GOSPEL, Matthew (9:32-38)
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
Jesus Heals One Who Was Mute
32 After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”
The Harvest Is Great, the Labourers Few
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
Today’s Gospel contains two distinct parts: Jesus healing a mute demoniac and Jesus’ compassion for the multitudes.
The first miracle provokes the admiration of the humble people who exclaim, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.”(vv.33), but it also gives rise to the malicious criticism of the Pharisees. Willingly closed to the evidence of God, they murmured, ” By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”(vv.34)
In the second part, the Evangelist summarizes the apostolic activity of Christ who “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.” (vv.35)
In this spiritual itinerary, the divine Teacher saw the situation in which the multitudes found themselves. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”(vv.36) He says then to the disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”(vv.37-38)
Jesus employs two images that go back to the Old Testament. “Sheep without a shepherd” describes the situation of the Israelite people, dispersed, without unity and without spiritual guidance; and the image of the harvest indicates the future Messianic Kingdom, which would also be the last harvest at the end of days, which is, the last judgment by God. Jesus came to say; everything is ready for the harvest, but reapers are needed.
As in the past, today we need a Church in a permanent state of mission: to live a deeper co-responsibility and the full expression of the mystery of ecclesial communion; to promote the apostolate of the laity in all sectors; create new forms of witnessing and effective presence, especially in unprotected and disregarded environments.
PRAYER
Lord, Send many good workers into your field and animate in us an apostolic spirit of welcome, presence, witness and deliverance of the unprotected, because the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of our brothers and sisters are ours with Christ. Amen.