Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Exod 19:2-6a; Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5 (3c);
Rom 5:6-11; Matt 9:36–10:8
“[Y]ou shall be my special possession,
dearer to me than all other people” (Exod 19:5)
At a funeral I recently attended, one of the daughters got up to give the eulogy. She began by saying, “I always knew that mom loved me best.” I looked over at the faces of her two sisters and her brother, who seemed a bit disconcerted. The daughter went on to sketch out all the ways she knew she was her mom’s favorite. Then she turned to her older sister and asserted, “I always knew she was mom’s favorite,” and then proceeded to tell all the reasons why. And so it went until she had recounted all the ways she knew her mom loved each of them the best.
In the first reading this Sunday, Israel wants to think of itself as God’s special possession, dearer to God than all other people (v. 5). They believe this is true because of how God bore them up “on eagle wings” when they were fleeing the Egyptians. This reading was likely part of a covenant renewal ceremony, in which God’s past saving deeds are recalled, as Israel recommits itself to the One who chose them and always remains faithful to them. Yet even as God speaks of the special relationship with the Israelites, there is a hint that God also loves others best at the same time, “though all the earth is mine.”
Similarly, in the gospel, when Jesus summons the Twelve and sends them out to proclaim the nearness of God’s reign and to heal and seek out the lost, these apostles may have thought that they were most specially chosen and loved. Indeed, they were. But they were also told to pray for the master of the harvest to send out more laborers. In other words, there are others who are just as loved and favored who are also called to share in the mission. When we think of the symbolism of the number twelve, we can see that twelve represents the whole people. Just as the whole of Israel consisted of twelve tribes, so the whole renewed people of God is symbolized in the Twelve chosen by Jesus. Just as all the Israelites were to be “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Exod 19:6), so all of Jesus’ disciples, symbolized by the Twelve, are called to make God present in the world, mediating the divine presence and holiness (a priestly function), and being agents of healing and reconciliation.
The daughter who gave the eulogy told of how some of the times she knew her mother loved her best were moments when she had been disobedient or had done something hurtful. It was the undeserved forgiveness and tenderness of her mom that convinced her she was the most beloved. This is the kind of loving mercy that Jesus’ disciples have received and that he asks them to extend to others. It is not something that can be earned. “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give” (Matt 10:8).
In Matthew’s version of the sending of the Twelve, he instructs them not to go into pagan territory and not to enter a Samaritan town, but to go only “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:5-6). Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus reiterates to a Canaanite woman who wants her daughter healed that his mission is only to his own people (15:24). It is not until the end of the gospel that the Matthean Jesus sends his followers out to “make disciples of all nations” (28:19, NRSV). What began as a movement directed to one people who were specially chosen and loved by God soon expanded to become inclusive of all people, with the recognition that God’s love is limitless and God loves each one best.
1. Reflect on all the ways you know that God loves you best.
2. As you pray, join God in gazing with love at one whom you find difficult to regard as specially chosen.
3. How do you tend “lost sheep”?