Gospel: Matthew 10: 7-13
When foreign armies entered a town or territory about to be taken by them, the announcement of such an event was not something people looked forward to. Everyone knew what was likely to come: slavery, exile, looting and loss of possessions, and rape. The only way to be spared such things was to be disloyal to your people and consort with the coming enemy. The options were not great ones, and the anticipation of such announcements created dread.
So, when Jesus tells his disciples to announce the coming of God's kingdom, it is to be done entirely differently than these armies of the world do. Peace would be proclaimed and offered to all. Those wounded by the occupations of the world would find healing. Those in bondage from the demons of the world would find liberation. God's kingdom brings amnesty and pardon, not judgment and condemnation.
In proclaiming the coming of God's kingdom to the world, we are like movie producers releasing trailers that provide glimpses of what God's kingdom in full will be like: a place of peace, of healing, of liberation, of amnesty and forgiveness. If that is not the trailer we are playing, we are promoting the wrong movie.
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