Explication
Every day
Biblical commentaries
Here are the Apostles sent to proclaim through the roads and villages “that the kingdom of Heaven is very near”. They leave to widely share the Gospel and its life force that they received from Jesus. But before giving, they will have to learn to ask, to become hosts: “In each town or village you enter, find out who is worthy of welcoming you. » To reach the humble, Christ wants humble disciples like himself.
The dignity of those who will welcome them, and about which he asks them to find out, is not, in fact, a rigid and proud impeccability, a disease which threatened the believers of the time as well as those of today. We see the Savior, throughout the Gospel, showing himself much more at ease in the company of public sinners than in that of scribes and Pharisees too sure of their knowledge and their virtue.
As we heard yesterday, it is “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” that he sends his messengers. These sheep who will know how to open, with the door of their house, their ears and their hearts. These sheep who will also know how to leave their habits to set out, following the Apostles, towards the announced kingdom. What other dignity could we aspire to than that of belonging to the holy people who, since Abraham, walk humbly in the presence of the Lord?
Other readings: Hos 11, 1… 9; Psa 79
