*

JESUS SENT THEM OUT 

TWO BY TWO

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] is, “Jesus Sent Them Out Two by Two.”

I would like to reflect out loud about the two by two’s in life.

It’s called  "marriage" - "companionship" -  "friendship" - "togetherness".  

Looking at life, what have been our two by two experiences?

LOOK AROUND

Looking at our life - who is or was that best friend - at school - in the playground - on Saturdays?  Who was that person we could be you with - and really enjoy the moment - whether it was catching lightning bugs or getting a beer?

I was preaching in a parish somewhere in Ohio and we were visiting the sick and the shut-in’s in the afternoon. I get to a house and meet  this mom - around 30 - who was in bed with a broken arm and two broken legs. Interesting sight. She had been in a serious skiing accident.  They had 3 small boys - and her husband was driving her crazy - not being able to handle their boys - who were running wild about the house.

What to do?

She told me she got her sister to come and help - as a -  live in help. Next she called her husband’s best friend in Buffalo and asked him if he would call her husband and say he has  2 tickets to two Buffalo Saber’s hockey games and invite him for a week. Tell him you called and got me and I said, “Great!”

She told me it worked.

If something like that happened - and someone was wondering who to call as a best friend - who would think of your name as best friend of their spouse or what have you - and then ask you to help them in a sticky or stucky problem?

I’m thinking out loud here about two’s - not selfies - but twosies.

There you are on the bus going to DC - sitting next to someone.

Who is this person you are next to?

Sometimes she or he is a stranger.  Do we talk? Do we listen to our iPhone? Do we read the paper?  Do we close our eyes and disappear?

We look out the bus window and we see two kids with packs on their backs - going down the street parallel to the bus. Will they know each other for life - or just for the day?

We see two women - maybe in their early 40’s - running together.  How long have they been doing this? A week, a month, 6 years now?

Whom do you run with?  Whom had you run with?  Whom have you walked with on the paths of life?  Where are they now?

We see a couple walking - an older couple - holding hands - walking in the park. Second marriage? Friends? Dating? 44 years married? We don’t know.

We are still looking out the bus window.  There are various people walking along alone but with various types of dogs - just the two of them. Then there  are people walking alone. There are three’s and fours and fives? People walk in different combinations.

We stop into McDonald's or Starbucks or Panera and there are 3 two’s, 4 threes, and 5 fours.

In this homily, because of the gospel, I’m asking, “Get a piece of paper or use your computer or gadget and jot down scenes from your life.  There you are with one other person - somewhere - in your past history, your past mystery. Make a life list of times and scenarios when you were with just one other person.

IT’S NOT GOOD TO BE ALONE

The Bible begins by saying, “It’s not good to be alone - so God made them male and female.”

Did God make us - because God felt alone?”

Does God feel loneliness when we drop or dump God?

Do we feel empty or lonely when we can’t sense God?

The Old Testament has a lot of two’s: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham and Sarah, Rachel and Leah, Saul and David, David and Bathsheba, and on and on and on.

When God told Noah to build that ark - it was to be with him and his wife - and family - and all the animals who were to get on that ark  two by two. Great story. Watch where you step!

The New Testament eventually tells us that God is Three - a Father and a Son and the Spirit of Love between Them.

The New Testament tells us that God sent his Son to contact us - so we can contact God - so that we can enter into the ark called God - and start sailing hopefully two by two for starters.

LIFE IS ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS

The greatest part of life is relationships - family - husband and wife  - covenants - and children. Each person is unique.

Relationships mean feelings, beauty, wonder, and hurts.

Most marry - most people befriend friends.

This doesn’t mean it’s always easy.  Denise Levertov  [1923-1997], a great woman poet, in her poem, The Ache of Marriage [1964] wrote, “Two by two in the ark of the ache of it.”

Those of you who are married, “How’s it going?” Any aches and pains? What to do to improve the situation?  Many a person sitting on a bus - alone - heading for work in D.C. or wherever - is looking out the window thinking about these questions.

We’re not God.  The End doesn’t just appear at the end of movies.

Cars crash. Sometimes marriages and friendships crash.

Then there is death.

Death is a killer.

In fact without the possibility of two’s - ending - people  splitting - friends moving to Arizona  - life would not have its power and glory.

Death and divorce - that possibility - makes life and love - that possibility so powerful and so beautiful - and also so crushing.

The I needs a you - and we want the reality of love to be the word between those two words.

“I love you” - means so much - because we know - the verb in that 3 word sentence could also be “hate” or “forgot” or “ignored”.

Life is all about communion - receiving communion - receiving holy communion with each other.

Marriage, family, friendships, relationships are all basically two’s - myself and another - and that another varies. It could be me and a mom or a dad or a grandparent. It could be me and a mother-in-law, me and son or daughter, me and a niece and a nephew.

Each of us deals with the rest of us: one to one.

Shirley Jackson, in her book, Raising Demons 1956, wrote, “It has been my belief that in times of great stress, such as a four-day vacation, the thin veneer of family wears off almost at once, and we are revealed in our true personalities.”

Has that ever happened to you?

Down through the years I’ve heard folks talk about disasters between brothers and sisters happening on summer vacations together.

What have you learned about yourself and family from vacations?

Where are you right now with your one to one relationships?

What are those relationships like?

WHY THIS HOMILY

Why this homily?

One answer: I had to come up with one and today’s gospel began with Jesus sending out his disciples two by two. What did they learn from the journey?

We stop the journey for a few moments on a Sunday to see how we are doing. We come to church to be reminded we are called to love one another.  We come to hear prophets challenge us.

Today it’s Amos. He preaches and prophesies some tough stuff and the folks in the temple at Bethel complain about him.  He says, “Don’t blame me. I didn’t choose this. Did you hear what he said, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores?”

I’m from Brooklyn. The only real job I ever had was delivering Coca Cola. Sometimes I wonder how the heck I ended up doing this.

Today’s gospel triggered for me the reality of two’s in life. Jesus said to travel two by two.

I like long trips with one person.

How about you?

I drove up and back to New Jersey on Tuesday and Wednesday with Father William Guri. He’s here from Zimbabwe in Africa and is getting his doctorate in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola. I asked him if he wanted to go up for a picnic to Long Branch, New Jersey,  for the guys in our province and he said, “Great.”

The picnic was wonderful - but I liked the one to one much better.

I could sit down - look at my life  - and come up with 25 such drives at least and figure out what that other is like - and what I learned from being with that person on that  trip.

For 8 ½ years - years before I came to Annapolis, I worked on the road with a guy named Tom Barrett. We mainly  did Ohio - preaching in a different parish every week - for about 25 weeks in the year.  We would drive to a place - work there - interact with a pastor - and a parish - and then drive to the next place - talking as we drove  about what it was like to be in a place like Napoleon or Holgate or Paulding, Ohio.

Life: what a great learning experience.

And it’s great to learn with one another.

CONCLUSION

Looking at your life, what have been your one to one experiences?

Why did you pick your maid of honor or your best man at your wedding?

What is the state of your relationship with that person right now?

Why did you marry the person you married - if you married?

If you’re both still alive and both still together, what has the trip been like?

How can you make it better?

As Kojak - with lolly pop in mouth,  used to put it, “Talk to me!”

Then he might add, “Who loves you, baby?”

Then he would say again, “Talk to me!”

In today’s gospel Jesus talks about the dust of a town settling on the person who visits there. Jesus then said, “If a town rejects you, shake off the dust of that town and go somewhere else.”

I’m hoping some wonderful dust - the dust of another  - has settled on each of  you and you don’t want to shake it off - because you realize the other is sacred dust, sacred earth, sacrament for you.

I’m hoping the dust of a dozen wonderful places where you lived and visited and went to school or had neighbors - is dust you don’t want to shake off. Amen.


______________________

* Painting on top: Eugene Burnand [1850-1921] The Disciples, Peter and John, Running to the Tomb on Easter Sunday Morning [1898]