Jesus Forms His Frontline Team

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟒𝟏:𝟓𝟓-𝟓𝟕; 𝟒𝟐:𝟓-𝟕, 𝟏𝟕-𝟐𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟑𝟑:𝟐-𝟑, 𝟏𝟎-𝟏𝟏, 𝟏𝟖-𝟏𝟗 “𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟏𝟎:𝟏-𝟕

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓.” (𝒗.7) 

         This Gospel reading follows through what we have seen Jesus do in the previous chapters. Amidst the growing rejection of Jesus by the religious elders at that time and even from his own town, He still pursued his mission with unrelenting zeal performing healing miracles, raising up the dead and, teaching in synagogues.

         Now we see Jesus choosing his frontline team whom he will send to evangelize and bring the gospel of salvation to the Jews. It was evident that Jesus went through a painstaking effort to choose from among the disciples who have been following him before he settled on the 12 whose titles as disciples has been renamed to being an Apostle – meaning one who is sent.

         In appointing the 12 Apostles, Jesus did so without forcing them, coercing them or even asked them to volunteer for something they are incapable of doing. He chose them and they accepted because they already saw what He has done and can do, and they probably also want a part of his ministry.

         An Apostle can be likened to an ambassador that a country sends to another country. As such, the Apostles are given the authority and the privilege to represent Christ wherever they are sent and similarly, those who call themselves Christians are also ambassadors who represent the Kingdom of God.

         As modern-day disciples, we are Christ’s ambassadors who are being sent armed with the message of reconciliation to the world. This carries tremendous responsibility, and we should not take this assignment for granted. Much of the world knows nothing about God except what it sees in the lives of the people of God and the responsibility to bridge this gap now rests on us.

         As with the 12 Apostles, Jesus is also calling on us today to represent Him to put order into this dysfunctional world that we live in, but He does so without twisting our arms and we are given the choice to either join Him or be left behind.

         And when He calls, it would be interesting to know how you will respond. Will you be like Matthew who left everything behind and followed Jesus? Are you prepared to do what Peter, Andrew, James and John did who also left a lucrative fishing business to join Jesus? But nothing much can be said about the 12 Apostles.

        What was written though was that they were ordinary men. One, Levi who will later be called Matthew, was despised by his countrymen for selling his soul to the Romans who ruled Judea in those times. This shows that Jesus was not really after men with extraordinary talent and abilities, but He can see through the character of ordinary men who can do extraordinary things. He calls people from all walks of life and if you look at the list of his Apostles, some were fishermen, an activist and a tax collector.

         Today, Jesus is still calling on ordinary men, rich and poor alike, the educated and the uneducated to continue his mission that He passed on to his Apostles and which He is also passing on to us now. This only shows that God can use anyone no matter how insignificant one may be.

         Being ordinary men, Jesus knew that the 12 Apostles He chose can follow after Him once they are clothed with influence and power. But this influence and power can only be acquired by his Apostles and by us if we are to be in His presence all the time. This means that we must wait on Jesus as the Apostles did. We need to deny ourselves and put on the nature of Christ for us to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and cleanse the lepers.

         The 12 Apostles must have been the most loyal followers of Jesus who practically stayed and lived with Him wherever he went, and this is what Jesus may have considered when He chose them because he knew that they must live in His presence before they can go out into the world.

         It’s the same with us as we need to bask in the presence of Jesus so that we can transition from being in the presence of Jesus into the presence of the world to be evangelized. And as we go out to evangelize the world, we must constantly take note of how we are coming across to others because this will give us a clear indication of how well we are representing God.

         This simply means that we cannot go and make disciples of all nations unless we have immersed ourselves in the body and blood of Christ. Every Christian believer is commanded by Christ to bring with him the Word and the image of God’s Kingdom to the ends of the world.

         And what was also striking here was why he sent the 12 Apostles only to the people of Israel and forbidding them to go into the cities inhabited by Samaritans and to the Gentiles. The reason for this is that Jesus knew that the Apostles at that time were not yet equipped to preach to the Gentiles while bringing the gospel of salvation to the Samaritans is a task that He has reserved for Himself (𝐉𝐧 𝟒). Jesus also knew that at some point in the future, a person named Saul will be saved and be transformed, and he would be the one to bring the gospel message to the Gentiles.

         Today, we too are being called to take off from where the Apostles left off. Ours is now a time of religious decay. The permanent vitality of religion is gone, and the mass of people have become superstitious, credulous or indifferent to religion.

         Our Catholic faith is being threatened not only by the religious decay that pervades in our society but even around public governance with the passage of the highly immoral RH Bill as well as several pieces of proposed legislation that would legalize abortion, divorce and same-sex marriage. The growing relativism in our society is also becoming a major concern for the Church.

          The primary reason why we who believe in Him are now being called and are being sent is because the Church that Jesus established exists in order to evangelize – the carrying forth of the Good News to every sector of the human race so that by its strength it may enter into the hearts of men and renew the human race (𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒊 𝑵𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊 14, 18).        

        Oftentimes, many of us who have been called to the renewal lull ourselves into thinking that having attended a Life in the Spirit Seminar is the culmination of discipleship. We must remember that our life in the Community is only half of what discipleship is all about. The other half is outside the Community and or the Church for that matter.

         This is what our church calls as the two-edged mission of lay Catholics – the Ad Intra and the Ad Extra mission of the laity and we can see this from the lyrics of the song “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯” which says: “𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳” (𝘈𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 “𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴’ 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦” (𝘈𝘥 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢).        

         This Ad Intra and Ad Extra mission of the Church is also what the BLD Vision is all about: “𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 (𝘈𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢) 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦.” (𝘈𝘥 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢). (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 9, 2025)