PROPER 8, YEAR A

Sunday 28 June 2026

Sts. Matthew & Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

Matthew 10:34-42

 

Tomorrow, June 29th, is the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles and Martyrs at Rome. And today’s Collect and readings are those appointed for the Sunday closest to June 29th. So, it’s not surprising that they emphasize the theme of apostleship. Let’s listen again to today’s Collect:

 

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you…

 

So, on the Sunday closest to the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, we pray that we may be unified by apostolic teaching and thus be built into a spiritual temple acceptable to God.

 

The Gospel readings over the past few Sundays have come from Chapter 10 of Saint Matthew, in which Jesus chooses and commissions the Twelve Apostles. It begins with Jesus calling them and giving them authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal every disease and every infirmity. Then he charges them to travel from town to town and village to village, preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, taking nothing with them but the clothes on their backs, and relying completely on the hospitality of those to whom they’re sent.

 

As for those who offer such hospitality, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.” 

 

The underlying Jewish concept is that of a shaliah (shall-LEE-ach), a Hebrew word meaning legal emissary, representative, or agent. A shaliah is someone empowered to speak and act in the name of the sender—so that in interacting with the shaliah, one is interacting virtually with the sender.

 

Incidentally, the noun shaliah comes from the Hebrew verb shalakh, to send out. And the standard translation of shalakh in biblical Greek is apostellō, “to send,” and the Greek translation of shaliah is apostolos, or, in English, “apostle”— “one who is sent.”

In the New Testament, then, the Apostles are emissaries sent by Christ out into the world, authorized to speak and act in his name. An Apostle is thus a representative person, one in whom the sender himself is virtually present and active. When we receive the Apostle, we receive Christ himself. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

 

This concept grounds the doctrine of apostolic succession. As Christ sends the Apostles into the world, so the Apostles eventually transmit their responsibility and authority—to preach, to administer the Sacraments, and to govern the Church—to their successors, the bishops. 

 

There were some key differences between the Apostles and the bishops. First, that the Apostles were eyewitnesses to Christ’s Resurrection, an irreplaceable office. Second, while the Apostles generally exercised an itinerant ministry, traveling from place to place to preach the Gospel, bishops generally remained in one place as the Church’s leaders there.

 

So, in each city or town where the Apostles planted the Church, they consecrated bishops to be their local representatives. And in turn, by prayer and the laying-on-of-hands, these original bishops handed down their office to their successors, and their successors’ successors, down through the centuries to the present day.

 

Our parish and our diocese belong to the Episcopal Church. Sometimes we hear it said that the word “Episcopal” designates a church governed by bishops. But that’s only half true, since both clergy and laity actively participate in our church’s governing structures. No, the real claim being made, the real gift being celebrated, is apostolic succession: the presence in our midst of bishops who serve as successors to the Apostles.

 

Just think: When we were confirmed, the bishop laid hands on our heads with prayer for the strengthening of the Holy Spirit’s gifts within us. That sacramental action incorporated us into an unbroken chain going all the way back to Christ’s Apostles. It signified our participation in what the bishop represents: namely, the Church’s unity throughout the world, and the continuity of our faith with the apostolic faith handed down through the centuries.

 

When I was ordained to the priesthood, thirty-three years ago, I knelt before my bishop as he prayed and laid his hands on my head. At that moment, I received God’s commission to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments as a priest of the Church. But this commission came not from that particular bishop—nor from the local congregation, nor from the Diocese, nor from the entire Episcopal Church—but ultimately from Christ himself, by way of that long line of bishops going back to the Apostles.

 

By the Sacrament of Holy Orders, bishops, priests, and deacons become Christ’s public representatives in the Church today. This is emphatically not to say that ordained ministers are infallible or perfect. On the contrary, we’re all profoundly unworthy of such a high calling. But it is to say that despite our many imperfections and shortcomings, Christ has promised to be present and active in his Church through the ministries of those whom he’s called and sent.

 

Moreover, through the Sacraments of Holy Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, Christ calls and sends all Christians into the world in his Name. The reason why he calls some of us into Holy Orders is not to give us special privileges, but instead to use us to build up, strengthen, and equip the whole People of God. 

 

So, in a manner corresponding to our many and varied vocations, Christ calls and sends each of us, lay and ordained alike. As the Church’s members, we’re an apostolic people: Christ’s representatives and emissaries in the world. And to each of us alike, Christ addresses the words in today’s Gospel: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”