Wednesday in the 14th Week of Ordinary Time, July 10, 2024

Matthew 10, 1-7

Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the Twelve Apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ”

“Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority.”  During his Public Life the Lord Jesus named and appointed men from among his closest followers as his official emissaries.  He does not do this in private during his appearances after his Resurrection, but out in the open where everyone can see it.  He wanted the people — his other followers and those who flocked to hear him preach — to see these particular men enjoyed his special confidence and that they were to be understood as his representatives.  The Lord was constructing his Church publicly; it was not a secret society or a cult, such as those that flourished in the Roman lands at this time.  His doing this differs from how John the Baptist and the Pharisees managed their followers, who seem to have had no rankings or representative power that Christ’s Apostles were given.  The Apostles themselves understood what the Lord was doing, and therefore felt fully confident in later choosing to replace Judas Iscariot and after that appointing seven deacons to assist them.

The Lord intended the Apostles to constitute a stable body under Peter, as is clear from his name heading the list of Apostles although his brother Andrew was called first.  They were also given a single directive: “Make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ”  And what is the proof that it is “at hand”?  The fact of the presence of the Apostle, the official emissary of Jesus Christ.

“Over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.”  The Lord Jesus gives the Apostles the means of proving that the Apostles are his emissaries and that the Kingdom of heaven has arrived.  He gives them authority over every disease and illness so that they share not only in his mission but in the authority given to him by his Father.

“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  St. Matthew shows Jesus restricting the first mission of the Apostles to Israel in order to remind his Galilean Christian readers that Jesus did not stint in his efforts to convert the Jews and so his rejection by most of the Jews came through no failing of his.  The words of the Lord also mean for us that we should concentrate our efforts of conversion on those nearest to us before going to complete strangers.  Our family, friends, and neighbors can see us every day and know what sort of people we are.  If we live joyfully as Christians, helping others in need, they will be attracted to the One who moves us to do so.  If they see us happily in love with Jesus they will want to have some share in that.

We who are faithful to our Master work together as members of his Body, the Church: confident, purposeful, filled with grace, and looking ahead to a heavenly reward.