A reading from the Gospel of Matthew 9:36-10:8
v 36 When Jesus saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
v 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest’.
v 1 He summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness.
v 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
v.3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
v.4 Simon the Zealot
and Judas Iscariot, the one who was to betray him.
v 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows:
v 6 ‘Do not turn your steps to pagan territory, and do not enter any Samaritan town; go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
v 7And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
v 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.
N.B. Due to technical problems we do not have our usual commentators this week. Sorry about that – Editor
A Few Notes on the text
This is a new stage in Jesus’ ministry. He begins the setting up his foundational community of the Twelve Apostles, calling each by their own name and sending them off on their mission.
Notice the name Judas Iscariot, no cover up here. Jesus accepts our fallen human natures even though our community historically were inclined to deny (or conveniently ‘forget’) their actions for the ‘good‘ of the commmunity.
We can identify with
Jesus himself: the ideal leader, parent, teacher, spiritual guide , even friend as he prepares them or
The Apostles: church communities working out our mission statement together in this ever changing and challenging world, spreading the coming of God’s kingdom on earth through us.
Notice also Jesus emphasis on the free sharing of the Gospel with others and how we all can play our part in that.
– without demanding gratitude,
– or looking be protected from obligations of the ordinary people or
– demanding others become members of our communities.
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