(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
We start off with a quiz today: where in the Bible are sheep and wolves mentioned together? I am thinking of two passages from the prophet Isaiah (11:6 and 65:25): “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb”, and “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.” The reconciliation of wolf and lamb is a sign of the arrival of the messianic age.
The missionaries announce peace and for this reason they go forth without the ordinary provisions. They take no sides. They accept all who come to them. They accept other people and their enemies, both sheep and wolves.
They do not argue over food or prices. They are content with the living arrangements provided them. They wish everyone peace. This shows that the kingdom of God is indeed at hand.
The missionaries go out in pairs. They show the spirit of peace and reconciliation as they travel, together at peace with one another and with God. In fact, in their traveling together, they are proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. If missionaries of different temperaments, like wolf and lamb, travel together in peace, then reconciliation and peace between different people and between God and people, is possible and is happening.
The mission of the seventy, or seventy-two, disciples symbolically is the mission of the church to the whole world. The number of those sent out reflects the number of nations listed in Genesis. The sending forth of the missionaries announces the coming messianic age and the completion of the work of creation when all things are brought back together in unity and peace. The wolf and the lamb, the animal and the human domains, enemies and friends, are all being brought back together as Jesus sends forth the missionaries.
What Jesus inaugurated in this passage of the Gospel continues in our day. We are sent out, missionaries of peace, showing forth the reconciliation of wolf and lamb, the welcoming of strangers, and the sharing of meals. By this people will know that the kingdom of God is at hand.