Today\u2019s readings spell out a theme of being chosen, loved and sent out to proclaim the reign of the Almighty. The chosen are not selected because of any privileged status or personal merit, but simply<\/p>\n\n\n\n
out of divine love. God\u2019s plan is that this relationship of love might be spread and shared with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exodus 19:2-6<\/strong> These verses mark a defining point in Jewish history when the people of Israel were chosen to be in a unique relationship with God. The people had escaped from oppression in Egypt and, under the leadership of Moses, were now in the region of Sinai. Moses had already encountered God in the revealing incident of the burning bush, where he had been given the task of going before Pharaoh to plead for the release of his people. At this Sinai encounter he is instructed with a very formal direction to speak to the family of Jacob, that is, the descendants of Israel, recalling that Jacob was nicknamed Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The remaining three verses of this passage frame a richly poetic statement of the theology of covenant. In fact, they read like a standard formula of the covenant relationship between YHWH and the people of Israel. This formula was no doubt sung at covenant renewal ceremonies that took place in future centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The facts of the formula are: God has engineered the escape of the Israelites and protected them as amother eagle carries her young. Ornithologists point out that eagles do not carry their young on their backs or wings, but the poetry of this image is about God\u2019s loving and protective care and not about zoology. It characterises Israel\u2019s complete dependence on God\u2019s protection and calls attention to whatGod had done for Israel on so many occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The upshot is that the people of Israel now have an obligation to remain steadfast in their commitment to God and to go one step further to be a priestly people. As such, they would be holy to the Lord and would perform the priestly task of acting as a go-between in the relationship of God and humanity. So, their favoured status with God brought with it a serious obligation to give good example to their neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psalm 100<\/strong> This psalm sings of the favours Israel has received from their loving God. It affirms the close connection between the people of Israel and their God and highlights the fact that the whole of the Bible is about relationships \u2013 our intimacy with God and our connection with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romans 5:6-11<\/strong> In the previous verses Paul had been citing the faithfulness of Abraham and referring to him as a model of trust. He then went on to say that through the life and death of Jesus Christ we have all been given the chance to commit ourselves to God through our faith, i.e., through our trust and reliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The depth of love behind Christ\u2019s sacrifice is overwhelming.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s extract Paul emphasises the love and sacrifice in the action of Christ who was willing to die for us. We can feel Paul\u2019s sense of being blown away by what Jesus went through on our account. He makes the stark comparison: an individual might be willing to undergo suffering for a good person, but for a bunch of sinners and no-hopers, not likely. The depth of love behind Christ\u2019s sacrifice is overwhelming. Our benefit is that we have been reconciled with the infinite source of all goodness and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have been done an extraordinary favour and, like the Israelites, we need to go on mission to spread the word. But it\u2019s not about preaching, it\u2019s about living with integrity. It\u2019s about illustrating with our lives what is involved in being guided by Christ\u2019s values. No show, just sincere honesty. We can only respond to the privilege Paul writes about with lives of fidelity and commitment. Our relationships with God and each other have to be the best we can make them. Is there a relationship in my life that needs fixing with a generous initiative to make peace?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew 9:36 \u2013 10:8<\/strong> Here is an explicit \u2018so what\u2019 response to a human situation. Jesus sees people around him who are harassed and dejected and his heart goes out to them. The two Greek verbs Matthew uses mean, weary\/troubled and cast down. What Jesus saw were people completely depressed by their circumstances and emotionally worn out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most English translations describe Jesus\u2019 reaction as \u2018having compassion\u2019 on the people, which is close to the original Greek. A small number say, \u2018Jesus felt sorry\u2019 for the people, which is pretty lame, to say the least. The Greek verb actually means to be stirred in the guts, that is, to be physically upset at what the eyes take in. He saw the people looking aimless and seriously fed up \u2013 a situation that calls for help. And his response was practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is easy for us to read this passage and imagine Jesus sending out the Twelve to preach the good news of the reign of God – perhaps knocking out some theology in a preachy style. A closer look reveals quite the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All three evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, tell us the women in Jesus\u2019 band were with him from his Galilee days. Luke even tells us there were women of status in this group who even bankrolled the outfit (Luke 8:1-3). And yet the women are not explicitly mentioned as participators in the missionary outreach. There has to be a cultural hesitancy here, not to mention a need to correlate the 12 men with the twelve tribes of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is healing, and presenting the values of the reign of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The women were with Jesus in his ministry, they were at the cross, witnessing at the tomb, at Pentecost\u2026and you can\u2019t tell me they were not at his final meal. When we stop and think what the \u2018sending out\u2019 entailed \u2013 curing the sick, healing the depressed, raising the physical and psychological dead, and all that goes with accompanying people in their sorrow, hardship and depression, we can see a role for the women. They could display the qualities of the Master by walking warmly and graciously with the downcast and the troubled. This is healing, and presenting the values of the reign of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just think of the people who were healed psychologically when they stood in the back row of a group listening to Jesus talking about simple things like, practicing tolerance and letting go, striving for peace of mind, establishing priorities, focusing on God\u2019s compassion, striving to exercise compassion, being proactive in reaching out to others, and so on. What about the many hundreds of listeners who never came into contact with Jesus but who went back home healed by his words and his mere charisma!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are called to a similar kind of missionary outreach just by being who we are, committed followers of Christ \u2013 without drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ~~~<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One kind word can warm three winter nights. ~~~<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Drink,\u2019 thundered the priest, \u2018is the greatest curse of mankind. It makes you quarrel with your neighbours. It makes you spend all your rent money. It makes you shoot at your landlord \u2013 and it makes you miss him!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Laurie Woods<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today\u2019s readings spell out a theme of being chosen, loved and sent out to proclaim the reign of the Almighty. The chosen are not selected because of any privileged status or personal merit, but simply out of divine love. God\u2019s plan is that this relationship of love might be spread and shared with others. Exodus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep.jpg",768,543,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep-300x212.jpg",300,212,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep.jpg",768,543,false],"large":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep.jpg",768,543,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep.jpg",768,543,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep.jpg",768,543,false],"menu-24x24":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep-24x17.jpg",24,17,true],"menu-36x36":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep-36x25.jpg",36,25,true],"menu-48x48":["https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Sheep-48x34.jpg",48,34,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Woods","author_link":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/?author=18"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Today\u2019s readings spell out a theme of being chosen, loved and sent out to proclaim the reign of the Almighty. The chosen are not selected because of any privileged status or personal merit, but simply out of divine love. God\u2019s plan is that this relationship of love might be spread and shared with others. Exodus…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28964,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28962\/revisions\/28964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/em>Oriental proverb<\/p>\n\n\n\n