From Compassion to Mission!
Year A – Ordinary Time – 11th Sunday
Matthew 9:36–10:8: “When Jesus saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them”
After the Lenten and Easter journey and the celebration of the great solemnities, we return to Ordinary Time, during which we shall be accompanied by the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. We are invited to take up once again the “ordinariness” of our Christian life, lived in the following of Jesus.
Today’s Gospel passage introduces us to the second of the five great discourses of Jesus presented by the evangelist Matthew: the so-called “mission discourse”, which occupies chapter 10. The first had been the programmatic discourse delivered on the mountain of the Beatitudes, in chapters 5–7. After having “spoken”, Jesus had “acted”, healing “every disease and every infirmity” in chapters 8–9.
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
This second discourse, like the first, is born from a look of Jesus that deeply touches his heart: a look of compassion. How much we too would like to feel this gaze resting upon us when we feel tired, discouraged and lost!
And yet, that same gaze continues to rest upon the suffering crowds of today, upon every man and every woman, upon each one of us. Why do we doubt it? Has Jesus’ gaze perhaps become short-sighted? Has his heart perhaps hardened?
Do we not risk reasoning as happens in some religious traditions of West Africa, where I lived the mission? People believe in a supreme god, Mawu, but imagine him as distant, withdrawn into heaven so as not to be disturbed by human beings, after having entrusted the earth to the vodun, who would govern it as they please. Except that our vodun have different names: wealth, power, fortune, destiny, bad luck…
Some currents of contemporary thought can also lead, in practice, to a similar mentality. Let us think, for example, of a philosophical vision that conceives the Creator as isolated and detached from his creation. Some extreme forms of post-theist theology also risk calling into question the incarnation and the fundamental principles of the Christian message.
– O Jesus, we pray to you: let your gaze meet ours today and heal our way of looking!
“Then he said to his disciples: The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few!”
The harvest is plentiful? Perhaps Jesus is referring to the vast field still to be sown? No, he is speaking precisely of a harvest ready to be gathered, but which risks being lost for lack of labourers.
And where might this harvest be found? “Certainly not here, where only weeds grow!”, someone might say. At times we even ask ourselves whether it is still worth preaching the Gospel in a society that seems not to care about it at all. Jesus, instead, with his gaze of compassion, sees precisely here a plentiful harvest to be gathered into his barn.
– O Jesus, give us your clear gaze, free from prejudice, deep and compassionate, capable of recognising the “abundant” good still present in our society today!
“Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!”
Praying for vocations? Yes, indeed! But why does the master of the harvest allow himself to be prayed to so much? Does he not see for himself that pastoral workers, apostles and missionaries are lacking?
The Lord, however, invites us to pray so that our gaze may change and our heart may become like his. And then… he sends us! Yes indeed: he is not thinking only of priests and religious sisters; he is thinking of each one of us. And here the matter becomes serious!
– Lord, make our ear sensitive to your call to work in your vineyard!
“Calling to him his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal every disease and every infirmity.”
Here it is: Jesus calls us and prepares us. He does not send us unprepared before such an immense task. It is, in fact, a matter of fighting the “unclean spirits” that grip our society. They are many: war, hunger, injustice, exploitation, consumerism… They must be cast out and sent back to hell!
But do we truly believe in the power that the Lord has entrusted to us, in the strength of the same Spirit that was at work in him?
It is also a matter of healing “every disease and every infirmity”, physical and spiritual, because the Lord wants to promote the fullness of life and our authentic freedom. But take care: we ourselves are wounded healers, not immune from these infirmities. We too are marked by selfishness, envy, self-love, indifference, fear, doubt and violence.
– Lord, make us more courageous before the challenges of today’s world. Make us aware that we too are wounded by life, but, as Pope Francis used to say: “Sinners yes, corrupt never!”
“The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who later betrayed him.”
There are twelve of them. They represent the twelve tribes of Israel and, therefore, the whole people of God. Only men? This is not a question of an exclusivist intention on the part of Jesus: today we are well aware of this. What matters, in the Gospel account, is the totality symbolised by the number twelve.
Let us notice, first of all, that they are very different people, each with their own qualities and defects. They were certainly not already all “holy and capable”, as Comboni wished his missionaries to be. I do not know how many of them, today, would be considered suitable to enter the seminary! This reminds us that Jesus is not looking for perfect people: he is looking for you and me!
Let us also notice that the apostles are named in pairs. This is not merely a mnemonic device: it means that we are not lone rangers. We are witnesses sustained by a community and sent together with others.
Finally, let us notice that in the “family photo” there appears an embarrassing figure: Judas. Why? It is a warning: Judas can represent each one of us!
“These are the Twelve whom Jesus sent out, instructing them: Do not go among the Gentiles and do not enter the towns of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Alas, Jesus sends us precisely among our own people, among those close to us, among those at home. “Was it not you yourself, Jesus, who said that no prophet is accepted in his own country?” I would prefer to go to Africa!
“As you go, proclaim, saying that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.”
We are sent to bear witness, with a smile and with joy, with kindness and forgiveness, that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand!
We are sent to perform wonders: not necessarily spectacular ones, but the small daily miracles, freely given and often unnoticed. They are gestures of love capable of healing wounds, of raising hope in someone, of cleansing the leprosies of the soul and of casting demons out of hearts.
Have a good mission!
Fr Manuel João Pereira Correia, MCCJ
Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
Sunday Reflection
from the womb of my whale, ALS
Our cross is the pulpit of the Word
