Just this past Sunday, our gospel was Jesus’ commissioning of the Twelve Apostles to begin their first mission in Galilee. As Jesus had done, “he gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.” (Mt 10:1) This coming Sunday the gospel is again taken from Matthew 10:26-33. The message is do not fear but shout the good news from the rooftops!
But what about the 25 verses between the two Sunday gospels? We can gain some insight via the New American Bible headings: Coming Persecutions. There Jesus describes all the elements of their current relationships from family to faith, king and kin – and tells the Twelve, that they will all persecute them for their faith in Jesus. “You will be hated by all because of my name.” (Mt 10:22)
And then we listen to St. Paul in the first reading from 2 Corinthians 11 when he describes the realities of those persecutions: imprisonments, beatings, brushes with death, 40 lashes with a whip – and 5 times at that, stoning, shipwrecked, dangers from robbers, sleepless night, hunger, cold, and the list goes on. He tells us plainly that these were at the hands of religious leaders, kings and local rulers, as well as brothers in the faith.
I can also imagine St. Paul praying our Psalm for today, Psalm 34
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
There was a lot to fear in Paul’s time when Christianity was a foreign thing, perhaps threatening Judaism and Roman rule. What is there to fear in our time, here in the United States? Embarrassment, being ignored, ridiculed. There is plenty to fear in other countries in the world, but what about here? Now? And who if not you?
The harvest is ready, the laborers are many…. If only we could get them in the fields.
Image credit: Image credit: The Sacrament of Ordination (Christ Presenting the Keys to Saint Peter), c. 1636-40, by Nicholas Poussin, Public Domain