I Belong to God’s Nation! 11th Sunday, Year A
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon and Christian Act In The Word
Theme: I belong to God’s Nation! Fashioning God’s Nation!
Point of Reflection: What are the signs in my life which show that I belong to the nation of God? Is my life characterised by “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit?” How are they expressed? Today’s Scriptural readings emphasise God’s own decision and initiative to form the people who would be his own. Divine grace working through Jesus brought God’s nation, Christianity, into existence. These are the people who, with the Psalmist, sing, “know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people”.
First Reading: Exodus 19:2–6
Psalm: Psalm 100:1–3, 5
Second Reading: Romans 5:6–11
Gospel: Matthew 9:36–10:8
Sermon (Reflection): Scriptural readings for this Sunday concentrate on the theme of the emergence of a new people, a new community which God fashioned as his own nation.
The first reading discusses an initial stage of the making of the Sinai Covenant, which was a crucial step in Israel’s history. Before this covenant, the Israelites were just a group of slaves fleeing from Egypt and the genocide they faced there. They were not a nation but an ethnic group, “the house of Jacob” or “Hebrews”, without land or a clear sense of identity. God intervened in their history, saving them from annihilation and bringing them to Mount Sinai where they would encounter their saviour. Once there, their leader, Moses, went up the mountain to encounter this mysterious God, and to deliver God’s words to the people; a message of the covenant that would transform a group of slaves into a nation.
As Christians, are we covenantal people? Do we obey God?
With the Israelites, God outlined the terms of the covenant. If the people chose to bind themselves to God, their obligation would be to “obey his voice” and “keep his covenant”. This would be achieved by observance of the covenantal law, spelled out as detailed commandments and instructions, known as “the Law”. Upholding this Law meant obeying God’s voice and staying in the covenant. As Christians, we are all called to obey God.
If we obey God and follow His commandments and we belong to God’s nation, then, we need to boast in the Lord, thus, the message of the second reading of today.
In Romans 5:1-11 Paul identifies three cornerstones of this new identity referring to them as “boasts”– boast in the hope of sharing God’s glory, in suffering, and “in God”. Today’s reading concentrates on the last of them, exploring its profound meaning and significance.
“Boast in God” is grounded in the death of Christ for the sake of humankind. Paul stresses that Christ’s actions were utterly undeserved and completely unmerited by the sinful and ungodly human race. They resulted from God’s love for fallen humanity and expressed God’s unbounded grace. As a person, what do you boast of? Let us boast in Christ.
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, a “sacrifice of atonement” (cf. Rom 3:25), had three key effects. First, it enabled sinners to become righteous or “justified”; that is to enter into the right relationship with God. Second, Christ’s death reconciled people to God. Reconciliation implies a fundamental change in a relationship, from alienation and hostility to fellowship and harmony. Prior to Christ, the divine – human relationship was severely disrupted by sin, leading to the alienation of people from God. On the cross, Christ brought down the barriers of sin and alienation, reconciling people to God and restoring peace. Finally, Christ’s death and resurrection brought salvation.
For Paul, salvation still lies in the future as it consists in a complete restoration of humanity and creation, through the resurrection from the dead, and union with God in the heavenly world.
These three profound effects of Christ’s self-sacrifice redefined the relationship between God and the faithful, and fundamentally altered the nature of God’s people as a community. With Christ nothing has changed, and everything has changed. What remained constant is God’s love for the people and his desire to make them his own nation, expressed by sending his Son as the Saviour. What changed is the method of making this come true. Before Christ, God’s nation was founded on the Saini covenant and the Law. Now, God’s people are constituted through their union with Christ, with their identity and guide for life founded on faith in him.
The Gospel reading of today introduces Jesus’ “Missionary Discourse”, which provides guidelines for the mission of his disciples. A moving picture of harassed, abandoned and leaderless crowd provides a starting point for it (cf. Ezekiel 34:30). These are people in need of guidance, protection and restoration. Jesus comments on this situation referring to the approaching harvest and the scarcity of labourers. People are ready to be gathered to their God, but there few who can lead them there.
Jesus asked the disciple to pray that God would provide labourers for his harvest, but then, as if responding to this prayer, he selected twelve of his numerous disciples as “apostles”, that is the “sent ones”.
Jesus sent them to the “lost sheep of Israel”; the Jewish community would be their first missionary field. Later, their mission would extend to all nations (cf. Matt 28:19). This two-stage mission highlights the continuity between Israel, first chosen as God’s nation, and the new people of God who would emerge through Jesus’ mission and the future work of his disciples.
The disciples were commanded to proclaim the good news of the coming of God’s kingdom, and to perform signs to confirm its presence – to cure the sick, to raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and to cast out demons. These miraculous deeds show that good is overcoming evil and its effects in the world. These are exactly the same deeds that Jesus had been performing; the work of the disciples will be a continuation of Jesus own mission. Their work is to be completely gratuitous; a practice which highlights God’s unmerited grace underlying the coming of his kingdom.
By sending his apostles to the lost and leaderless Israelites with a message and demonstration of the Kingdom, Jesus had taken the first step towards the creation of a new community of God’s people, God’s nation. These new people of God would be founded on Jesus, his sacrifice and his teaching. Thus, God’s Son was sent into the world as the divine nation-maker.
Christian Act in Word of God “I belong to God’s nation”
Every person longs to belong somewhere. Consciously or unconsciously, we all search for a community where we can blossom and be the best version of ourselves. Unfortunately, in this search some end up in messy situations and unhealthy alliances. When God invites us to enter into an alliance with him, it is a divine response to a fundamental drive in human nature. God created us and he longs to gather us into one flock, “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation”.
According to available statistics, Christians worldwide number over two billion. That makes Christendom bigger and larger than any nation in the world. From this perspective, we can say Christ’s mission of gathering God’s people and fashioning a nation has largely been successful. However, moving beyond quantity and focusing on quality, there is still a lot of work to be done. There are many followers of Christ in name but not in reality. There are some who have their names in Church registers but may not necessarily have their names in the “Book of “Life”. Love is the identity card of God’s kingdom; without it, we cannot pride ourselves on being members of God’s nation. Let us boast in the Lord.
True Christians are known not by the denomination they belong to but by their Christ-like character. A deep love and concern for one another leads to sacrifices. Jesus was the first to offer this sacrifice on our behalf and thereby set an example for all of us. It was compassion that moved him to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons. His choice to die for the ungodly was compassion in action. In exhorting the apostles, “you received without payment; give without payment”, he wanted to perpetuate the ministry of compassion. The perfect way by which we can contribute towards fashioning God’s nation is to love intentionally.
There is ample space for everyone in God’s nation. Someone took the risk to lead us to Christ. We too must be willing to take the risk to continue this mission. It starts from our homes, making the presence of Christ felt among those we interact with on a daily basis. We must lift the flag of the nation of God high wherever we find ourselves.
Action: I turn to God with a heart of gratitude and thank him for conferring on me citizenship in his nation. I thank him for giving me free access into his presence on a daily basis.
Prayer: Eternal Father, your love for us is immense and your gift of salvation is real. We open our hearts to belong to God’s nation. We thank you for opening the door of your kingdom to us and for making us citizens of your nation. We surrender fully to you and we pray that you would make us useful citizens of your kingdom. For the sake of Christ we pray, Amen.
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