Ask the Master

July 8, 2008
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Though they offer sacrifice, immolate flesh and eat it, the LORD is not pleased with them. He shall still remember their guilt and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. Hosea 8:13

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Matthew 9:36-38

Piety
Patient and loving Father, your Son spent much of his ministry teaching us to pray and showing us how to pray through his life-long example. Help us to study the Lord’s ways and learn the craft of prayer from the hands and heart and head of the Master. Show us the way to act upon the advice we get from the Master with the aid and assistance of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/070808.shtml

We see the Lord’s disposition change between the images depicted in the Hebrew Bible to the images shown in the Good News. In Hosea, the Lord is displeased with the behavior of his people. Despite the sacrifices that they offer, the Lord continues to focus upon their guilt and sins…promising punishment and banishment...even a return to exile in Egypt. However, when we flash forward to Matthew’s account, Jesus recognizes that the people are like “sheep without a shepherd.” So rather than being vengeful and seeking retribution, he is moved with pity and takes up the task of teaching the people the right ways to build a relationship with the Lord.
No amount of sacrificing to God will help if our behavior is still not based upon the Gospel teachings.

The New Testament solution is piety and action. Rather than called for additional sacrifice, Jesus says to engage the Lord and ask for help. “Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” With additional help, we will be able to serve each other and serve the Lord.

Why are the people troubled and abandoned? They were afflicted with diseases and illnesses…illnesses that Jesus has come to cure. So rather than being abandoned, Jesus was trying to tell them that they were not alone. He is there with them. Rather than being troubled, he is there to comfort them. They were not lost sheep or overworked laborers. They may feel that way but Jesus is here…he tells us that we are not alone. To prove it, he tries to lift the burden of our cross by curing their illnesses and diseases.

If that is not enough, then he also gives a formula for what to do after he is gone. What about now, Jesus is no longer walking among us? Ask the Master. He teaches us to turn to prayer, to turn to God. Ask the Master. In that exchange, we are to ask the Lord to send help through people who will love their neighbors. This assumes that we are close enough to the Lord to ask for help. He cannot be like a neighbor whom we pass in the night…coming and going from work or school. Instead, we must know him well enough to bring him our problems and ask him for assistance.

Action
What do you do when you are faced with a task that is at best difficult to accomplish? Do you try to take over? Or do you try to turn over as in turning over the problem to God?

If you have a job that needs completing, you usually call a specialist to help get it done. If the pipes burst, you call a plumber. If the fuses blow, you call an electrician. If the car won’t start you call a mechanic. So if we are comfortable asking the masters of these fields for help, when life throws us issues, let us be comfortable turning to the Master of Life for assistance.

Consider all the issues that you will face this week. Turn over one problem to the Lord. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up (James 4:10). Next week, try two.

Who is someone you know with a particular burden? What can you do to ease that burden a little or a lot? As St. Theresa teaches us, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet but yours.” So let’s “Ask the Master” how He can put us to work for Him.