Reflection
In our Gospel reading, Jesus appoints twelve disciples, whom “he also named apostles, that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”
To appoint twelve would probably have called to mind for the people who listened to Jesus the Twelve tribes of Israel, indicating a people of a new covenant in Jesus Christ. Perhaps it also indicates Jesus’ desire for community, and His call for that community to serve others.
All of this leads us into a reflection on being church. Jesus calls each of us by name, but we are not called as isolated individuals, but as a community of faith, as a people. And we are called to preach, not only with words, but how we live our lives, and how we are as church.
Could we even see ourselves as being able to help drive out demons? I don’t mean supernatural beings as much as those “demons” which can plague us as individuals and as a society: “Demons” such as greed, lust, envy, despair, self-loathing, and apathy; “demons” such as hate, fear, poverty, prejudice, injustice, hate and fear and violence.
How might we help drive out those kinds of “demons?” As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr once said: “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” By the love of God in Jesus Christ, we can drive out hate and fear and all the rest. We can show mercy and compassion as we see David do with Saul in our first reading, when David had the opportunity to kill Saul, who as looking to kill David.
May we answer the call to be with Jesus and each other. May we come together and work to drive out the “demons” plaguing our world and our lives.
