The Kyiv Chamber Choir sing In Thy Kingdom from One Thousand Years of Ukrainian Sacred Music.

(Lyrics currently unavailable)

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 10:1-7

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

In this passage we are given the names of some of Jesus’s closest followers. Some are well-known to us, others hardly at all. What would it be like to hear your own name included in that list?

The apostles are told to spread the good news of the gospel. They are also given the authority to do so. If you see yourself as in some way called to spread the good news of the gospel, what might it mean for you to be given authority to do so in the same way?

“The kingdom of heaven has come near.” You can only give others that message if you have first heard it yourself. What convinces you that the kingdom has indeed come near?

Notice, as the passage is read again, that Jesus chooses exactly who to send his apostles to. Who might you be sent to with this good news?

Matthew 10:1-7

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

You might like to finish this prayer by speaking to Jesus about your own sense of being called and sent.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

World without end

Amen