Matthew 10: 1-7
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
A Receptive Heart
“Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
After the Resurrection, Jesus sent the apostles out to proclaim the good news to all the world. Today, he sends them to their own people. Perhaps he wanted them to get some practice among people whose context was more familiar; perhaps he wanted them to see how much diversity was already present “in house.” Jesus was thrown out when he preached at his hometown synagogue!
In the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius writes that the good spirit coming to a receptive heart, moving towards God, is like water falling on a sponge. If it falls on an unreceptive heart, turned away from God, it is like water falling on rock. How does the good news that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” land with me? Am I hesitant, fearful, joyful, awestruck? Am I a sponge or a rock when the news of the kingdom of heaven falls on my ears?
—Molly Mattingly is the Music Ministry Coordinator at Creighton University Campus Ministry and St. John’s Parish in Omaha.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, let my heart be open to your good news!
—Molly Mattingly
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