The harvest is abundant

JESUS sees the enormous work in store for him and his disciples. He uses agricultural images to portray the immensity of people willing to be evangelized and healed. As Jesus sends his disciples on mission, he pictures a shepherd tending sheep and goats. His disciples will go like lambs, meek, vulnerable, and defenseless. They should not go about as landlords but as bearers of the gospel. They will echo only one message: “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” People will find them strange.

Speaking of kingdom, people expect a political kingdom like that of King David. The king or messiah does not have to be divine, but be a strong warrior and leader of armies with political power.

The disciples will disappoint people because they will be proclaiming God’s Kingdom that is developed in their hearts and minds. They are bringing in a new idea, unrecorded in Israel’s history.

Gospel • Lk 10:1-9

The Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’”

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2019,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls. ph.