NOT AN IMPOSSIBLE MISSION

 

When I was your age, one of our favorite TV shows was Mission Impossible. It was about a small team of government agents known as the Impossible Mission Force. They would trick the enemy – Russian agents, 3^rd world dictators and all kinds of other bad actors – into revealing secrets or ruining their plans.

The agents who were called to take part in an impossible mission were called by Jim Phelps. The agents could decide to accept the mission or not. His agents were a fashion model, an actor, an electronics expert and a weight lifter. Phelps came up with a plan that always worked.

I mention that TV show because in our Gospel today, Jesus calls 12 Apostles and sends them on a mission. They are not to trick anyone, but simply go among people and say, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Do you think you can do that? Let’s say it out loud.

The other thing that Jesus told them to do is to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. Do you think you can do that? After telling his disciples to do that, he taught them a lot of other stuff that they needed to know before they went. We will hear more of that in the next few weeks.

My point is that Jesus has called us and sends us into the world to announce that the kingdom of heaven is here and to heal others. This is not an impossible mission for us. We can do this. We can do this only through the grace and power of God and the Holy Spirit that the Father and Son send to us.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.