15th Sunday B

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: Amos 7:12-15  Ephesians 1:3-14   Mark 6:7-13

The theme for this Sunday’s readings is the call of God which inevitably brings the one summoned into conflict with worldly powers and values but will also result in the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom.  In hope for the coming of God’s kingdom, let us pray the words of the responsorial psalm: “Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation” (Ps 85).

The first reading from Amos, the earliest of Israel’s classical prophets (c. 750 B.C.), dramatizes the conflict between the authentic prophet and an official man of religion who has sold his soul to the political powers of his day.  Amos was an outsider in Israel; he came from the village of Tekoa in Judah, where he was a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees.  But he was sent by the Lord to prophesy in Bethel, the major sanctuary in the northern kingdom of Israel.  His oracles are a fearless and searing judgment against the social injustices and empty worship found there.  The priest Amaziah, ever loyal to the status quo, attempts to protect King Jeroboam II’s interests against the attacks of this Judean outsider.  He is a pathetic figure of a man of religion who, although the official representative of God at the sanctuary at Bethel, has made money and political favor his god.  His attempt to dismiss Amos betrays an understanding of religion as a matter of wealth and politics.  He assumes Amos is a professional prophet who earns his living by prophesying and attempts to protect “the king’s sanctuary” and the “royal temple” by driving the outsider from the land of Israel.  Amos, of course, refuses to capitulate to the priest’s threats.  He rejects Amaziah’s designation of him as a professional prophet and defends his credentials by reference to his call by the Lord himself.  “I was no prophet,/ nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;/ I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores./  The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me,/ Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”  In the following verses which were not included in this reading, Amos fearlessly announces the destruction of the royal dynasty, the conquest of the land and the exile of Israel.

For the next several weeks the Epistles will be taken from the Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.  Today’s reading is taken from the opening doxology  which praises God for the choice of the early Christian communities to share in God’s plan of salvation to unite all things, including the once antagonistic Jews and Gentiles, through redemption in Christ.  Ephesians is a theological tract written for Gentile Christians who are now called to share with Jewish Christians the privilege of membership in the community of the saints (cf. Eph 2:11-22).  A major theme which runs throughout Ephesians is “the mystery” of God’s plan which calls both Jews and Gentiles into a single body, the Church, destined to be the cosmic presence of Christ, its head, who will eventually integrate “all things in the heavens and on the earth.”  This opening hymn highlights the gratuity of God’s favor to both groups.  The Jews were chosen “before the world began, to be holy and blameless in his (God’s) sight,” and now they have been favored with redemption from their sins and insight into the mystery of God’s plan to unite all things in the universe in Christ.  The Gentiles have also now been chosen to hear “the glad tidings of salvation,” to believe in the good news, and be sealed by the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel is Mark’s account of Jesus’ sending of the Twelve on mission in Galilee (6:7-13) after his own rejection in Nazareth (6:1-6). Jesus stresses their need for detachment from worldly goods (“no goods, traveling bag, coin in the purse”) and the threat of rejection.  The Twelve are to share in Jesus’ work of proclaiming the presence of the Kingdom of God, but they can expect the rejection that Jesus received in last Sunday’s Gospel when his own people turned against him in the synagogue in Nazareth.  Rejection does not halt the progress of kingdom, however; it simply frees Jesus and his disciples to move on to other areas.  After Jesus met with lack of faith in his hometown of Nazareth, Mark says, “He made the rounds of the neighboring villages instead, and spent his time teaching” (6:6).  Likewise, he tells his disciples, “If any place will not receive you or hear you, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them as you leave” (6:11).  Significantly, Mark concludes this section by noting the success of the Twelve’s initial preaching.  They expel many demons, anoint the sick with oil and work many cures.

Each of today’s readings gives insight into various aspects of the call to serve God’s kingdom.  It is not be identified with wealth and political power and often places the one called in conflict with those powers and their representatives (Amos 7:12-15).  God’s kingdom is mysteriously destined to unite the whole universe under the headship of the suffering Christ (Eph 1:3-14).  Finally, it will invariably lead to rejection, but this should only free Christians to move on to those fields where God’s word will find fruitful soil (Mark 6:7-13; Mark 4:1-20).