July 6, 2022 Matthew 10:1-7

We begin today the second of Jesus’ five discourses that are a unique feature of Matthew’s gospel. It consists of the instructions Jesus gives his disciples on how to implement their mission and the reactions they can expect in carrying it out.
It begins with the convening of the inner circle of twelve disciples. Matthew assumes that we already know about their formal selection, since he does not recount it. These twelve disciples are now called apostles.
These two words have different meanings and we should not confuse them. A disciple (Latin discipulus, from discere, to learn) is a follower, someone who learns from a teacher and assimilates that teaching into his own life. An apostle (Greek apostolos, ‘apostolos from apostle) is one who is sent on a mission, one whose task is to spread the teacher’s teaching to others. In the New Testament, a distinction is made between the two types of persons. All the Gospels, for example, speak of Twelve Apostles and only Luke mentions 72 Disciples.
However, this does not mean that the two roles are mutually exclusive. On the contrary, all of us who are called to be disciples must also be apostles, actively sharing our faith with others. It is very easy for us to see ourselves, “ordinary” Catholics, as disciples and consider only priests and religious as engaged in the apostolic work of the Church. That would be very wrong. Each of us is called to be a disciple by virtue of Baptism and Confirmation and is therefore also called to be an apostle.
It should be noted that Jesus chooses very ordinary people, most of them hard-working fishermen without social status, culture or political influence, because the Master is sure that they would be very effective instruments in God’s hands. They are a strange mix of people. Matthew is a hated tax collector for a foreign power, while Simon the Canaanite is a Zealot, a fanatical nationalist determined to destroy Roman rule by any means. The others are mostly professional fishermen with a lot of good will, patience, and endurance. They are united only by their admiration and love for Jesus. Jesus chooses them after a night of prayer, gives them a share in the divine powers of healing and exorcism, and sends them to announce that the “Kingdom of God is at hand.”
Messages of life
– This text speaks not only of the Church’s beginnings, but of its enduring mission: to keep God’s newness alive, in word and deed.
– Each of us can contribute to it, whatever our situation and possibilities.
– Each one of us, called to be a disciple by virtue of Baptism and Confirmation, is also called to be an apostle.