Have you ever been overlooked, not chosen for something which you really wanted, something which could have been life affirming? Maybe a fantastic job prospect, or a key member of an important team. It can be quite disheartening, maybe even soul destroying especially if you had set your heart on whatever it might be. I’ll bet the overriding emotion at the time was disappointment, maybe some resentment and maybe even some feeling of a lack of self-worth. It has happened to me a few times during my life. Once I was passed over for a job at the hospital where I worked, a career move that I felt ready for. I didn’t get chosen for that job, but I still had my job within the Cardiac Research Dept. Another time when my Drama Group was staging The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, I auditioned for the part of Brodie. I felt that I auditioned well, really well to be honest, but I didn’t get chosen for the part. Instead I got a cameo part and was onstage for maybe a total of 5 minutes, if that. I was really gutted about not getting the part of Miss Brodie, and even now, I reckon I could have played it really well. I need to get over it as it was well over 30 years ago!! But – on both these occasions, OK so I didn’t get chosen for the job or the role that I wanted, but you know what? The job I still had; the role I did get – they were both just as important. The research department still needed me in my current job. The play still needed the role, albeit small, that I was given. Just because I wasn’t chosen for the parts I really wanted didn’t mean that I had no part to play whatsoever. I did. And I still do in the current areas of my life.

Matthew tells us, in today’s gospel, about the Twelve who are chosen by Jesus to heal, exorcise, and to raise the dead. These are His Apostles and have been specifically chosen by Jesus over a period of time. Now I am sure that as well as the Twelve, there are many other followers of Jesus, other disciples who are not given specific roles, are not chosen to carry out these specific tasks. Maybe they feel overlooked, maybe they don’t. But whether they do or not, they still have very important roles. They are a broader group who would help propagate the word, as followers and supporters of Jesus at the time, and later, into the early beginnings of the Church. And while the notion of the Body of Christ was not yet written about, the Apostles and the other disciples need each other, they are all just as important to the message of the Kingdom as each other. My left foot has an important task, as does my nose, my eyes. But they are all very different each with very different purposes – roles. Put together, all my body parts make up the whole me. Just as the Twelve and the other disciples make up a whole proclamatory body. Just as my cameo role, and the other roles made up the complete play. We all belong……we all have our individual parts to play.

Matthew takes the time to name them. He names the Twelve. And what a motley crew they turn out to be! Quite a mishmash of characters, personalities, backgrounds. At first glance you would not expect that they would mix well at all but think of them as ingredients for a rich stew or casserole. Each ingredient so very different from the next but put them together and something sacred happens in the stirring of the stew/casserole. A diverse group of men indeed. To name just a few of the Apostles, we have strong minded Peter, the eventual leader of the group, and the bold, loud and passionate Sons of Thunder, James and John – all fishermen. There’s Simon the zealot – light the blue touch paper and stand back! Then we have Bartholemew, aka Nathaneal, who reckons nothing good could come from Nazareth. Jesus had seen him sitting under the fig tree – maybe he was thinking, contemplating – maybe that was his demeanour – a thinker. Then – Matthew, the writer of this gospel – a tax collector of all things! Why would Jesus choose such a one as he? But He did. And of course, the last name in the list – Judas Iscariot – the betrayer. Apart from learning that Judas is less than honest when it comes to his management of the shared coffers, we know little about his actual personality. But Jesus chose them all – He chooses common people; uncommon leaders. He is not for the high and mighty, the eloquent and prominent to send out. He chooses this particular diverse group of ordinary men, emphasising the fact that God will use anyone regardless of skill or personality. He chooses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

This mix of characters enrages the Pharisees, who are portrayed as being rather aloof and self-centred. They just don’t get why Jesus would hang out with such a motley crew of, in their eyes, lower class citizens. The Pharisees are shirking their duties as religious guides for the people in general who are being described as harassed and helpless and are likened to sheep without a shepherd, wandering aimlessly through life and in desperate need of direction. The Pharisees should have been spiritually leading them, keeping them safe, but clearly they’re not. Jesus is the good shepherd, looking to keep His flock safe. Possibly He sees the Apostles as sub-shepherds or maybe even like sheep dogs (not being derogatory here) who have the task of helping to tend to the scattered sheep and bring them back into the fold. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus has a deep love for people, all people, regardless of sin, shady past, misdemeanours. Quite possibly this does include the Pharisees, but boy, did they ever frustrate Him!

Jesus sends the Apostles out to the lost sheep of Israel. The name apostles comes from the Greek apóstolos which means ‘one who is sent’ and who participates in the authority of He who sends them. The Twelve Apostles are sent out to the wider Jewish communities with their instructions. The directive Jesus gives them is highly specific. He is detailed about what He is asking of them. But perhaps the most striking and important aspect of this sending out of the Apostles is that Jesus is giving them authority. He is giving them authority to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. This giving of authority effectively heralds the start of apostolic succession; Jesus Christ was sent from God. Similarly, the Twelve are sent by Jesus Christ, and later, as St Clement of Rome writes, they go in the full assurance of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God. And they will appoint their new converts to become bishops and deacons for believers of the future. We learn what we learn and know what we know from such as these.

We are called to be the disciples of today, the apostles of today – sent out just like the first Twelve, by Jesus, to share His compassion and to further His cause. We are sent out with the unfailing love of Jesus. The same love which compelled the fishermen to leave their nets and to follow Him. The same love that compelled a tax collector to leave his booth and to follow Him. We each have our separate gifts, and these may be quite ordinary. We don’t have to be outstanding to be chosen for God’s specific or general purposes. God has plans for each of us and our unique combination of gifts are just as important to the spreading of the good news as the next person. We go where we are sent, where God sends us. Like He, in Jesus, sent the Twelve to the Jews first, and not to the gentiles. Where we want to go may be very different to where God wants us to go. But we are to be pliant to His guidance. And so, if we are not chosen for specific roles, we need to remember that we are all still very important to the Kingdom agenda and that God will, and does, use us as He sees best. He will be there to support us and guide us through the bad and the good, the rough and the smooth as we all make up the beautiful Body of Christ.
Amen