without Baptism no one can be configured into Christ-Homily for the 11th Sunday in ordinary time JUNE 2023

Homily for the 11th Sunday in ordinary time

Ex 19:2-6a; Ps 100; Rom 5:6-11; Mt 9:36-10:8.

Beloved friends in the Lord, we are once again assured of God’s love for us. He keeps watch over us and even when we do not know our own needs, He goes ahead of us to set them in place. Many a time, we do not know how much the Lord does for us without our asking yet we struggle to hold on to faith if what we requested is not done according to our desire.

The first reading tells us how God reached out to Israel, proposing His love to her. He had delivered Israel from the slavery of Egypt and showed Himself mighty in their sight. But that His plan for the redemption of humanity may be fulfilled, He singled them out among other nations and called them to obedience of His covenant. Only by this shall they be known to be special unto the Lord and be constituted for God into a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Without obedience and faithfulness to our covenant of love with God, we may not enjoy the privileges of being known as belonging to Him, for the path of holiness begins with attentive listening to His voice and faithfulness in love. By it can we show that we are His people, the sheep of His flock.

The opening part of the Gospel expresses the compassion of God in the face of human misery. Jesus saw the crowd, and more than their physical presence He saw their hunger and thirst, hence, He had compassion on them, comparing them to sheep without a shepherd. Turning to His disciples, He asked them to pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into His harvest. This goes to show that it is the Lord who calls into His harvest. It also shows that it is the responsibility of all who follow Him to pray for labourers for the harvest. 

The second part of the Gospel tells of how Jesus called the twelve disciples to Himself and sent them out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. To be sent, we needed to be called first and afterwards learn from the Master what we are to take to His mission. The scope of this first mission is limited to the house of Israel, compared to the mission that follows His resurrection. Here, they are restricted but the mission afterwards will be opened to the ends of the earth, embracing both Jews and Gentiles. While the focus here is conversion, healing and deliverance from demonic forces, the focus of the future mission is witnessing. By it, they are to make disciples, baptise and teach. The Lord gives the right gift for every moment. The focus of the mission in today’s Gospel is people centred but, the focus of the post resurrection mission is Christ centred. They are not therefore only to be delivered from the powers of darkness but they are to be eventually configured into the life of Jesus by their baptism and their learning of His ways. 

As Israel passed through the sea, a form of baptism, before being elected as a people of God in the first reading, so will it be established thatCand be assured of walking in Him who is the Way and Holiness of all. May the Lord who called us deliver us of everything that may be an obstacle to our salvation and through our prayers may He send more labourers into His vineyard. Amen!