Sheep without a shepherd

“9:36 When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, for they were weary and exhausted, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. 38 So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest!’ 10:1 Then he called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are: first, Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; then James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 Jesus sent these twelve out and instructed them: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel! 7 Go and proclaim: “The kingdom of heaven is near!” 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons! You received without payment; give without payment.”

One of the Sunday Gospels for the month of June is this passage from the Gospel of Matthew: Chapter 9, verse 36 to Chapter 10, verse 8. The preceding verse, 9:35, tells us that Jesus is travelling through his native Galilee, proclaiming the Kingdom of God in word (the Good News) and deed (healings). He is accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd of people who are captivated by this luminous figure, filled with wonder and longing. Jesus looks at them. He has compassion on them: they are weary and exhausted like sheep without a shepherd (9:36). What is his reaction? By no means one of resignation. Rather, he turns to his disciples: the pitiful plight of these many people is not an overwhelming task before which the Jesus movement must capitulate. It is, rather, a challenge that must be tackled. Jesus describes the situation, in keeping with agrarian Galilee, using the image of a great harvest (9:37). An impending bountiful harvest requires an army of harvest workers: labourers hired by the owner of the harvest, that is, disciples who, acting on Jesus’ behalf, are ‘on the move in the name of the Lord’ to assist the sheep without a shepherd (9:38).
Specifically, it is the twelve disciples whom he calls to this service, from Simon Peter to Judas Iscariot (10:2–4). The symbolic number 12 stands for the twelve tribes, that is, the whole of Israel; this alone suggests that many more, indeed everyone, are called to this harvest work.

The nature of the mission is described as driving out unclean spirits, healing all diseases, and even raising the dead (10:1, 8a). Underlying this is the prospect of salvation: the Kingdom of Heaven is near! (10:7) In the exorcisms and healings, the nearness of this new world of God already shines through in a liberating way. Moreover, the workers are to labour without pay, for they themselves have received God’s grace as a gift, without any merit of their own (10:8b).

The text is one of the classic mission narratives in the Gospels. Jesus calls his disciples to follow him in the same salvific proclamation that he himself carries out.
Mission – may we still use this word today? When it comes to trust in social institutions, the churches rank at the very bottom. The abuse scandals of recent years have completely discredited the Church. Is it not – depending on one’s perspective – ridiculous or even brazen for the Church to want to continue its missionary work?
I don’t think so. With this Gospel (Mt 9:36ff.), it is clear that mission is part of the Church’s DNA. Christ’s words are unmistakable: “Go and proclaim!” Just as the Kingdom of God is Jesus’ core message, so it is the core mission of his disciples, the Church, to proclaim this tirelessly. But this harbours a tremendous tension.
In my own lifetime of several decades, I have experienced a constant rollercoaster of emotions: as a young person, the fascination with this God and his Gospel message; the questioning from the Enlightenment and the natural sciences; the frustrating persistence of patriarchal structures and outdated moral concepts; and finally, as the height of hypocrisy, the parallel abysses of abuse.
And yet: I hold fast to this poor, wretched Church (in both senses of the word) and its commission to harvest from its Master. Whereas five years ago it might have seemed obvious, given the overall impression (including the poor image during the pandemic), to turn my back on the Church and religion in disappointment, today, looking at the general situation, I say: The world needs You, Lord! It needs Your message and Your disciples!
Am I exaggerating when I say: never have there been more weary and exhausted sheep than today? And shepherds who are just as weary and apathetic? Is it not true to say: never has the harvest been greater than today? Never has there been a greater need for workers than in the late 21st century? The search of the disoriented sheep, lied to and abandoned by the narcissistic or unscrupulous anti-shepherds of this world, their longing for hope, redemption and salvation is, in my view, greater than all the justified outrage over the Church’s failure. The world needs mission. It needs credible witnesses who, with all their limitations, stand up for a different, better world. Each and every one of us can do this – through an authentic witness of life and a courageous witness of faith that offers the weary sheep a perspective and also revives us ourselves.
I invite us to heed the words of Jesus, which are more urgent than ever:
“The harvest is plentiful. Go and proclaim: The Kingdom of Heaven is near!”

Gerhard Hotze