Commentary on the Gospel of
At the heart of God's relationship with his people, which this week's readings are inviting us to contemplate, is a life-giving choice: God chooses us to save us. Sometimes this choice places us in the front line of combat to lead our family, our community; others, it leaves us in a secondary place, in which we can walk little by little with the Lord where He wants to lead us. But God always calls us, wherever we are, to recreate the love that unites us and saves us.
The readings of this day describe for us two different landscapes with a common horizon. The Gospel of Matthew recounts the election of the Twelve, that singular gaze of Jesus on some of his friends that made them participants in his life and mission, also in relation to the leading of God's people. It is a springtime and expansive moment in the history of discipleship. Hosea's prophecy, for its part, describes a very different picture, much more decadent and darker. "Israel was a leafy vineyard and it bore fruit," but now "thistles grow on their altars." What should we do when the following of the Lord becomes bitter, by our own fall or by the falls of others? Does God's choice for us then fall?
Absolutely not. His call never falls, although sometimes we have to take a step back to live it. This is just what, with great beauty and greater patience, YAHWEH asks his people when he understands that his heart is divided and devastated: "Sow justice and you will reap mercy. Break a field, it is time to consult the Lord, until justice comes and rains on you ». Sometimes, by his grace, the Lord chooses us to be leaders of his Kingdom, like the Twelve. However, there are many more occasions when he simply calls us to sow and wait, to work and pray, to be patiently listening to his Word and waiting for his mercy. Whatever our discipleship and our mission may be today, let us seek the loving face of the Lord: his choice over us will never be in vain.
