The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand
June 18, 2023: A Reflection for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Matthew 9:36-10:8
… so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for the harvest. (Mt 9:37)
One of the major themes in today’s readings is choice and call. In the first reading, God chooses Israel as his own special possession. Not because they were the largest of nations but by his call and grace. In the second reading, Paul speaks of God’s call in Jesus to sinners: “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” And he chose the twelve as laborers in his harvest to spread the Kingdom of God by becoming channels of grace to all with whom they came in contact.
Jesus gives them gifts of service and commissions them to serve others and to be the good news of the kingdom of heaven. His instructions to them were to freely give to others what they had received, generously and with love.
They were chosen and called and it is no different for each one of us. God’s choice and call are irrevocable and given from the overflowing personal love for us. We have received without cost and without cost, our call is to give. To share the love poured into our hearts from the Heart of God.
In the Gospel, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for the crowds. They were like sheep without a shepherd. Wandering aimlessly in search of a deeper meaning in life, Jesus tells them that he is the shepherd they have been looking for. They no longer need to go it alone. They are chosen and called to follow the shepherd.
The call and choice is there for us. It’s so important to have quiet spaces and times in order to open out to this personal love. To know in our depths God’s choice and freely receive the gift. In that stillness, too, to receive the commission to generously share with others. It can be as simple as a small act of kindness, encouragement with a helping hand or simply a smile. But all of it is proclaiming the kingdom God. Not so much by spreading doctrine, but by letting God transform us into his hands and heart. That others can see us and say through our actions, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”