Il les envoya proclamer le règne de Dieu et guérir les malades

De l’Évangile de Jésus Christ selon saint Luc

En ce temps-là, Jésus rassembla les Douze ; il leur donna pouvoir et autorité sur tous les démons, et de même pour faire des guérisons ; il les envoya proclamer le règne de Dieu et guérir les malades. Il leur dit : « Ne prenez rien pour la route, ni bâton, ni sac, ni pain, ni argent ; n’ayez pas chacun une tunique de rechange. Quand vous serez reçus dans une maison, restez-y ; c’est de là que vous repartirez.
Et si les gens ne vous accueillent pas, sortez de la ville et secouez la poussière de vos pieds : ce sera un témoignage contre eux.  » Ils partirent et ils allaient de village en village, annonçant la Bonne Nouvelle et faisant partout des guérisons. «  (Lc 9, 1-6)

La mission des douze

Jésus assembla les douze, leur conféra des dons de guérison, et les envoya prêcher le royaume de Dieu. Il leur donna des instructions : « N’emporter aucune provision. Demeurer dans la maison où ils seront entrés. Secouer la poussière de leurs pieds contre ceux qui ne les recevront pas. » Les douze apôtres de Jésus parcoururent les bourgades en évangélisant et en guérissant.

Hérode, entendant parler de ce qui se passa, fut inquiet, parce que les uns virent en Jésus Jean ressuscité, les autres Élie ou l’un des anciens prophètes, qui apparut de nouveau. Luc, comme les deux autres sy­nop­tiques, rap­pela que Jé­sus com­mença par confé­rer à ses dis­ciples les dons né­ces­saires à leur mis­sion. Luc seul em­ploya ces deux termes à peu près sy­no­nymes : puissance et autorité ; le pre­mier in­dique le pou­voir ef­fec­tif de chas­ser les démons, le se­cond la com­pé­tence pour exer­cer ce pou­voir.

Les apôtres re­çurent, de plus, le don de guérir les maladies. Les évan­gé­listes dis­tinguèrent net­te­ment la dé­li­vrance des démoniaques de la gué­ri­son des ma­la­dies. Luc désigna fré­quem­ment les apôtres par ce mot : les douze, parce qu’ils oc­cupèrent une po­si­tion unique dans l’Église : « pour les envoyer prêcher avec le pouvoir de chasser les démons »

Diacre Michel Houyoux

 Complément

◊ Diacre Michel Houyoux : cliquez ici pour lire l’article → Il les envoya proclamer le règne de Dieu et guérir les malades

◊ Diacre Michel Houyoux cliquez ici pour lire l’article → L’envoi en mission (Mc 6, 7-13)

◊ Diacre Michel Houyoux cliquez ici pour lire l’article →  Saint Padre Pio et les Âmes du Purgatoire

Liens avec d’autres sites web chrétiens

◊ Regnum Christi  : cliquez ici pour lire l’article → Il les envoya proclamer le règne de Dieu et guérir les malades

◊ Catholique.org : cliquez ici pour lire l’article →.   Jésus nous envoie - Les méditations

♥ La mission des douze est la nôtre

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

From the Gospel of Matthew

 At that time, Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people : « What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first one and said to him, ‘My child, go to work in the vineyard today’. He answered,  » I don’t want to. But then, having repented, he went.  Then the father went to the second and spoke to him in the same way.
The latter said, ‘ Yes, Lord,’ and he did not go. Which of the two did the father’s will ?  » They said to him :  « The first. « Jesus said to them, « Amen, I say to you :   Publicans and harlots precede you into the kingdom of God.
For John the Baptist came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe his word ; but the tax collectors and harlots believed it. Whereas you, after you saw this, did not even later repent and believe his word.  (Mt 21, 28-32)

Go and work today in my vineyard

In this story from the Gospel of Matthew, it is about a son who says yes and does not do and another son who says no and does. « A man had two sons. And he came to the first and said to him, ‘My child, today go and work in my vineyard. And he said, ‘I don’t want to. But then, having repented, he went away » (Mt 21, 29).

Jesus, in offering us this very short story, wants to show us only someone who changes his behaviour, someone who converts. It is a very important and comforting revelation for all of us: whatever our past, whatever our previous refusals, a change is always possible.

In our world, a person is definitively classified by his past ; if he is bad, he is not given any chance to rebuild his life. God believes in our freedom ; he believes that we can convert from evil to good and from good to better.

Jesus never locks anyone up in his past. Jesus gives everyone a chance, even the most sinful. He does not freeze us, he always offers us a chance for a new beginning. Thank you Lord for the hope you put in us.

As he approached the second son, the father said the same thing to him. He answered :  « Yes, Lord. And he did not go. «   And Jesus asked us this question : « Which of the two did the Father’s will ? »  The first, it’s obvious ! We cannot answer otherwise. We are placed in front of our mirror : it is our actions that count, not our intentions ! However, let us not judge others.

This second son that Jesus speaks of is very much like us. Some people say, for example, that they are believers but not practising. Another example : we say « Yes » to God and « No » by our actions! This is not logical. A third example : in our prayer to God, we say  : « Thy kingdom come, thy will be done… ». Do our behaviours correspond to these fine statements ?

« It is not those who say, ‘Lord, Lord…who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven’ (Mt 7, 21). And John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, translated: ‘Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth’ (Jn 3, 18). Once again, through the contemporaries of Jesus, we are challenged : it is always God who asks us to say « Yes » to him of our active faith. And this « Yes » of our faith is often at the beginning of a conversion: « Go and work today in my vineyard !  »

To each one of us, God said this morning : « Go and work in my vineyard ». At the same time, he tells us : « Do not do as the son who said yes and then did nothing. Rather, be like the one who said no and went to work, repenting of having said no. » He says to us at the same time: « Do not be like the son who said yes and then did nothing. But what is even better is that you say yes to me and put your yes into practice ».

All of us can become good workers in God’s vineyard. God will never say : « I’m fed up with you; I’ve had enough of you; I’ve let you down; do what you want, I don’t want to see you anymore. . (Mt 21, 28-32)

Michel Houyoux, permanent deacon

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Links to other Christian websites

◊  Catholic for life : click here to read the paper →  HOMILY FOR THE TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY

◊ The Apostolic Vicariate of northern Arabia : click here to read the paper →  Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A

♥ Homily by the Father Cha Fr. Paul Vu : « The meaning of the Parable of the Two Sons »