Reading
Matthew 9:32-38
32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Comment
Sometimes evil grips the tongue of man, who becomes unable to profess the glory of God. This form of muteness can present itself in different ways: the feeling of inadequacy before God; the fear of facing the radicalism of the gospel; indifference to problems beyond the perimeter of our ego.
Even the spiritual guides - in this Gospel episode the Pharisees - often are not helpful in understanding and approaching the mystery of the kingdom of God, and his liberating significance. They even confuse it with the devil's action, like blind shepherds, behind whom the flock gets lost.
Thus the crowds show themselves as sheep without a shepherd and Jesus feels great compassion for them. A condition in which many Christians find themselves confused by the Babel of churches and confessions of faith often in opposition to each other, or by a suffocating legalism, which envelops, with the precepts of men (Is 29:13; Mt 15:9), the freedom of the children of God, guided by the Spirit who blows where he wills (Jn 3:8).
Jesus invites us to share the compassion felt by his nature, not only divine but fully human, and to pray that the Father will send workers who know how to take care of his harvest. His kingdom, in fact, needs a lot of work and arms made strong by the power of God.
Prayer
O God, who in the humiliation of your Son raised humanity from his fall, give us a renewed Easter joy, so that, free from the oppression of guilt, we participate in eternal happiness. Amen.
