11TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

1st Reading                Exodus 19: 2-6a

Psalm                           100:1-2, 3, 5 (R. 3c)

R:// "We are his people, the sheep of his flock" 

2nd Reading             Romans 5: 6-11

Gospel                        Matthew 9:36-10:8

ALWAYS DISPENSE GRACE

Friends, Peace and Goodness! Today is the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A). As usual, we have three sets of readings. We shall focus on all three readings with one detail each from the three readings. The first reading is from Exodus 19:2-6a, the second reading is from Romans 5:6-11 and the Gospel passage is from Matthew 9:36-10:8. Let us dive quickly into them.

The first reading, from Exodus 19: 2-6a situates Israel within the desert. Israel just left Egypt two months earlier. After the Red Sea incident, they entered the desert and God feeds them with manna. Now they have arrived at Mount Sinai, "the mountain of God" (Exod. 19:1-2). They pitch camps facing Mount Sinai. A mountain, in Ancient times, was seen as a place of close proximity to God. If Israel faces a mountain and Moses climbs it, it suggests that Israel is ready to listen to the voice of God. In fact, one person, Moses, mediates between God and Israel. The mediating role also puts before us one priestly function. That Priestly act cuts across the first reading. In fact, God told Israel through Moses that "I will count you a kingdom of Priests, a consecrated nation” (Exodus 19: 6). A Priest does not only mediate, but also reflects a divine reality. What it means is that Israel will be a reflection of true obedience to God. Why are they becoming Priests? I suggest the response lies in God reminding them about what he did for them and that is what we should focus on. However, pay attention to the fact that what comes after this narrative is the giving of the Law, the 10 Commandments. That brings to mind the Ancient Near Eastern way of making a treatise. The king would first list his past good deeds before giving laws. God does the same. This points to the fact that Grace comes before Law. 

God said to them that “You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on EAGLE’S WINGS and brought you to myself...". God bore them on Eagle's wings. That is interesting to underscore. Why that image of an Eagle? That is where our major point lies. The image of the Eagle suggests that the eagle was known for teaching its young to fly by carrying them on its back, then releasing them mid-air, only to swoop beneath them if they began to fall. This is the image in Deuteronomy 32:11. This is the tenderness of God’s election. He does not set his people free and watch from a distance. He carries them, mid-air, over every crisis. That is why Israel needs all the more to be reflectors of God's saving act.

To stress why Israel (and we) need to be reflectors of God's saving act, let us consider the Second Reading from Romans 5: 6-11 to see the state in which mankind was and was saved. The author, St. Paul, mentions three states, the next having a stronger and deeper devastation. Three times in this short passage Paul rings the same bell saying, "While we were still HELPLESS" (v.6), "while we were still SINNERS" (v.8), "while we were ENEMIES" (v.10). Let us quickly explore these three quickly to understand the state in which Israel was and in which we ourselves were before we were saved. 

The first is that we were saved "while we were HELPLESS" (Romans 5: 6). Some translations have WEAK. The Greek word translated as such is  ASTHENĒS (ἀσθενής). It was the standard Greco-Roman medical term for a patient too ill to help themselves. In this case, no self-healing or personal effort is possible. The problem is beyond personal human efforts. 

But, what is the nature of the WEAKNESS or HELPLESSNESS. That lies in the second word, SINNERS. The Greek word translated as SINNERS is HAMARTŌLOI (ἁμαρτωλοί). This is a word for active and chronic sinners, people deeply entrenched in sin that they are beyond redemption and recognition. These are not victims of circumstance. 

The third word is ENEMIES, translated from the Greek word ECHTHROI (ἐχθροί). This is a word for active hostility. It is a word used for two parties at war. Now, imagine a person who is at war, yet helpless and deeply fractured. That individual is at the mercy of his opponent. 

Note that in the ancient world, it was conceivable that someone might die for a genuinely good or noble person. Dying for an enemy, however, was not a recognised human category. Remember that Paul is writing to the Romans. In Roman culture, heroic self-sacrifice was celebrated, but always for kin, comrades, or the state. To die for a bad person and an enemy was not the norm and was not celebrated. Yet, Paul teaches them that even when we rebelled against God and were unredeemable and God could have destroyed us, he rather chose to save us. How did he do that?

Precisely, God reconciled us to himself by the death of his Son (Rom. 5:10). That is a very interesting statement. Why? The Greek word Paul uses for reconciliation, KATALLASSŌ (καταλλάσσω), is drawn from the world of international diplomacy and commercial debt-settlement. In Greek usage, "katallage" described the moment when two parties in conflict formally ended their enmity, often by one side paying the outstanding debt of the other. What is startling is the direction of Paul's logic that it is not we who reconcile ourselves to God (as Greek religion assumed where the deity is appeased with sacrifice until the deity relents), but God who reconciles us while we are still adversaries. The initiative is entirely divine, the cost entirely God's. Remember that the carrying on EAGLE'S WINGS is made alive by God taking the initiative to bring us back to life and not leave us to wander away. God does not watch us wander off. He always carries us along, despite our states. What demands from us is faithfulness to his command. It is a daily attempt to stay close to him. 

Let us end with the Gospel and what our task should be. The Gospel, from Matthew 9:36-10:8, has Jesus feeling COMPASSION for the people because they were "HARASSED and DEJECTED, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matt. 9:36). This is a strong realisation. That is the state of the people he saw. Let us swiftly look at that state well. 

The first word, HARASSED (eskylumenoi, ἐσκυλμένοι), comes from skyllō which means to flay, to lacerate, to literally remove the skin of an animal. It describes an animal mauled beyond recognition. The second word, DEJECTED, is from the Greek rhiptō, which means to be flung down or cast aside. It is the same root used for discarding rubbish. He is painting a crowd that has been brutalised by Rome's imperial taxation, by the exploitative temple economy, by religious leaders who loaded burdens without lifting a finger to help.

What did Jesus do when he met a people of such nature? He first prays and says "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest" (v.38). The word used for "Send out" is "ekbalē  (ἐκβάλῃ)' which means to "thrust out" or "drive out". It is a forceful word, the same word used for driving out demons (Matt. 9:34). The implication is that authentic mission requires something almost violent, a being pushed out by God because no one with full comfort would willingly go. Then, "He called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority." The prayer is answered in the very act of praying it. The one who asks God to send labourers discovers that he is already surrounded by them. 

The God who carried Israel on eagle's wings, reconciled us while we were still enemies, and looked with compassion upon the harassed and dejected crowds now sends us into the world. Grace received must become grace shared. Mercy experienced must become mercy offered. We cannot hoard God's gifts. We are called to dispense grace wherever human lives have been wounded, abandoned, or cast aside. In doing so, we become reflectors of the image of God. We are always the labourers surrounding Jesus.

Pax et Bonum