WEDNESDAY, FOURTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Hos 10: 1-3, 7-8, 12 Ps 105: 2-7 Mt 10: 1-7
THE FIRST MISSIONARIES
In today’s first reading Hosea speaks against the idolatry of Israel. The hopes for moral reform and for a return to social justice have turned into empty words and false promises. God is asking them and us, to sow integrity and reap a harvest of kindness, to break with the past and to seek the Lord. Mt.10:5 reflects Matthew’s understanding of the mission of Jesus and the church. The pre-Easter mission of Jesus is restricted to Israel. The mission of the risen Lord reaches out through His disciples to all nations. The appointment of the Twelve is not merely as helpers. The Gospel is clear, he elected Apostles to be with him, and to be sent out (Mk 3:13), They symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel, and so stand for the new people of God which Jesus founds.
The discourse puts together certain sayings of Jesus, some of which seem to have been addressed to His first disciples when they were sent to preach in Galilee. The sayings were spoken in different places and at different times, but today, the liturgy addresses the same to us! We are not, of course, to follow literally the instructions given, many of which were meant for missionaries in situation very different from our own. But the attitudes they inculcate (detachment, dependence on God rather than on human techniques, courage in the face of opposition) must inform mission today and be translated into appropriate ways of acting. It is not the letter of the instruction that matters, but it’s Spirit.
The Father is the one who sends messengers into the world to gather those who believe in His love and promises. He also sends His spirits to move the minds and the hearts of their listeners. It is through the Spirit that the uneducated messengers are able to boldly proclaim and preach Christ. The Father sends His Son to the earth and in turn the Son sends His apostles. The Father entrusts to Jesus the realization of this plan, and the Church takes upon herself the continuation of the work initiated by Jesus.
Response: Seek always the face of the Lord.
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