Quality of Witnessing!

Sunday, June 6, 2025

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 66:10-14c; Gal 6:14-18; Lk 10:1-12, 17-20

The fourteenth Sunday in ordinary time invites us to examine the quality of our witnessing as Christians. 

The readings of the day help us realize the importance of a faithful witnessing to our Christian vocation. 

The first reading from the concluding part of Second Isaiah offers a message of hope through the restoration of Israel to its former glory. Hence, it is a hymn of consolation and joy, portraying Jerusalem as a nurturing mother through images of nursing, comfort, and peace. The faithful are called to witness God’s power in restoring His people and to rejoice over Jerusalem as she is restored and flourishing. Here, what stands unique about God’s intervention is the fact that the comfort that God promises Israel is not just spiritual but social too. God is restoring a broken community. It is this act of God that becomes our mission. The Church has to act as a maternal community, offering hope to those feeling disillusioned or exiled – socially, spiritually, emotionally, or psychologically. In sum, the transformative mission of God amid His people should be ours too in our contemporary times. 

In the second reading, Paul, the true laborer in the vineyard of God, takes pride in the cross of Christ, which was an abomination for many. For Paul, the cross is the only thing worthy of boasting. Here, Paul’s insistence on ‘New Creation’ indicates a transformed life that surpasses external religious observances like circumcision and highlights a life transformed by the cross. Hence, for Paul, what makes up an authentic Christian life is our living as a new creation, bearing the marks of Jesus and perfectly witnessing him in the context. In sum, Paul means that Christian existence is best summarized by a life lived in accordance with the meaning and message of the cross of Christ. 

In the Gospel, we find several insights that stand out from the rest. At first, the beginning of the Gospel text reads that Jesus appointed ‘seventy-two others.’ The fact of these disciples, added to the team of apostles, substantiates Jesus’ claim that the laborers are few. Secondly, it is about Jesus delegating his mission to the care of these disciples. More importantly, Jesus sends them not to some random places but to every town and place that he has intended to visit. Thirdly, for Jesus, the laborers are few, but the harvest is plentiful. This implies the efficiency with which we must carry out God’s mission, and therefore, it cannot be merely perfunctory. Like Jesus, we must be able to send ripples and make waves. Only then can we manage to harvest the plenty with a few labourers. Fourthly, Jesus gives his disciples a real sense of what the mission field would look like. It could be treacherous and dangerous just as it was for Jesus. Like Jesus, the lamb among wolves, his followers cannot rely on material support but on God’s providence while announcing God’s love. Fifthly, the mission of Jesus is a mission of peace. Jesus expects his followers to announce and build peace, not worried about the way the message will be received. Some may respond to it. Others may not. Even among Jesus’ apostles, while others could respond to his message, Judas could not. Here, what is more important is that we do the mission with efficiency and diligence. Finally, Jesus wants his disciples to proclaim the coming of God’s Kingdom. The statement relates well to the mission of Jesus himself, as we witness the beginning of his proclamation immediately after his baptism, ‘Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand’ (Mk 1:15). 

The readings prompt an honest self-examination so that our proclamation of Jesus would become more authentic. 

1. Jesus’ comment that ‘laborers are few’ needs a reinterpretation in our context. In my opinion, we do not lack laborers. But we do lack witnessing. The question is more about the quality than about the number. 

2. In his time, Jesus was a trendsetter. His words enlightened many. His life became an example. If so, how can we match the aura of the One Man who we call Our Leader? Are we then ‘Jesus’ enough? Are we ‘Christians’ enough?

3. For the contemporary times, living out the message of Christ in the most authentic manner possible is ever more urgent. Why? Because for some people, the only Bible that they may ever read in their lives is you and me. If so, how must we fare as emissaries of Christ in this world?

Let us pray that we may represent Christ better in our day-to-day contexts.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar