rpstoledosj posted: " Luke 10, 1-12 In today's Gospel reading, we see Jesus sending his disciples as advance parties to the places he intended to visit. He sends out seventy-two other disciples, which means that others had been dispatched ahead. The number seventy-tw"
In today's Gospel reading, we see Jesus sending his disciples as advance parties to the places he intended to visit.
He sends out seventy-two other disciples, which means that others had been dispatched ahead.
The number seventy-two is symbolic. We recall that in last Sunday's reading from the Book of Numbers, Moses appointed seventy-two elders upon the instructions of God; he blessed the seventy who were near the Meeting Tent; two others who had not been able to come received the blessing too.
The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.
Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also, and they prophesied in the camp.
Numbers 11, 25-26
Our Lord is connecting to Moses – showing that he is continuity with and fulfilling the Old Testament message.[1]
He is also describing the readiness of the people for the Good News.
The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.
Luke 11, 2
He is stressing that the harvest is so great that the problem is that there are not enough laborers to bring it in.
Our Lord describes the ideal laborers who can gather it. They must be 'like lambs among wolves.' The laborer must know how to prevail in a world where the hunting techniques of wolves are in play.
Wolves are collaborative and intelligent hunters, for they work together. They are opportunistic hunters who test their prey. Wolves look for weaknesses or vulnerabilities.
Wolves are endurance predators; they chase their prey, waiting to find the appropriate target and pouncing on it at the right opportunity. Wolves hunt as a pack, but individual wolves have specific coordinated roles in the hunt.[2] Younger wolves learn by watching the teamwork and techniques of their experienced and wily elders.
The lambs must prevail against these techniques.
It is instructive that the disciples are sent out in pairs. Teamwork is built-in. For the laborers to be among the wolves, they have to be wise to the ways of the wolves. What should their countermeasures be?
How do sheep protect themselves? The sheep stay in a flock. There they have the advantage of having many eyes and ears looking for and listening to danger signs. Those who leave the protection of the herd become easy prey.
When wolves and other predators charge against a flock, the sheep may disperse to confuse the attacker but regroup in a more tenacious formation. The more powerful and hefty ewes and rams position themselves at the edges of the flock. The rams lower their heads, ready to butt using their horns.[3]
To be lambs amid wolves.
The disciples are sent in pairs so that they can mutually encourage and strengthen each other. They are animated by a sense of urgency; thus, they are to travel light and should not waste time in superficial gestures that would delay rather than help advance their message. They are solely to rely on the strength that comes from the potency of the news they had been missioned to proclaim.
They should be sensitive to the receptivity of those whose initial acceptance of them would assist in their mission. The peaceful person who receives them is worthy of their blessing; therefore, the disciples should be ready to take whatever assistance he or she can offer.
The criteria for staying in a household should not include the disciples' level of comfort with the hospitality offered to them. Their stay should assist in conveying the message of the Kingdom's proclamation. The announcement that God has become incarnate among His people is also expressed in the disciples' sharing in the ordinary life of the people they had been sent to. This solidarity consisted -- at the minimum -- in eating what is set before them.
The disciples are not to be choosy.
They are to show themselves as healers, linking the act of curing with the preaching that the Reign of God is at hand.
When rejected, they are to point out the consequences of rejection but still leave the possibility that their listeners will be more open at a future time.
By shaking the dust from their feet and thus leaving no trace that the disciples were ever in that town, the next visit from disciples will, again, be a first visit.
Today, we are all being sent. We need to focus on how to be like lambs sent among wolves. We need to be open to learning from our adversaries who use all the means, including science and technology, to resist and oppose the proclamation of the Gospel.
We need to learn how to repurpose the same tools to proclaim God's message. Together in collaboration, reliant on the power of God and the message that we have been missioned to proclaim, we as a community draw strength from God and the assistance that He sends through each one of us. We pray in words like that of the Grail Prayer[4]
Lord Jesus, I give you my hands to do your work.I give you my feet to go your way. I give you my eyes to see as you do. I give you my tongue to speak your words. I give you my mind that you may think in me. I give you my spirit that you may pray in me. Above all, I give you my heart that you may love in me your Father and all mankind. I give you my whole self that you may grow in me, so that it is you, Lord Jesus, who live, and work, and pray in me. Amen.
The Grail Prayer
Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, Quezon City, Philippines (2019 October 21)
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