Gospel: Matthew
9:32-38
A
demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was
driven out the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like
this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out
demons by the prince of demons.”
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. 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. Then he said to his
disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master
of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
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Reflection:
Are you quick
to hurl accusations without careful thought?
After
driving out the demon from the man Jesus is now accused by the Pharisees of
being the prince of demons. A wild accusation that has no basis at all, the
sole basis of their accusation was their hatred towards Jesus. Because He was
easily becoming popular among the masses thus they saw Jesus as a threat to
their rule.
Are we
not like those Pharisees sometimes? We hurl baseless accusation against our
fellowmen simply because we have an axe to grind against them? For example we conveniently
accuse somebody of wrongdoing because we simply want to get back against someone
who did us wrong in the past.
Hurling
baseless accusation is not only exclusive in church organization. In general
terms this happens also among friends, people in politics particularly during
election.
In the
latter part of the gospel, seeing how enormous the crowd was, Jesus said to his
disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. This reflective
statement of Jesus still rings true up to this time. According to Fr. Oscar
Lukefahr in his book: The Catechism Handbook, we the lay faithful comprises
over 99.5% of the church.
The
people who need to know Jesus fully well are very plentiful but those who are
willing to share their labor are very few. Why not share in Christ prophetic
mission by being involved in your church as a catechist or in any ministry that
will help advance the teachings of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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