Mt 10:1-7
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray him.
Jesus sent these twelve on mission with the instruction: “Do not visit pagan territory and do not enter a Samaritan town. Go instead to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven is near.
REFLECTION
“He gave them authority… to heal every disease and sickness.” As we saw yesterday, Jesus was a universal healer. And today we see that he expects his disciples (you and me) to do the same. Now obviously we are not talking here of only physical disease but of any kind of disease, of any kind of affliction, of any kind of ill-being. And that covers a lot of territory!
In other words, Jesus wants us to do what he was doing all the time during his earthly ministry. We are as it were, an extension of his healing hands, of his healing presence, of his healing words. We are his Body amplified through time and space—throughout the whole universe and until the end of time. We are Christ Multiplied, nothing less. Are we aware of our awesome obligation to the world? We are all ambassadors of the King of kings. What an honor—but also what a responsibility! A Christian is a Christ-person. Willy-nilly, the moment we claim the title of Christian, we automatically commit ourselves to continue Christ’s healing ministry. This means that everywhere we go, we must bring healing (of hearts and souls, mostly), peace, comfort, consolation, joy.
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