The Compassion of Jesus / Sending Out the Twelve - Bible Reflections - Lessons for Passionate Christians

By Tony Joe:

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 9:35-38.10:1.6-8:

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;

so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."

Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

As you go, make this proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. 

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."

The Compassion of Jesus / Sending Out the Twelve - Bible Reflections:

Lessons for Passionate Christians:

Today's Gospel reading spans two Chapters of the Gospel According to St. Matthew - the ending of Chapter 9 detailing Christ's preaching and healing ministry, and the beginning of Chapter 10 where He sends the Twelve Apostles on their first mission.

The first message that strikes us on contemplation, is how Jesus ensured both the spiritual and material well-being of the people whom He was reaching out to.

Today, if we Christians find that our efforts to reach Jesus to those who don't know Him yet, are not bearing enough fruit, look no further than the above message to find the reason.

People are not interested in what Christians have to say, because Christians are not interested in their material well-being too. This is an important lesson to learn for anyone who is involved in Gospel work - the first focus should be on their material problems.

If you don't have any solution for their tough worldly problems, poor chance that they would ever listen to your spiritual lessons. That is why Christian Missionaries have historically succeeded largely on their charitable activities worldwide, and today when that is missing, reaching Christ to others is also not succeeding.

Charity should be the most, or even the only, distinguishing factor for any Gospel worker. In affluent societies, many may not need material charity, but they too may need help on specific fronts, which Christians should be able to deliver on a genuine basis.   

Secondly, note how St. Matthew records that Jesus "went around to all the towns and villages...", which surely means that He preached and healed also in Samaritan towns and villages, as well as in Gentile regions.

Yet, when Jesus sends the Twelve Apostles - which includes today's Gospel writer St. Matthew too - on their first mission He specifically instructs them to focus on the community's towns and villages, to preach and heal only to the lost sheep of Israel.

A little contemplation would reveal why this is so. Preaching the Gospel to Gentiles required a different level of insight as well as experience. In other words, nothing less than a different level of support from the Holy Spirit.

Not everyone can or should do this, and that is precisely why despite having enough Apostles and disciples, Christ purposefully called Saul, a learned and passionate Pharisee who was persecuting Christians, to be the Apostle to the Gentiles.

The same principle applies today, and anyone who is passionate about the Gospel, but considers himself or herself as having only moderate insights, should focus more on the lost sheep of Christianity.

Only after years of bringing back such lost sheep, should anyone dream of reaching out Christ to people of other religions.

Thirdly, watch out for the compassion of Jesus, as noted  in today's reading. Was that compassion only about their diseases or disabilities? That was, of course, there, but it is not the full picture regarding His compassion.

St. Matthew records that Jesus was moved with pity because He understood that the people were "troubled and abandoned...". Nobody cared about them. The commoners or the poorer people in the community were reeling under the Roman occupation on one side, and the strict religious rules thrust on them by the Pharisees and Scholars on the other side.

Even today, when a true disciple of Christ approaches anyone he or she should make sure that they don't come across as too restrictive or too self-righteous. Christ wan't overly restrictive, and it doesn't make sense for any Christian to come across as senselessly restrictive.

The next message to note is Christ's use of the harvest as an allegory. This was to make it clear to His Apostles that the job at hand was not one of convincing or arguing, but of reaching out the message, and simply collecting all those whom God - the Master of the Harvest - had prepared for His Son from time immemorial.

The final message, however, is the most powerful in today's Gospel passage, which is to give without cost what they had received without cost.

This is a powerful message to His various Churches, denominations, and preachers worldwide. Whenever they seek contributions or donations, they run the risk of violating this cardinal rule. Those who preach and provide Christian services do need money to survive, but it should be just that, money that should be just enough for survival.

The only exception to this rule should be when contributions are sought solely for truly charitable purposes.