The gospel (Mt 9, 36 – 10, 8)
At that time, seeing the crowds, Jesus was moved with compassion towards them because they were helpless and defeated like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. » Then Jesus called his twelve disciples and gave them authority to expel unclean spirits and to heal all sickness and disease. Here are the names of the twelve Apostles: the first, Simon, named Peter; André his brother; James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philippe and Barthélemy; Thomas and Matthew the publican; James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the same one who betrayed him.
Jesus sent these twelve on a mission with the following instructions: “Do not take the way that leads to the pagan nations or enter any city of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you travel, proclaim that the kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received: freely give. »
Other readings: Ex 19, 2-6a; Ps 99 (100); Rm 5:6-11
To understand
The Twelve sent two by two
Jesus chooses 12 apostles and this number is not insignificant. Indeed, Israel is made up of 12 tribes from the 12 sons of Jacob. By choosing 12 men, Jesus thus constitutes a new Israel, the people of the New Covenant. It is an act of refoundation.
In general in the Bible, the name designates the person in their uniqueness: to name someone is to recognize them, to call them. And in the Gospel, Matthew takes care to give the names of each person; he does not summon an anonymous crowd, but chooses individuals, personally, by name.
These names are listed two by two: Simon and André, Jacques and Jean, Philippe and Barthélemy… The first two duos are pairs of brothers. Jesus therefore sends brothers together, as if human brotherhood prefigured apostolic brotherhood. Moreover, Luke explicitly specifies that he sends them “two by two” (Lk 10:1): no one is sent alone. This is not an organizational detail, but it is a sign that the witness of Christ is never an isolated individual: the Gospel is always carried by a community, by the Church.
Meditate
Jesus sends us
Jesus looks at the crowd and is overcome with compassion because these men and women are “distraught and dejected”. Perhaps the crowds are exhausted by work, illness, the feeling of wandering without a shepherd? This look of Jesus on the crowd, I receive as a look also placed on me, on those around me. How many times have I myself wandered looking for someone to show me the way?
But in front of this crowd, Jesus does not remain alone. He chose 12 men, the Twelve, and gave them authority over unclean spirits and to heal. It is not a power they possess, but it is a power they receive. They are apostoloi, that is to say sent. And Jesus sends several of them to do what he himself does, that is to say “to proclaim that the Kingdom of heaven is near, to heal the sick, to resurrect the dead, to purify the lepers, to expel demons.” This program is none other than that of the expected Messiah, the one that Isaiah announced (cf. Is 35:5-6; 61:1). By associating the Twelve with his own mission, Jesus does not delegate his mission, but he brings them into his very identity as Messiah. And the reader that I am, am I called to participate in it?
Each time I visit those who suffer, that I welcome those whom society rejects as a leper, that I raise up with a word or a gesture those who believed themselves to be dead, I participate in this mission, I become a worker of the harvest. The Kingdom is not a distant place: it happens where someone, sent by Christ, brings freely what he has freely received.
“Freely you have received, freely give. » This final word from Jesus reminds me that I cannot offer anything that I have not first received. My faith, my hope, my charity: all this has been given to me. I am then invited, in my turn, to donate it without calculation or restraint, like Jesus himself.
Pray
Lord Jesus, you who look at the crowds with compassion, teach me to see my brothers with your gaze.
You send me, as you sent the Twelve, to bring your Good News to where I live. Give me the courage to be a worker in your harvest, to pass on freely what your generosity has given me.
May your grace act through my weakness, and may your Kingdom come to establish itself in the hearts of those I meet. Amen.
