Thursday in the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 8, 2021

Matthew 10:7-15

Jesus said to his Apostles: “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words, go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

“As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ”  In the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, the Lord instructs his Apostles on how to conduct their mission.  He gives them very precise rules for what they are to say and do, and even what they are and are not to take with them.  The words they are to say are, translating from the Greek: “The Kingdom of heaven has drawn near”, or, “approached”.  The verb is in the perfect active tense: the action has taken place, with an effect upon the present.  This is very different from the “at hand” in many English translations, which makes it appear that the Kingdom suddenly came out of nowhere and with no preparation.  Also, “at hand” does not convey the dynamism of the Kingdom of heaven which has come to us, which moves of its own accord.  Indeed, the Kingdom had “drawn near” to the people at the time of Jesus, through the promise made to Adam and Eve after their sin, the covenants made with Abraham and Moses, the giving of the Law, and through the preaching of the Prophets who told the people not to give up hope, for a Child would be born to us, and “shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9, 7).  And, finally, through the arrival of Elijah, as was promised by the Prophet Malachi: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Elijah 4, 5-6).  That is to say, as the Lord later confirmed, John the Baptist.  The Kingdom had lately approached in the Person of the Son of God himself, who came down from heaven.

“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”  The Lord here refers to the power, and the authority to execute it, he has bestowed upon his Apostles, who are to cure the sick and even raise the dead.  They are to go into the land of the Jews not as rulers giving out favors but as servants simply going about their duties.  The Lord reinforces this by telling his Apostles that they are to go in their ordinary clothing, taking nothing with them that would indicate they are anything but servants.  In fact, the Lord refers to them as “laborers”.  They are to take no money, for instance, and they are to stay in whatever house they are first welcomed, as though grateful to have any place at all in which to sleep.  They are also not to stay long in any one town: they are not to establish residences as though to rule, but to move about as though in flight.  There is so much to do, so many souls to save.

“Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words, go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”  These are fearsome words.  With all the power the Apostles had received, and all the signs they were performing, only the most hardened, secularized, town would not receive them, at least out of curiosity.  And in all four Gospels, the only town that refused to receive Jesus was that of the Gentile settlement of Gadara, and this after the Lord had exorcised Legion and sent those demons into the swine.  Today there are many people, towns, and even whole societies which are hardened against the Lord.  Many of these are not merely indifferent to religion but actively hostile to it.  The words of love and forgiveness offered by the Lord seem to burn those who hear them.  This reminds us of the need to pray for the conversion of the world, so that hatred of Christ, such as that evidenced by Saul of Tarsus, may become passion for him, as we see in St. Paul.  Thus, the Kingdom may continue to approach, through us.