“At that time Jesus appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him.” “‘Go on your way. Behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves… Behold, I have given you power.’”
Lambs are gentle and vulnerable. They tend to stay close together, shoulder to shoulder, in a community. We see lambs with shepherds but they can and do live in the wild, together. Lambs can be hurt by other animals but rarely hurt others. They do not threaten nor attack. Lambs are thus associated with innocence. Rarely are lambs associated with power, yet that is the association Jesus makes, “I am sending you like lambs among wolves… I have given you power.” Wolves are aggressive and violent. They tend to relate from a chain of command in a pack though can hunt and kill alone. Wolves are inclined toward cowering submissively to their hierarch. Wolves hurt other animals but are rarely hurt by others. Wolves tend toward being predatory and thus threaten and attack. Wolves are oddly associated with power, yet that is precisely what wolves lack. They trade power for control. Wolves are controlled by their hierarchs and threaten others with control. People who act as wolves usually claim their practices are God-given; some people, themselves, are by nature predators and other people, lambs, are by nature prey. Thus, wolves force lambs to live in a manner not of our choosing. The wolves’ claims about Godliness coerce lambs to obey them. But wolves ‘God’ is merely the predatory deity wolves have invented. Lambs need not be dominated by wolf legislation that sets predatory rich over prey poor; nor by wolf finances that set predatory capitalists over prey workers; nor by wolf ethics that set predatory soldiers/police over prey commoners. Millennia of wolves and their godly claims over lambs have so many accepting a wolf’s right to domination, abuse, and violence. We rationalize the choices we make as free, unaware they are devised in and for a wolves world. We rationalize predatory police wolves hunting down and killing Black men and we accept Black men choosing to join the police. We rationalize predatory capitalists plundering health care and we choose to vote for liberal wolves to change the wording but not the practices in bankruptcy laws and Big Pharma policies. We rationalize predatory wolves dehumanizing women and support women as they choose to take on the vices of patriarchal domination in relationships, in the office, in the military. We are fools to mimic wolves who are predators of living beings they cast as their smaller and weaker prey. We live in the belly of a beast that coerces us with predatory choices. So it is we choose to abort our babies, cage border crossing children, kill Iraqi youth, carry our guns, and support the troops as proud upstanding citizens claiming allegiance to one or the other wolf pack party. Wolves have us feeding off one another when we could be vegetarians. We could help wolves to live as vegetarians. Too few of us lambs are living our power. Whether lamb power is revolutionary or evolutionary or a combination of both, we can live peaceful lives free of predatory wolves. We are lambs and our power includes converting wolves.
The story is told of St. Francis of Assisi coming to Gubbio. He learned of a wolf that devoured animals and people too. People armed themselves when leaving Gubbio, as if going into battle; yet still perished. The people became prisoners, unable to live freely. Francis went forth to meet this wolf, though the people thought him foolish. Upon encountering the wolf, Francis spoke to him with love, “Be not afraid. Be at peace. In Christ’s name to do no harm to me nor to any other.” Drawn to Francis, the wolf came to him, “Brother wolf, you have slain people as enemies though they, like you, are made in the image of a loving God. They forgive you all past offences. Promise us that going forward you will never injure any human being nor any animal.” “Come with me now and establish this peace.” Francis and the wolf went into the town and all the people thronged to the piazza. Francis spoke to them, “Turn most dear ones from your past warfare. Brother wolf has promised he will make peace with you. Do you now promise to make peace with him? As you share with each other, share with brother wolf the sustenance he needs and so practice this covenant of peace.” All the people with one voice did so promise. Thereafter, the wolf lived in Gubbio as a friend among generous friends, neither doing injury to any one nor having injury done to him. Such is the power of Francis who called forth the power of the people and the wolf.
Prayer: Spirit, ours is the power to convert wolves.
Question: Who are the wolves I need to free from their confinement?
July 03, 2022 Gospel Luke 10:1-12 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time