This Sunday’s readings highlight God’s special covenant with Israel, and, in Christ, with the whole human family. Like the Twelve Apostles in today’s Gospel, Christians are called to graciously announce the arrival of God’s kingdom.
Let us celebrate God’s covenant by singing the refrain of the psalm: “We are his people: the sheep of his flock” (Ps 100).
The Exodus reading recounts Israel’s arrival at Mount Sinai after its journey from Egypt. As the community encamps, Moses ascends Sinai to hear the Lord’s initial words. They capture the essence of the Exodus story. First, the Lord tells Moses to say to the house of Jacob that its escape from Egypt has been his gracious action in saving them and preparing them to become his own people:
“You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings, and brought you here to myself.”
Second, the Lord invites them to enter a covenant to keep his commandments and thereby become his “special possession”:
“Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”
“Holy” (qadosh) has the sense of being “other” or “separate.” Israel’s otherness consists in its unique status as God’s people, set apart in the world to keep the Lord’s commandments.
In the Romans reading, Paul proclaims the consequences of the death and resurrection of Christ for humanity. In the previous verses, he describes the salvation available to all in Christ through several metaphors. Christians have been “justified by faith,” made “at peace with God,” and given “access to grace.” Although in one sense Christ has already achieved salvation, Paul is also aware that it is not completed. Christ’s death and resurrection have made salvation accessible, but the Christian community must endure in faith and hope until Christ’s return. The source of Christian hope in the time of suffering and testing that precedes Christ’s return is what God has already done for us through the death of Christ:
“While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ... God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
The Gospel is Matthew's account of Jesus' sending the Twelve Apostles on mission to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” It emphasizes both Jesus’ compassion for his fellow Israelites, who are called to be God’s “special possession” (recall the Exodus reading), and his apostles’ share in his miraculous power to manifest God’s kingdom. In the preceding verse, Matthew summarizes Jesus’ mission in Galilee (see chapters 5-9): “Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.” But Matthew tells us, “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” The shepherd and the abandoned sheep of his flock are traditional images for the Messiah’s task of restoring the twelve tribes, especially after the tragedy of the exile (see Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34). Jesus now turns to his disciples, and, using another Messianic metaphor, that of the farmer gathering his harvest, sends the Twelve on mission to share in his work of restoring Israel:
“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
At the end of the Gospel Jesus will send his apostles to the other nations, and at that point he will also commission them to teach what he has commanded them:
“Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
