The Twelve Are Sent

Today's Reflections

                                                                                   

 

The Twelve Are Sent

Mt 9:35—10:1, 5a, 6-8

³⁵Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. ³⁶At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; ³⁸so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

¹Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

⁵Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, ⁶“Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ⁸Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Jesus has come to inaugurate the kingdom of God, and the work continues until he comes again. In the meantime, Jesus’ followers must labor so that all peoples of various places and times may know God and be “harvested” for God’s reign.

Overwhelming though the work may be, to aim for a greater number of laborers is not enough! Workers of the kingdom must be imbued with the compassionate heart of Jesus, and they must do what Jesus did—sharing spiritual liberation, and not just the material benefits of a physical cure. In fact, workers of the kingdom must above all be “disciples,” that is, learners who must begin to think, act, and speak like Jesus.

Think of the “laborers of the harvest” who have convinced you to live for God’s kingdom. Recall what has made them effective “laborers of the harvest” for you.

Pray to have a compassionate

and missionary heart.