Proverbs 30:5-9 / Luke 9:1-6
Proverbs speaks about human needs: Let me be neither rich nor poor.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1985, 175 syndicated cartoonists
banded together to give 90 million readers of some 2,000 papers in the United
States the same message: While we feast on plenty, many go hungry. Typical
of the cartoons was Peanuts. It showed Linus asking Charlie Brown if he
were going to have a big Thanksgiving dinner. Charlie says, in effect, "I
guess so, but I don't think that much about food."
Snoopy overhears him, looks at his empty dish, and says to
himself, "You think about it a lot when there's nothing in your
dish." Perhaps the next worst thing to having nothing to eat is
having too much. It makes us insensitive to the hungry
****
The court of Solomon had been a beehive of intellectual life,
not only for Israel, but for the surrounding countries. Wisdom knows no
boundaries. At his court he had also his numerous wives collected from all the
surrounding countries. He mad married the daughter of Pharaoh. Whether
through her or through other wise men, he knew of Egyptian maxims of Amenemophis.
The reading of today is said to be the saying of Agur, whose collected some
proverbs. He hails from Northern Arabia. We read here the prayer of a wise man:
He prays for
two gifts: the first, sincerity in thinking and speaking;
and the second: enough to live. Both: too much wealth and too little, keep man
away from God. To have too little makes a man think only of earthly things and
makes a thief or even makes a man curse God. To have too much makes man forget
God, he does not need God any more.
****
How sensitive are we to the hungry? How grateful to God
are we for our plenty? "In the middle you will find
virtue." An old Latin saying
****
Now the training of the apostles for their future work
becomes
more practical. This is not the sending out to the whole
world. It’s still an exercise in the real life condition, an experiment. They
have to learn and come back to report to Jesus and exchange their
experiences. They are given clear instructions. He told what they can and
may do. He gave them power and authority. They are sent to preach the Kingdom
and to heal. He cares for the soul and the body. As throughout history,
Church and charity go hand in hand. Faith and love lead to each other. Vocation
leads to mission. Vocation calls towards Jesus. Mission sends them out to people.
Jesus stresses poverty. His apostles have to live simple lives. Take
nothing for the journey: neither
****
We may like to be rich but maybe not too rich. And of course,
we don't like to be too poor, although we may still be able to manage it. But
of course, it won't be that comfortable. But whether in poverty or with plenty,
we won't want to be at both the extreme ends. In reality, what we really want
is that we can have enough for our needs.
In the 1st reading, that is what the writer of the book of Proverbs is saying
as he asks of the Lord: "Two things I beg of you, do not grudge me them
before I die. Keep falsehood and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor
riches, grant me only my share of bread to eat." But more than just asking
God to provide enough for his needs, the writer goes on to say: "For fear
that surrounded by plenty, I should fall away and say, 'The Lord - who is the
Lord?', or else, in destitution, take to stealing and profane the name of the
Lord."
So having too much and having nothing can have problems in that we forget that
God can provide for our needs. And that is what Jesus is telling His disciples
as He send them out for the mission as He said to them, "Take nothing for
the journey ... "
He wants them to experience that they will have enough for their needs because
God will provide. Yes, God will provide for our needs. When we have enough, let
us give thanks to God, and when we have excess, let us also help others in
their need.
****
Let us Pray: Lord
our God, your mercy extends to everyone. Let your missionary Church go out to
all without any self-imposed, useless baggage that obscures the pure message of
the gospel but with great humility before the good will and the hospitality of
people. May thus our receptivity to people make them in turn receptive to the
good news of Jesus Christ our Lord.
