In the Exodus story that we hear today, Moses and the people of Israel are in the midst of their journey through the desert as they travel toward the promised land. They have not yet received the ten commandments from God. Yes, the Lord liberated them from slavery in Egypt, he saved them from Pharaoh’s army when he parted the Red Sea for them. But, then in their seemingly endless journey in the desert, they had no shelter, little food, scarce water, and no assurances of when this was going to end. When the Lord tells Moses: assure the people that I bore them up on Eagle’s wings and brought them to myself, the people are probably thinking: with all the struggle and strife we have been going through on our journey, it does not feel like we have been born on Eagle’s wings and are being brought to the mountain of God. Yet, if they really looked at what had happened to them in these miraculous events, of how God liberated them and was leading them through the desert to this new land, they would be able to understand the symbolism of being born on Eagle’s wings, how their very existence was due to God’s sustaining them and helping them.
This is a great lesson we can take from our Scripture readings this Sunday. We are called to look at the deeper meaning and the deeper message of our own personal history, of salvation history, of our journey with God. So often we can get caught up with the trials and sufferings of the present moment, perhaps we are unaware of where we came from and where God is leading us. God has been there with us in the past, he is with us in the present, he is leading us to a future. But sometimes we do not see it.
In Matthew’s Gospel today, Jesus sends his twelve apostles to preach his message in the world. He sends the disciples out to visit the people, because he sees them as sheep without a shepherd, of really needing to hear his proclamation of God’s kingdom. Yet, Jesus does not do this alone, as he enlists his disciples. He is sowing the seeds of the early Church. At this time, the vision is to preach to the nation of Israel, to bring back the lost sheep of that nation. But many Jews had a preconceived idea of what the renewal of God’s kingdom on earth and the Messiah would look like. Many expected a military leader who would free them from foreign rule or who would re-establish the previous kingdom of Israel.
For Jesus, establishing the kingdom of God meant strengthening our awareness of God’s presence with us here on earth. When we are faithful to God’s law, his will, and his law in our lives, then we are proclaiming his kingdom in our words and actions. And when we join others in this proclamation, then the harvest will be abundant and fruitful.
Here, in the modern world, we seek out God in our own reality and proclaim his presence. God invites all of us to seek his kingdom and to reach out to others. We are thankful that we have a rich wonderful history of proclaiming God’s word here in our parishes in Clinton and Raymond. We have a lot we can build upon. We are trying to strengthen our evangelization efforts at our parish; to strengthen our programs of religious education for children, youth, and adults. We want to hear how we can reach out to our young adult and our young families. One thing that strikes me is that many of our parents who have children in our faith formation program are not engaged in the adult faith formation program for adults. I know there are reasons for that, but how can we reach out to all of our parishioners to engage them in a life-long learning process in our faith.
Right before I came here to Holy Savior and Immaculate Conception last summer, our Diocese went through the synodal process. Now our Diocese is following up with a re-imagining process of ministry in our Diocese, looking at the ministries we offer in our parishes and how we our engaging others in the faith. In our modern world, in the spirit of the Scriptures we hear today, of Jesus looking out at the flock and seeing them without a shepherd, of Jesus sending out the laborers to the harvest, of Jesus wanting to bring back the lost sheep, we have a responsibility to share in the Church’s mission of evangelization and of education ourselves in the faith. As Jesus says, the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.
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