Wednesday of the 14th week in Ordinary Time
Readings of the day: Genesis 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a; Psalm 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19; Matthew 10:1-7
Has anybody here ever seen a real shepherd? Today as well as yesterday, in Matthew’s Gospel we hear Jesus using the image of a shepherd to describe his own ministry; his activity, as well as, in the case of today’s Gospel reading, that of his Apostles. After choosing his twelve Apostles by name, Jesus sends them out with these instructions: “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Living and worshipping as we are in the middle of a major city like Edmonton, the image of a shepherd that Jesus offers of himself and his Apostles may not resonate with us, unless we have had past experience on a farm with sheep or other livestock. Few of us have likely had this experience.
Yet we still speak fairly commonly in English in shepherding metaphors. We have phrases like “the black sheep” to describe somebody who does not fit into a community, a family, or other social group. And in our Gospel reading today Jesus speaks of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Why does Jesus, according to Matthew, restrict his Apostles from ministering among the pagans or Samaritans, asking them to “go… to the lost sheep of Israel” only? This is hard to say. I speculate that perhaps Jesus knows the risk of his Apostles; those who minister in his name taking on more in their ministry than they could reasonably handle. Jesus asks his Apostles; asks us to remain focused in our mission. This mission we are given is to contribute to God’s work of salvation in our little corner of the universe, and to trust that our contribution, small though it may be, means something, and that ultimately it is Jesus Christ, not us, who is the Saviour of this universe.
To minister among “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” is still a fairly daunting mission, though, even if we stay focused on our little part of God’s universal mission of salvation as Jesus asks us to do. Who are “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”; of our communities, our households, our Church today? Are each of us not in part shepherds after Jesus Christ and his Apostles, and also at times “the lost sheep”?
Could we not all think of somebody we know, if not ourselves, who struggle with their faith? Perhaps we know somebody does not believe or does not even understand well in order to live a difficult moral teaching of our faith. These are the people whom Jesus asks us to find and, in Pope Francis’ oft-used words, to accompany. May we not shut sinners out of the Church and out of access to God’s grace through the sacraments!
“Go rather to the lost sheep.” In a beautiful reflection on the Fall event in Genesis 3, Jean Vanier once remarked that God’s first words to Adam and Eve after they eat the forbidden fruit are not, “You’re bad,” but “Where are you”? Our mission to find and accompany the lost sheep means to ask this same question of one another that God has been asking us since the beginning, “Where are you”? It is in answering this question, in finding and accompanying the lost sheep, that we will be saved.
Living and worshipping as we are in the middle of a major city like Edmonton, the image of a shepherd that Jesus offers of himself and his Apostles may not resonate with us, unless we have had past experience on a farm with sheep or other livestock. Few of us have likely had this experience.
Yet we still speak fairly commonly in English in shepherding metaphors. We have phrases like “the black sheep” to describe somebody who does not fit into a community, a family, or other social group. And in our Gospel reading today Jesus speaks of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Why does Jesus, according to Matthew, restrict his Apostles from ministering among the pagans or Samaritans, asking them to “go… to the lost sheep of Israel” only? This is hard to say. I speculate that perhaps Jesus knows the risk of his Apostles; those who minister in his name taking on more in their ministry than they could reasonably handle. Jesus asks his Apostles; asks us to remain focused in our mission. This mission we are given is to contribute to God’s work of salvation in our little corner of the universe, and to trust that our contribution, small though it may be, means something, and that ultimately it is Jesus Christ, not us, who is the Saviour of this universe.
To minister among “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” is still a fairly daunting mission, though, even if we stay focused on our little part of God’s universal mission of salvation as Jesus asks us to do. Who are “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”; of our communities, our households, our Church today? Are each of us not in part shepherds after Jesus Christ and his Apostles, and also at times “the lost sheep”?
Could we not all think of somebody we know, if not ourselves, who struggle with their faith? Perhaps we know somebody does not believe or does not even understand well in order to live a difficult moral teaching of our faith. These are the people whom Jesus asks us to find and, in Pope Francis’ oft-used words, to accompany. May we not shut sinners out of the Church and out of access to God’s grace through the sacraments!
“Go rather to the lost sheep.” In a beautiful reflection on the Fall event in Genesis 3, Jean Vanier once remarked that God’s first words to Adam and Eve after they eat the forbidden fruit are not, “You’re bad,” but “Where are you”? Our mission to find and accompany the lost sheep means to ask this same question of one another that God has been asking us since the beginning, “Where are you”? It is in answering this question, in finding and accompanying the lost sheep, that we will be saved.
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