I sometimes wonder if wonder and skepticism are, ultimately, the two primary emotions available to us when we encounter the unknown. The crowd demonstrates the first as they are amazed by Jesus’ acts of healing, culminating most recently in casting out a demon that restored speech, health, and community to the one possessed. The Pharisees, on the other hand, react with skepticism. Unable to explain Jesus’ healing power and unwilling to acknowledge his relationship to God, they not only dismiss His miracle, but even accuse Him of conspiring with the prince of demon.
How often, I wonder, are we faced with a similar situation? Confronted by something we don’t understand and cannot control, do we respond with wonder or skepticism?
This Gospel passage also shows us another option: we can go beyond wonder or skepticism and do something. In today’s gospel, Jesus sees the people in the crowds like sheep who have no shepherd. His heart is moved to pity for them, and He tells His disciples to ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.
Responding to this gospel call, Joseph Ton ran away from his native Communist Romania to study theology at Oxford. As he was preparing to return to his homeland after graduation, he shared his plans of being a preacher with several of his friends. They candidly pointed out to him that he would be arrested at the border.
One asked him, "If you're arrested, what hope do you have of being a preacher?" Ton prayed to God about this and was reminded of Matthew 10:16, "I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves." He thought, what chance does a sheep have of surviving, let alone converting, the wolves? Yet, Jesus sent them out and expected them not only to survive, but also to fulfill His mission.
Joseph Ton returned to his country and preached until the day he was arrested.
As he was being interrogated by an official, Joseph Ton said, "Your supreme weapon is killing, mine is dying. My sermons are all over the country on tapes now. If you kill me, then whoever listens to them will say, 'This must be true. This man sealed his words with his blood.’ The tapes will speak ten times louder than before, so go on and kill me. I win the supreme victory." The officer sent him home.
To each of us the call is one and the same. To labor in the harvest. To partner with Jesus in shepherding his sheep. All of us are encouraged to take our place in the grand story. You will be overwhelmed with tasks at hand. At times you will be contradicted and criticized. But you will see miracles which will move hearts and minds, as Jesus did.
Let us pray to God to send out laborers for the harvest. Be prepared when you pray this because the first one He will send will be you!
Father Boby John, C.S.C., ordained a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross in 2008, worked as a pastor and as an educator with tribal populations in Northeast India for thirteen years. Originally from Kerala, India, Father Boby grew up with three siblings. He is a dedicated and detailed educationist with experience in educational leadership. He is currently working as an executive assistant at the world headquarters of Holy Cross Family Ministries, North Easton, Massachusetts.
