Gifted and Sent.

Mark 16: 15-20

 And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

There’s always a tendency in people to be attracted to – or repelled by – the sensational. In reading the gospel this week, the phrases about picking up snakes and drinking poison are sure to raise even fleeting questions about one’s own faith levels given that most of us wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about putting our faith to the test by going out and finding a snake or looking under the sink for a poisonous substance.

As always, scripture must be read in context. This week there is a choice of two passages for the second reading and in one of the passages (Ephesians 4: 1-13) we are told “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” And further on it says, “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry…” In the total context of all the readings, what is being said is that there are many signs that will accompany all believers, but not necessarily will all the signs accompany every believer. Not all of us will be evangelists, not all will be teachers and not all will pick up actual snakes or consume poison – unless it is the handling of someone who has fangs of negativity and fear and is ready to sink those fangs in us in an attempt to poison our self love and God confidence. There are lots of snakes and poison of that sort that every believer must handle.

In any case, according to scripture, each one of us has been Gifted and we are all required to open ourselves to the Spirit so that our Gift can be recognized, accepted and used for the formation of our own spirits, for the building up of the body and for the good of the whole world. It is not up to us as individuals to decide arbitrarily we should be teachers or healers or that we should go snake hunting in order to prove that our faith is alive and well.

Jesus ascended into heaven after he completed his mission, but before doing so he indicated, “I have done all that I was called to do and now it’s your turn.” What we need to do now is ask him, “Lord, what is my Gift? Who have you called me to be? What is my mission?”

At this point most people would look at either their talents and skills or their vocation in order to try to determine what Gift God has given them for the building up of themselves, the body and the world. Some of you would say, “I am a parent or I am single or I am a Religious. That’s my Gift for the building up of the body.” Others might look at a talent they have, talents such as singing, teaching, leadership or administration. Someone else might ponder the skills they have learned in school or elsewhere, ones they are good at, and see how those skills could benefit the body of Christ. For instance a doctor might donate her skills to helping the poor or a good cook might bring people together around the table for communion and fellowship, thereby building up community.

All these skills, talents and vocations are absolutely critical to the body of Christ and are used by the Lord for building up his people. But we all need to go one step further. Talents, skills and vocations can be lost due to circumstances of life or they can change or they can fade away eventually. Parents will not always be involved in the intensive giving called for when children are young and living at home.  Spouses can die suddenly. A singer can lose his or her voice due to old age or illness; a good reader can go blind. A carpenter can get arthritis. The Gift God gives for the building of the body will never die and never fade, though it is possible for it to be forgotten. A talent, skill or vocation is the medium through which the Lord may administer the Gift. The Gift is the electrical current; the talent, skill or vocation is simply the wire. I will go even one step further and state that hearts that are in the process of discovering their Gift are hearts that are discovering who they are in God’s eyes and have begun to understand their full personal value to him, to the body and to the world. The Gift is not only powerful, it is immensely attractive and has the capacity to inspire others to thirst for God himself as well as bring the bearer of the gift to spiritual fullness before the bearer of the Gift even does anything.    

I have mentioned before that there can be a great deal of agony when we discover that we can be fully engaged in the vocation we were called to and not feel entirely fulfilled by that vocation. Certainly there are times of great joy in our vocations but there are far more times of irritation, weariness, frustration, anger, resentment and boredom. It doesn’t matter what your calling or vocation is, this will be true.

The vocation is not the Gift. It is simply the vehicle God has chosen for you. Once committed to one’s vocation, one still needs to recognize and allow the Lord to develop the Gift. 

By now you will have noticed that I have been capitalizing the word “Gift”. That’s because the Gift is a person. The Gift is the manifestation of Jesus himself and that is why the Gift is so attractive, so beautiful, so healing and so powerful.  It’s also the reason why the Gift cannot fade, wither or die. Jesus is alive! He ascended to heaven so that we could become vessels of himself for the world, so that we can all become Christophers, or “Christ Bearers”.

Listen to me! I did not say that you should simply try to act like Jesus. You are to become conduits of Christ himself so that in offering your Gift, what you are offering is an aspect of himself that he has anointed you (you!) to carry and give. What a Gift! If each of you were to freely offer to your family, to the Body and to the world the unique part of Jesus he has anointed you to offer, the church would be turned upside down and the world would be astounded. And you would experience a deeper spiritual fulfillment than you could imagine.

A prayer that you may hear at Mass this weekend is written by St. Paul and is the beginning of one of the alternative scriptures for the second reading (Ephesians 1: 17-23). Please read this slowly and know that you are under this powerful prayer. Pray it for yourself; pray it for your family and all your brothers and sisters in Christ.  

“Brothers and sisters, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of revelation and wisdom as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.”

Amen and amen.

P.S. When I was copying out “…with the eyes of your heart enlightened”, I accidentally typed, “…with the yes of your heart enlightened”. I thought it was equally appropriate. Sometimes our “Yes” to God needs to be enlightened and filled with a deeper revelation of Him.