Jesus summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. Jesus called his disciples to continue his mission, rooted in the transformative and unifying qualities of the Gospel. He gave them authority, not to rule but to distribute from the storehouse of grace, freely like God. Dear friends, we have this great opportunity to follow Jesus on his way. Discipleship is not achieving a status, but embracing a journey walking close to Jesus. Jesus teaches, heals, feeds, and in doing so, he shows the essential qualities that define the taste of the Gospel and the nature of our ministry.
This Sunday, we learned that peace to be the guiding light for the Gospel that we are sent to preach. The Gospel is Good News, and its primary fruit is peace. Yesterday, we heard that we are meant to offer a blessing. As disciples, we are not just recipients of blessings, but are called to be a sign of God’s time of favour. Today we are told to seek for the lost and cherish the bond of unity. When he came to ‘his own,’ his own did not have any boundary. He reached out to all. The lost sheep or the scattered children of Israel were already dispersed to far places. So, ‘the lost’ for them was the harassed and dejected, and the sheep without a shepherd. It is to them the Good News was given, that the kingdom of God is close at hand. It had to begin at home, a ministry of peace, blessing, unity and seeking out the lost. It is the first ministry, a call to a compassionate search for those alienated from God and community. It is an authority shaped in the life-giving love of God, an authority for people, and for their salvation. The authenticity of our authority is validated by how closely our actions resemble those of Jesus. It is not the authority of the leaders alone; it is of all the disciples.
Joseph had the authority to distribute grain from his store. As disciples, we have the authority to distribute from the store of blessings opening the spiritual granaries of heaven for a world that is hungry and thirsty.
The Gospel often challenges societal norms and personal comfort zones. Some make profit out of conflict, so preaching peace might invite their resistance, we may be termed as siding with those whom they condemn to be evil. Similarly, seeking the lost also may put stigma over us because those who are sought do not come under a holy frame of religion or society. It is easy to turn to a mode of judgement and condemnation instead of a truly contemplative mode rooted in compassion and charity.
We often wish change in ‘the other.’ They may change their ways, they may return to the Lord, they may avoid sins. These rushing to the ‘pagan territories’ may bypass our own primary responsibilities of seeking the lost, the rejected and the lonely or of challenging the systems that have created den of robbers. When eyes are blind with biases and prejudices over the pagan others, our enthusiasm, though honest, may lead to frustration, conflict, or ineffective ministry. It also relates to a lack of understanding of the Missio Dei (the Mission of God), where God is already at work in all cultures. The comfort zones can also define this saying “don't go to pagan territory” as to limit the store of graces to an insulated Christian community. This exclusion fails to embrace the universal call of the Gospel.
Our discipleship is a mirroring the very life and character of Jesus. This initial focus on ‘the lost sheep of Israel’ serves not as a limitation, but as a lesson in mission: that true transformation begins at home, within our own communities and hearts, embracing the harassed, the dejected, and those without a shepherd – the real lost sheep of our time, regardless of their societal or religious frame.
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