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Commentary on the Gospel – December 6, 2025
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today’s Gospel passage is a small missionary discourse, with a rich introduction and some practical instructions. The beginning of the narrative connects directly with the text from Isaiah that we have just read—what we might call God’s self-presentation as the Good Shepherd. He is the God who walks with you and does not allow you to lose your way, the compassionate God who cannot bear to see you suffer, the One who is moved by your cry and gives you the food you need. How lightly many Christians speak when they claim they “cannot stand the God of the Old Testament”! Have they ever read Isaiah, Hosea…? Isaiah already gives us, in condensed form, the Gospel framework of mission: Jesus sees Israel as a wandering flock, sheep without a shepherd. He is moved with compassion and seeks to raise up good shepherds—here, the apostles, the missionaries.
The evangelist writes from a later historical moment, near the end of the New Testament period. The synagogue and the Church are already separate communities; that is why Matthew says that Jesus taught in “their” synagogues—those in which there was no longer room for Christians. But the Church, the new and definitive synagogue, continues to carry out the plans of Jesus—the fulfillment of what Isaiah promised. Christ’s missionaries will proclaim the Good News, ease human suffering, and plant the Kingdom, even if only in its earliest form. They, the Church, will face, as Jesus did, an immense task, for “the harvest is great.” According to Lk 10:4, they cannot even stop to greet people along the way—something unthinkable in the Semitic world. It is clear that the Churches of Matthew and Luke feel the pressing urgency of mission; with the expectation of an imminent Second Coming fading, they now understand their mission as universal in scope.
The ones sent out receive a message and a task far greater than themselves: to announce and to show the presence of the Kingdom. They will not be able to raise the dead or heal every illness, but their attitude must always be that of people who bring life and awaken the desire to live.
Matthew’s deeply Jewish mind is clear in the first limitation placed on the mission: for now, only to Israel. He knows the order laid out in Isaiah for the unfolding of salvation: first Israel must be “established,” and then the nations will enjoy its light and glory: “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be firm; all nations shall stream toward it… He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths” (Is 2:2; cf. Mic 4:1). But Matthew tells this to his Church: she must live as the true messianic people and offer a contagious brightness, capable of attracting all nations and fulfilling their deepest longings—perhaps never expressed—for sharing in God’s gifts.
And we should not forget Jesus’ final instruction to His messengers: gratuitousness. We do not trade in religious goods. St. Paul contrasted his own behavior with that of preachers who worked for pay: “We do not peddle the Word of God” (2 Cor 2:17). Only a free and selfless offer is credible—including, of course, the offer of faith.
Your brother,