Gospel: Matthew 9: 35-10: 1, 5a, 6-8

The Gospel today has two parts: a brief summary of the activity of Jesus and the beginning of the “Sermon of the Mission''.

Matthew describes in a few words the central points of the missionary activity of Jesus.  To travel through all the towns and villages, Jesus does not wait for people to come to Him; to teach in the Synagogues, that is, in the communities gathered together around the faith in God; to cure all kinds of diseases and illness, the activity of Jesus is the consolation given to the people.

 

Jesus accepts persons as they are before Him: sick, exhausted, tired. He behaves like the Servant of Isaiah; whose central message consists of “consoling the people''. Jesus feels sorry when He sees the situation of the people, He becomes their shepherd, and from the contact with the Father, Jesus receives the consolation to communicate it to the poor.

 

Jesus involves the disciples in the mission. The first thing that Jesus asks the disciples to do is to pray, prayer is the first form of commitment of the disciples for the mission. Jesus gave the disciples the power to cure and to cast out demons.

 

The second thing that Jesus asks the disciples is that they do not begin to teach doctrine and laws, but rather, to help the people who are overcome by unclean spirits and to help them in the struggle against illness.

 

At the beginning, the mission of Jesus was directed to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. They were the persons who were excluded. Jesus wanted the disciples to participate with Him in this mission with these people. But the way in which He takes care of these people, Jesus himself extends the horizon.