The theme of the 11th Sunday (Ordinary Time -- A) is the creation of the chosen people. The reading from Exodus is a reminder of how God created Israel. It is the same Israel that God wanted restored through the work of Jesus. In the Gospel selection from Matthew 9:36-10:8, we find Jesus in the work of restoring Israel on the basis of the Twelve. Read the relevant article and use the following as your guide to the Gospel reading.
1. Read Matthew 9:36-38. It is a statement most often associated by Catholics as a motive for the prayer for vocations. In the mind of the Church, there is a continuity between Jesus' desire for more workers in the harvest and the Church's desire for more workers in the ministry of the priesthood, that is, those who teach, sanctify and govern (read "shepherd") the community of faith. At the root of this desire is the Lord's compassion at those who are "like sheep without a shepherd". Note that in this same statement, two designations of the Israel are combined: a field ripe for harvest and flock.
Reflect. By your baptism, you have become part of the Lord's flock, his field. There are those who, Christians like yourself, are not aware that they "belong to the Lord." They are objects of the Lord's compassion too, like sheep without a shepherd. How do you see the work of evangelization as your work too? How do you understand the missionary sending at the end of every Sunday mass (Go, the Church has been sent; Ite missa est.) as addressed to you?
2. Read Matthew 10:5-6 and compare it with Jesus' command at the end of the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 28:18-20). What is the scope of the apostles' mission in both passages? Reading Matthew 10:5-6 in the light of the universal mission of the Apostles in Matthew 28, how would you now understand the command to "make disciples of all nations"?
Reflect. You who are reading this now are part of the unfolding of the history of the apostolic mission which was originally couched in the language of "harvesting" and "shepherding". You too are the result of an action that finds its motive in the compassion of Jesus, a compassion that moved him to give you a share in His life (cf. Luke 7:12-17; John 11:38-43). Think for the moment about this aspect of your life as a Christian and use this thought for making a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord.
3. Read Matthew 10:8 "You received without paying, give without pay. (RSV) " We know that this is not about the sustenance of the disciples in their work since in verse 10, the Jesus will add "... for the laborer deserves his food. (RSV)" implying that the disciples will receive support from the kindness of those who accept them. He is instructing the disciples here not to make use of their work for profit-making (cf. 1 Timothy 6:2).
Reflect. Work that derives from the compassion of the Lord -- namely, evangelization -- does not look for profit. Evangelization is done by those who are aware that they have received freely and generously from the compassion of the Lord. See whether your own involvement in the Lord's work is characterized by this generosity or not. In what way can you say that, like the disciples, you have "given without pay"?
