Gospel: Matthew 9: 36 - 10: 8
In ancient times a conquering army would go throughout the vanquished land announcing all the benefits that would come to the region with the new regime, provided everyone obey and stay in line. Something similar happens in modern political elections: candidates promise all sorts of things to voters if they vote for them. What happened then and what happens now is that benefits only befall the privileged few in power.
In proclaiming the arrival of God's kingdom on earth, Jesus ensures that the benefits of the kingdom are bestowed on all, and it is our task to announce similarly. What is more, those benefits are shown in the healing Jesus provides throughout the land, healing we are to provide to all people without qualification. Healing is provided for all conditions and for all people without pre-conditions.
It is the task of the Church to continue this ministry of Jesus in the world: to proclaim that God's kingdom is here for all, and to provide those benefits of healing to all without qualification or pre-conditions as the world does. Jesus sat at table with tax collectors and prostitutes, scribes and Pharisees, betrayers, deniers, and doubters. The table of Jesus is the table of healing open to all, for it is in the process of sharing a meal with others before God that healing takes place. It is the table of the kingdom of God.
1 comment:
As Christians we are faced with a struggle on two fronts. On one, it must challenge the values of the marketplace and call for a new bottom line of love and generosity to replace the ethos of selfishness and materialism. On the other, it must put forward our own positive vision of the world we seek and which was affirmed by the presence of Jesus in our midst.
John Taylor, Chicago, justfaith3@gmail.com
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