Matthew 10:1-23

Hosea 14:2-10

Psalm 51:3-4, 8-9, 12-13, 14 and 17

Matthew 10:1-23

Jesus said to his Apostles:

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;

so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.

But beware of men, 

for they will hand you over to courts

and scourge you in their synagogues,

and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake

as a witness before them and the pagans.

When they hand you over,

do not worry about how you are to speak

or what you are to say.

You will be given at that moment what you are to say.

For it will not be you who speak

but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Brother will hand over brother to death,

and the father his child;

children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.

You will be hated by all because of my name,

but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.

Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel

before the Son of Man comes.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, may your Spirit always speak through me! Teach me truly to be shrewd as a serpent and as simple as a dove when I proclaim your Gospel in word and deed.

Encountering the Word of God

1. God Cares for Us: Like the Book of Amos, which we read last week, the Book of Hosea, which we have read this week, concludes on a positive note. Amos ended by foretelling the day when God would raise up the fallen hut of David, bring new wine to his people, and restore the fortunes of Israel (Amos 9:13-15). Hosea concludes with a plea for Israel to return to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. In response, God will heal the people and love them. Israel will flourish like a garden and blossom like a vine. Hosea tells Israel not to trust in Assyria to save them, nor in idols to protect them. Rather, God is the one who answers Israel’s prayers and cares for Israel. When we approach God, who is steadfast like a cypress tree, we shall blossom like the lily and take root like the poplar tree. God is the one who gives us life, nourishes us, and builds us up. The Psalmist today recognizes that God is the one who teaches us wisdom. The wise man understands the action of God in history and in the heart of man: on the one hand, God purifies us, wipes out our offense, washes us from our guilt, and cleanses us of our sin; on the other, God raises us up, giving us a new heart and a new spirit. This is the action of the grace won for us by Christ: it purifies us from sin and elevates us to divine life in the Spirit.

2. Hosea in the New Testament: Hosea’s symbolic use of marriage to describe the relationship between God and his people was used throughout the New Testament. Jesus is the bridegroom who, through his passion and death, weds himself to God’s people in the New Covenant. Paul develops Hosea’s image to symbolize the union between the Christian community and Jesus Christ achieved through word and sacrament. In his Letter to the Ephesians, Paul emphasizes the self-emptying love that Christ has revealed on the cross to manifest most completely the covenant love and affection (hesed) God has always had for his people. “By sharing in the love of Christ, husband and wife manifest the divine hesed to one another in their mutual self-giving. In the Book of Revelation, marriage symbolizes the union between the Lord and his people in the heavenly Jerusalem” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 255). Hosea foretold not only the exile of Israel into Egypt (Hosea 8:13) but also that God will call Israel out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). Matthew quotes this same passage and shows how it is fulfilled in the sojourn of the Holy Family in Egypt (Matthew 2:13-21). Jesus identifies himself with God’s people by reliving their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land (see Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 255). As the New Moses, Jesus leads the new people of God on a New Exodus.

3. Jesus and Hosea: Jesus quotes the Book of Hosea in his confrontation with the Pharisees. The Lord God desires merciful love, not empty sacrifices. Hosea exhorted Israel to act with integrity toward God and neighbor and avoid any worship connected with the pagan god Baal. When the Pharisees criticize Jesus’ fellowship with sinners and actions on the Sabbath, Jesus teaches them that “compassion toward others must override self-concerned legalism” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 255). Through the New Covenant, what Israel lost through their unfaithfulness to the old covenant, Gentiles and Jews are granted through Jesus Christ: “Now that [the Gentiles] have received the preaching of the Gospel and have been justified by faith in Christ, the Gentiles along with Jews in the Christian community are ‘children of the living God’ (Hosea 2:1) and can rejoice in the Lord calling them ‘my people’ through the new covenant (Romans 9:25-10:13)” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 256). In appointing the Apostles and sending them out, Jesus is gathering the tribes together and restoring Israel. On their mission to the lost sheep of Israel, the Apostles are themselves like sheep amid wolves: they are told that they will encounter opposition from Jews, Gentile rulers, and even their own families. Jesus’ statement about not finishing their mission to the towns of Israel before the coming of the Son of Man can be interpreted in at least three ways. It could mean that the Apostles will not finish visiting all of the towns before Jesus’ passion and death in A.D. 30. It could also mean that they will not finish before the judgment of the Temple in A.D. 70. Or it could mean that the mission to Israel will continue until Jesus comes again in glory at the end of time (see Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 146). 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have restored the kingdom of David and inaugurated the Kingdom of Heaven. Allow me to see how the Kingdom has transformed the world around me so that I may be encouraged and filled with hope as I work on your behalf.

Living the Word of God: Let us thank God today for his faithful and merciful love toward us. We need to ask for forgiveness for all the evil we have committed and ask God to purify us and grant us eternal life. We need to ask him for the courage to preach the Gospel in our words and through our actions. We should rejoice that we are part of his people and we look forward to his coming in glory and to sharing in the wedding feast of the Lamb.