Fr Marco Lazzaron
oday is the beginning of the sending of the apostles. Until now it had only been him, Jesus, who preached the Kingdom. The disciples followed him, listened, learned, and did an apprenticeship. Now they are sent.
But to whom is Jesus’ invitation “Go!” addressed? We usually think of the apostles and their successors: the pope, the bishops, the priests, and the religious. This concerns them, not us lay people, many think. But this is precisely the mistake. It is very true that, first, with the task of official and authorized witnesses, he sends the apostles. But not alone. To think otherwise would be like saying that a war can only be waged with generals and captains, without soldiers; or that you can set up a football team with just a coach and a referee.
He needs everyone. Or rather, he gives everyone the honor of becoming his ambassadors, his “precursors”, that is, people who precede him and prepare the way for him in the places where he is about to go. Imagine if today people were asked to become evangelizers and witnesses of Jesus. Their response would surely be this: “But isn’t it already enough that we give up our time to come to church? Do you know what it means to have a family and live in such a difficult world?” But becoming evangelizers is not an extra burden in life; it is a joy, a help that makes you forget all your burdens or helps you carry them better. The laity, therefore, are the energy of Christianity.
But “how” – to evangelize? It is Jesus himself who gives us the answer. He does not insist so much on what must be said, but rather on “how one must be” to announce the Gospel. Jesus always sends them two by two. Why? Because they, being two, are inevitably called to give proof of mutual love for each other. What value, therefore, can the announcement that God is love have, when it is made by a divided community where everyone fights their brother? Who will be able to believe the Gospel if Christians sensationally deny it with their lives? Jesus reminds us that the first sermon must be our unity.
“Where” to evangelize? What are the villages and places to which Jesus sends us today? The places where Jesus sends us are the workplace, family, friends. Those who believe in the Lord cannot help but talk about him. But many Christians don’t! Why? For fear? Out of shyness? For confidentiality? Great human qualities are not needed to announce the Gospel, much less great culture is needed. So, if many don’t talk about the Lord, it’s because they have nothing to say: and if they have nothing to say, it means that they don’t know the Lord. He who truly believes announces his faith; he who believes is a missionary and being a missionary, means not being attached to anything or anyone but only to Christ.
May the Lord help us to be credible witnesses of his Gospel by living in charity and loving one another. Amen.