Gospel Reading: Matthew 9:35-10:8 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. In the towns and cities the crowds are gathering. They are jostling and tussling for access to one man who is apparently overwhelmed. He is moved with compassion as he sees their desperate need. He seemingly mutters to himself, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers few! Lord, send out laborers!” He has a flash of insight! He turns to his 12 di

Earlier in his gospel Matthew quotes Jesus again, but not with the mystery of a parable: “The harvest is plentiful,” he says, “but the laborers are few, therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers...” Farm country, big city, suburb… we are all called to faith by the living God to sow the seeds of faith ourselves, and care for one another… wherever we live, whatever our occupation.

This same Holy Spirit that empowered the disciples at Pentecost lives in you! This same Holy Spirit is at work in us to transform us into bold apostles. To facilitate spiritual growth in us and bring us to spiritual maturity. To establish us as good fruit for the world. To make us people who embody God’s goodness and love in our words and deeds.

Jesus doesn’t abandon the disciples. Instead, he commissions them telling them: “You are witnesses of these things” as part of his blessing. In other words: the story is not over. In fact, it is just beginning. Jesus is not ‘leaving’ the world, he is ascending to the Father to sit at the right hand of God – being an authority over the mission of these Spirit-filled people that he commissioned to be his body in the world.