7/13/2023 (Thursday) Today’s gospel reading: Matthew 10:7-15

7 Jesus said to his Apostles: “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
9 Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;
10 no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The labourer deserves his keep.
11 Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave.
12 As you enter a house, wish it peace.
13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.
14 Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.
15 Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

7/13/2023 (Thursday) Today’s gospel reflection: Matthew 10:7-15

“The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus has come and His kingship is inaugurated. At hand means it is within our grasp. We can have it here and now. We can live in it. We can live it now, not just proclaim it. It means we accept Jesus as our King and thus we put our lives in His total influence. It means we surrender to His lordship so that we no longer live for ourselves but that Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). In a way, we become slaves of Him but at the same time freed from worldly influence.

The proclamation that the Kingdom of God is at hand gives us a sense of urgency. We can’t put it off or delay its realization. Let’s make the Kingdom of God a reality now, not tomorrow. Yet the call to make Jesus the King to everyone and everywhere is ignored too often. The consequence is the sorry state of the world. Nevertheless, we don’t despair. Instead, we let the words of Jesus alive: Go and make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matthew 10:7)

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“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

As Jesus sends His apostles on mission, He instructed them to preach about the Kingdom of God, perform healing, raise the dead and cast out demons. Moreover, they are to do these things without expecting any payment. Since they have received these blessings for free, they are to give them away for free! Thus, Jesus is teaching them to be generous just as their Master is generous. Jesus is teaching us too to serve Him without any expectation of profit. We only need to trust in divine provision. After all, God is our good Father who is abundantly gracious beyond our imagination.

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Although Jesus empowers the people He calls and sends as His messengers, let us always be reminded that He sends human beings, not angels or supermen. As such, the messengers of Jesus still have their own weaknesses and frailties. That is why they need our prayers and full support. We may criticize them sometimes but we must never intentionally destroy them with our careless remarks and actions.

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