JESUS COMMISSIONS HIS APOSTLES

Matt 10:7-15

Jesus in today’s gospel commissions His disciples for a mission to speak in His name and to act with His power or to carry on the works which He does. And this is followed with clear instructions: to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out devils. In other words, “go and proclaim the gospel in words and deeds. The Gospel is not something that we passively listen to or just sit back and read but it is active, alive and challenges us to do great things. It is getting busy helping others.

{It is like the beginning of the King’s commission to his messengers. The word which is used in the Greek for Jesus commanding his men, or giving them orders is interesting and illuminating. It is the word paragellein. This word in Greek has four special usages: 1) It is the regular word of military command. Jesus was like a general sending his commanders out on a campaign and briefing them before they went. 2) It is the word used of calling one’s friends to one’s help. Jesus was like a man with a great ideal summoning his friends to make that ideal come true. 3) It is the word which is used of a teacher and his precepts to his students. Jesus was like a teacher sending his students out into the world, equipped with his teaching and his message. 4) It is the word which is regularly used for an imperial command. Jesus was like a king dispatching his ambassadors into the world to carry out his orders and to speak for him.}

Just like the twelve apostles whom Jesus chooses, we too, through our baptism, have the responsibility to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and drive out demons.  But can we do theses four? Yes we can. We can cure the sick even if we are not professional medical doctors. We can help sick people who are physically, psychologically and spiritually unwell by being ‘Care Givers’ to them.

If taken literally, we cannot raise the dead. But there are people who are dead in their faith because of many difficulties in their life. People who are dead because they have lost hope for a better life. They don’t go to Mass anymore and pray; they don’t meditate and read the Bible. They question their faith in God. They have fallen away from the faith for because of a simple misunderstanding. We can provide spiritual assistance to these who are dead in their faith. We can be instruments of hope to those who have lost hope.  We can help them by answering a question about the faith; providing information that will help to heal a person of his spiritual illness and to clarify his doubt about the faith and hope.

We can cleanse the lepers? But first of all, who are the lepers of our lives? If we spell backward the word L-E-P-E-R, what we have is R-E-P-E-L. In other words, the lepers of our lives are those individuals we keep away from, we offer resistance to, those we reject. What are we going to do?  Smiling at them; by offering them our help with their project; by sending them a greeting card, surprise them in some way that causes them to ask why is this person is being so kind to me.

The disciples were to cast out demons. A demon-possessed was a person under evil power; he was no longer master of himself and of his actions; he is controlled by the devil. We still have people who are possessed by the evil in our days; people are still dominated by evil habits; evil fillings, evil deeds and so on. Today Jesus calls us to cast out those demons; he gives us mandate to bring the liberating power of God to all who are enslaved by sin.

Christ is calling us to do His work now here on earth.  We all have different talents.  We all have different abilities to accomplish the work Our Lord has entrusted us. Let us do it.