and make a difference in their lives. Jesus didn’t say “Go and be happy.” He didn’t say, “Go and make money.” What he did say is, “Go and make disciples.” The word disciple means one who embraces and assists in the spreading of a teaching. Certainly we embrace the teaching of Jesus, but if we do, we’re supposed to teach it to others. How? By word and, most importantly, by example. And what’s his main teaching, his main commandment? “Love one another as I have loved you.”
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Tony: Where do we get the inspiration, the courage, and stamina to do as Jesus commands? How do we overcome our doubts or feelings of inadequacy? The answer is in the last verse of today’s gospel: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Jesus doesn’t abandon us at his ascension, he certainly doesn’t give us “a mission impossible,” no, to empower and guide us he gives us the Holy Spirit, first at Pentecost, celebrated Last Sunday, and then at our baptism.
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Gloria: At the end of each Mass we’re reminded of what Jesus commands us to do: “Go in Peace to love and serve the Lord.” How we do that is up to us, but do that we must. For a believer, it’s mandatory not optional.
Gloria and Tony Sciolino
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 30-40/165
Romans 8:14-17
Matthew 28:16-20
Trinity Sunday.
June 10, 2006. (Cycle B)