11th Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Scripture readings for this Sunday are all about the great compassion Jesus has for the crowd who were his followers. In the first reading the Israelites are reminded that God led them out of Egypt. The psalm tells us that God cares for us. In the second reading, Paul tells us that God proves His love for us because Christ died for us. In the gospel, we hear how Jesus cared for the people and sent his disciples to do the same. Jesus wanted to bring the Kingdom of his Father to them, so he set out to heal them, and sent the apostles out to do the same. His aim was to bring them the peace of God, to help them by healing their worries, their sickness, their embarrassment at being lost sheep without a shepherd as God was always the shepherd in Israel. When he called the twelve apostles he was making a New Israel, a new set of twelve tribes, as a permanent healing body, to make sure that the Kingdom of the Father and its peace and generosity would always be available to everyone everywhere.
He was not setting up a group of leaders, instead he was appointing his own helpers in spreading God’s Kingdom. Do we make it our business to spread the Kingdom of God? Are we labourers in the vineyard, trying to bring God’s peace and healing to all the people of God? All of us are made in the image of God, and he gave us the task of following on his creative work. And then we are all called to follow Jesus, we are all called to make his message known to all people, those around us as well as the people at large. Like the chosen people of Israel we are counted a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation. We are called to minister to the people in our own time, taking responsibility for our own mission. This is a matter for all of us. As Blessed John Henry Newman wrote: He called us first in baptism; but afterwards also; whether we obey his voice or not, he graciously calls us still… Abraham was called from his home, Peter from his nets, Matthew from his office, Elisha from his farm, Nathanael from his retreat. The call that Christ makes to us takes us onwards, It is a call to be the church of the future just as the Apostles were called to be the Church of the future at its beginning.
Jesus mission is to the lost sheep. It is his desire and endeavour to bring together, those he pities, those he looks on with love. So today Through the words of the Gospel may we hear again our own call to be emissaries of God’s love and bearers of Good News. May we allow the kindness and compassion of God to touch our own lives and the lives of those around us wherever we are.
Fullerton T 