It seems like the Pharisees should be natural laborers for the Kingdom of God. They taught in synagogues for generations and were organized societal leaders that people looked up to. Their task was to teach God’s law and ensure that everyone obeyed it. The Pharisees had many laws about cleanliness and sacrifice and spent much of their time enforcing them.
We could assume that they knew Scripture well enough to understand that Jesus was who He claimed to be – the Son of God and the Shepherd of God’s sheep. However, the Pharisees turned against Jesus from the very beginning. Their own power came into question when faced with the miracles that Jesus performed. When the people started to believe, the Pharisees turned their backs instead of hearing Jesus’s teachings. They even implied that Jesus was doing the devil’s work.
We might disdain the Pharisees for their ridicule of Jesus, but they didn’t know what we know: that Jesus is the Son of God. Other charlatans had come in the name of God before, only to be proven false prophets. The Pharisees were educated and working from generations of passed on knowledge. Their position in society had gained them much power, which blinded them from the truth.
Even so, the Pharisees could not prevent Jesus from fulfilling His work. He continued from town to town, preaching and healing. Then He turned to His disciples and told them to ask to be sent out: “So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Instead of sending them out right away, Jesus wanted the disciples’ cooperation. He wanted them to be eager to go out and preach in His name. He wanted these ordinary followers made up of fishermen and tax collectors to understand something that the Pharisees refused to entertain: that He was the Son of God.
Jesus asked on behalf of God the Father, that His disciples go out and do the work. Are we eager to do the same? For me, part of hearing His call is writing. For you, it might simply be having the courage to mention Jesus’s name among a group of friends where you could get some pushback. Jesus is asking us to have the courage to speak His name out loud, to start a conversation where He has been absent from others’ lives. We are sheep with a Shepherd. Will we have the courage to proclaim the Gospel to those without One?
Parece que los fariseos deberían ser trabajadores naturales del Reino de Dios. Enseñaron en sinagogas durante generaciones y eran líderes sociales organizados a los que la gente admiraba. Su tarea era enseñar la ley de Dios y asegurarse de que todos la obedecieran. Los fariseos tenían muchas leyes sobre la pureza y el sacrificio, y dedicaban gran parte de su tiempo a hacerlas cumplir.
Podríamos asumir que conocían las Escrituras lo suficiente como para comprender que Jesús era quien decía ser: el Hijo de Dios y el Pastor de las ovejas de Dios. Sin embargo, los fariseos se volvieron contra Jesús desde el principio. Su propio poder se puso en duda ante los milagros que realizó. Cuando la gente empezó a creer, los fariseos le dieron la espalda en lugar de escuchar las enseñanzas de Jesús. Incluso insinuaron que Jesús estaba haciendo la obra del diablo.
Puede que desdeñemos a los fariseos por burlarse de Jesús, pero ellos no sabían lo que nosotros sabemos: que Jesús es el Hijo de Dios. Otros charlatanes habían venido en nombre de Dios anteriormente, solo para ser demostrados como falsos profetas. Los fariseos eran educados y trabajaban con el conocimiento transmitido de generaciones atrás. Su posición en la sociedad les había otorgado mucho poder, lo cual los cegó de la verdad.
Aun así, los fariseos no pudieron impedir que Jesús cumpliera su obra. Continuó de pueblo en pueblo, predicando y sanando. Luego se dirigió a sus discípulos y les dijo que pidieran que los enviaran: “Rueguen, por lo tanto, al dueño de la mies que envíe trabajadores a sus campos”. En lugar de enviarlos de inmediato, Jesús quería la cooperación de los discípulos. Quería que estuvieran deseosos de salir a predicar en su nombre. Quería que estos seguidores comunes, compuestos por pescadores y recaudadores de impuestos, entendieran algo que los fariseos se negaban a aceptar: que él era el Hijo de Dios.
Jesús pidió, en nombre de Dios Padre, que sus discípulos salieran a trabajar. ¿Estamos nosotros deseosos de hacer lo mismo? Para mí, parte de escuchar su llamado es escribir. Para ti, podría ser simplemente tener la valentía de mencionar el nombre de Jesús entre un grupo de amigos donde podrías encontrar resistencia. Jesús nos pide la valentía de pronunciar su nombre en voz alta, de iniciar una conversación donde Él ha estado ausente de la vida de otros. Somos ovejas con un Pastor. ¿Tendremos la valentía de proclamar el Evangelio a quienes no lo tienen?
Anita Renaghan is the author of several books including literary fiction, science fiction, and a young adult trilogy. She loves a good character study and has been many characters herself including: an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force, a college graduate, a second degree blackbelt, lost, a waitress and bartender, a wife and mother, an account executive, found, and a constantly inventive singer-songwriter. Anita is interested in sharing her faith with others through her writings and story characters. Her website is anitarenaghan.com
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Daily Reading
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13 Thus says the LORD:They made kings in Israel, but not by my authority;they established princes, but without my approval.With their silver and gold they madeidols…
Saint of the Day
Pope Saint Benedict XI
He was the author of a volume of sermons and commentaries on a part of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the Psalms, the Book of Job and the Apocalypse. The