Testing a Call
June 18, 2023
Text: Matt 9:35 – 10:8
Our gospel reading for today begins in the middle of Jesus’ ministry. According to Matthew, the disciples who are sent out to teach and preach consist of twelve men who are specifically named. They are given spiritual power to heal and cast out demons. They are to travel light, depend on the welcome of “worthy” people, and simply leave if nobody responds to their teaching. This is a trial run, so to speak. A time to test their call. We don’t actually know how that turned out.
They have been traveling with Jesus for some time, listening to his teaching, watching his welcome for all kinds of people, and absorbing the practical, everyday meaning that God’s realm is close at hand.
Their message? God’s realm is not in the far distant future, reserved for a few scrupulous followers of the Law. That was a revolutionary teaching then, and it still is. Who can watch the news and believe that God’s realm is here and now? And yet, that is our hope and our common call as members of Eighth Day and in the wider Church of the Saviour community.