A reading from the gospel of Matthew 9:32-38
32 A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
33 and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
34 But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”
35 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.
36 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.
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
38 so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Reflection: Compassion and Delegation
The first point for our reflection regarding our gospel reading is the compassion of Jesus. He is moved with compassion for the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the marginalized, and the ignorant. It is this compassion that fuels His energy to exorcise, teach, preach and cure every diseases and illnesses.
The second point is delegation. Though Jesus shares the power of His Father in heaven, He cannot do it alone. He needs laborers to help Him. He is calling us to do our part. He wants to delegate to us some of the work in His vineyard.
We must remind ourselves that we were created with a mission and part of that mission is to share in the work delegated to us by Jesus, the Master of the vineyard. Recall that in Hebrew 1:1-3, we share in his threefold mission as prophet, priest, and king.
Jesus uses the metaphor of harvest to point to us the unfinished work of salvation. Even as I write this reflection, millions of people in our world today are still living in abject poverty, millions are homeless, uneducated and in need of hospitalization. Above all, millions are still to be evangelized. Do you have the same compassion for them like Jesus?
Jesus planted the seeds of hope more than 2,000 years ago. The harvest was abundant then as it is now. Who will go and work in the field? He is calling you!
