The Grace of Discipleship
It strikes me that in last Sunday’s Gospel (Matt 9:35-10:8) a contrast exists between the successful mission of Jesus described in 9:35 and the quality of the twelve called out by Jesus. Jesus is doing great things. And what is the status of those he calls? Well, before we get to that, notice the similarity of this passage with the call of the first disciples as narrated in Matt 4:18-22 and the summary of his itinerant mission in Galilee afterwards. (4:23-25) Both passages (Matt 4 and Matt 9/10) juxtapose the call to discipleship and Jesus’ ministry, only in reverse. Both use metaphors of produce (fish for people; workers in the harvest). In Matt 4 the order is the call of the disciples, then the summary of Jesus’ extraordinary ministry. In Matt 9-10 it’s time for the disciples to be sent out and mimic Jesus’ ministry. So, in this latter instance, first we are told of Jesus’ ministry, then the disciples are called (again). But there is nothing to particularly give us confidence that those twelve freshly called are up to the task. They are quite ordinary and have not been trailing Jesus for that long. And there is a betrayer…...
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