23rd Week of Ordinary Time

Matthew 10:5-15
Matthew 10:16-23
Matthew 10:24-33
Matthew 10:34-42
The Daily Office

I’ll be leaving Wednesday for Camp McDowell and Cursillo 170 in the Diocese of Alabama.  Still needing to prepare for my role as a Spiritual Director, I’m going to post this one meditation for the week, and hopefully give you some general themes to consider as you read through Jesus’s “Sermon on Mission.”  There are actually five sermons in Matthew’s Gospel: The Sermon on the Mount (chs. 5-7); ch. 10 on Mission; the Sermon in Parables (ch. 13); the Sermon on Church Life (ch. 18); and finally the “End-Time” Sermon of chs. 24-25. 

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is the Great Teacher.  In ch. 10, Jesus teaches us about mission.  Yes, his teaching is addressed specifically to “The Twelve.”  But this Gospel was most likely written after that first generation of disciples had died off, for a mixed congregation of Gentile and Jewish Christians learning to love each other and live together.  This Gospel was for that second generation of Jesus’s disciples, and for all generations to come.  So, here are some things to keep in mind this week as you read through ch. 10.

First, God gives us whatever we need to bring Good News to the world around us.  Not what we want, but what we need.  “The laborer deserves his food,” Jesus says in v. 9, or as the Revised Eng. Bible puts it, “the worker deserves his keep.”  As I said in my homily at the St. Francis service, we all struggle not to confuse what we want with what we need.  Can you pare down your wants, and get to the core of what you need to bring the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ?

Second; expect opposition.  Jesus did not bring peace, but a sword.  But the sword isn’t his.  It is the sword of those who are offended by the Good News and respond forcefully.  Of course, if all you ever make in this world are enemies, then no one is actually seeing God’s love.  But the sad truth is that there will be people who do not respond to love with love, but with anger.  When was the last time you did make an enemy?

Finally, to follow Jesus is to share his fate, which includes crucifixion, but also includes resurrection.  “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” (v.42).  The reward is eternal life, and all you need to do is give some cold water.  What little thing can you do for someone else for such a great reward?