Jesus' Call

Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.  The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:  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 Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, "Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.  Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 10: 1 – 7)

In today’s Gospel, we hear the familiar story of the “Call of the Twelve Disciples.”  Jesus called these ordinary men to carry out his mission with him.  When Jesus chose these twelve he chose fishermen and a tax collector.  Not exactly the team one would think Jesus would.  One would think Jesus would have chosen the best and the brightest but instead he chose the average ones.  Jesus shows us that he wants us all to be his disciples and promises to give us all we need to carry out this task. He does believe that we can bring about his message of love, peace and joy to all those we meet.  Jesus invites and we need to be receptive to his invitation and gladly embrace the call he has in mind for each one of us.

Pat Schifini, OSU