Homily Outline Combining Resources

Homily outline on the Great Commission as an invitation into the Jesus Story

All the gospels agree that Jesus was an effective and renowned teacher.

• At times, the teaching is presented in discourses
  • Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount
  • John’s discourse during the Last Supper
• Parts of the discourses are easily memorable
  • Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount
  • “I AM the vine; you are the branches” from the Last Supper discourse

Besides the lengthy discourses, Jesus’ teaching repertory also included parables

• The essence of the parable is to challenge listeners’ preconceptions and highlight the values of the Kingdom of God.
• Some parables like “The Good Samaritan” and “The Prodigal Son” are masterpieces of the storyteller’s art.
• While today’s Gospel does not contain any explicit parables nor very much of a story
  • When connected with Luke’s story telling in the opening reading
  • It could be refreshing and revelatory to think about the Gospel’s “Great Commission” as an invitation into the Jesus Story.

Recently scientists have tried to understand what renders stories so effective.

• Neuroscientists, psychologists and other scientists are exploring why story telling is such an effective form of communication.
• Brain studies have shown that at a purely physiological level
  • personal and emotionally compelling engage more of the brain
  • and are more memorable than a set of facts
• Also at the physiological level it is proven that effective story telling prompts the brain to release neurotransmitters or chemical messengers
  • such as  oxytocin, the so called “love drug”
  • which stimulates people to become more generous, and compassionate,
  • which is why they are effective in fundraising or recruiting for some cause.
• Our own experience teaches us that
  • stories can motivate and inspire
  • but more than that, they can transport the listener into another’s world
  • and thus are powerful tools for facilitating shared learning and mutual understanding. 
• Effective narratives are less about transmitting information than about communicating values.
  • Stories can consequently be understood as acts of meaning making.  
• One scientist considers storytelling a kind of mental simulator 
  • Allowing us to experience new and vivid simulations of reality
  • Without all of the danger.

Catechism or Commission?

• Many people learned religious truths through Catechisms.
• Some of these were in a question-and-answer format, like the Baltimore Catechism.
• Other religious education texts or approaches were similarly focused on communicating “information”
• Human experience and now scientific data remind us that such information is less inspiring than stories of conversion of faith.
• Thus, biblical scholar and literary critic Amos Wilder held 
  • That not only was narrative a primary literary mode of the Old Testament and New Testament
  • But that Christian communication itself is ordinarily achieved through story.
• In today’s gospel, the apostles are entrusted with the Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations.”  
• The best storyteller of the New Testament, Luke, shows us how that is done in today’s first reading
  • Luke vividly tells the story of Jesus’ Ascension and promise to send the Spirit.
  • He illustrates that true catechesis is telling the stories.
  • Furthermore, as an evangelist he gives witness to the importance of living the story.
  • Luke does not simply write or speak, he lives the Jesus story.

Missionary disciples

• In his powerful apostolic exhortation, the Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis calls us to be “missionary disciples.” 
• We do this by our words and our deeds.  
• Christians believe themselves heirs to “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
• By living the Jesus story, we give witness to its continued transformative power
  • and keep the Jesus narrative in all of its beauty and hope alive today.