Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.”
There is a scene in the film “Braveheart” in which, at the Battle of Stirling, British and Scottish nobles ride out into the middle of the field to discuss terms for a peaceful solution to the conflict between their nations. Knowing such terms would only result in further oppression and suffering for his country, William Wallace tells his companions to “be themselves” and when they ask where he is going Wallace, his face painted in blue, decked in leather armor, a great sword strapped across his back, wheels his horse around and says, “I’m going to pick a fight.”
Looking beyond the faults of the film and the various liberties taken with the history upon which it is based, the film yet offers us powerful imagery that can help us picture and appreciate what is going on not only in our Gospel today, but throughout our Gospel readings for the coming week. Today Jesus is preparing for war: He is sending His disciples to go and pick a fight with Satan.
Notice how He sends His men: in squads of two, like scouts preparing the way for their General. He tells them to call upon Heaven for reinforcements. Their armor? Poverty. Their provisions? The generosity of those who are allied with God. Their weapons? The Truth. They know they are the advance force: theirs is not to wage war, but only to draw the battle lines by finding out who is friend, and who is foe. The main force will come at another time: “…it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”
Jesus has declared war. The King of Heaven has come to reclaim His Throne. Indeed, Jesus says as much in John’s Gospel: “Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out,” (John 12:31) And with this initial foray into the Enemy’s territory, already Jesus sees victory: Satan fell like lightening from the sky. He fell with great speed, with suddenness, with utter clarity and clamor. The Enemy has already suffered a tremendous and humiliating defeat. Yet Jesus did not lift a finger: these victories were won simply in His Name, the Name at which “…every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth…” (Philippians 2:10). As Christians, He calls us not only to serve Him, but to serve with Him, participating in the great war against the Enemy. He equips us with a great weapon, a sword capable of cutting through the Enemy’s every deception (Hebrews 4:12), and protects us with the armor of His providence. He calls us to arms, to fight beside Him in order to defeat Satan and free humanity from his tyranny forever and to live in peace in the Kingdom of God for, as St. Ignatius of Loyola says in the Exercises: “My will is to conquer the whole world and all my enemies, and thus to enter into the glory of my Father. Therefore, whoever wishes to come with me must labor with me, so that through following me in the pain he or she may follow me also in the glory.”