Reflection for July 9, Tuesday: Fourteenth Week in

Ordinary Time; Matthew 9:32-38

Gospel: Matthew 9:32-38

A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was driven
out the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever
been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of
demons.”

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. 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.”
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Reflection:
Are you quick to hurl accusations without careful thought?

After driving out the demon from the man Jesus is now accused by the Pharisees of
being the prince of demons. A wild accusation that has no basis at all, the sole basis of
their accusation was their hatred towards Jesus. Why? Because He was easily becoming
popular among the masses thus they saw Jesus as a threat to their rule.

Perhaps, some of us are like the Pharisees every once in a while? We hurl baseless
accusation against our fellowmen simply because we have an axe to grind against them.
For example, some of us may accuse somebody of wrongdoing because we simply want
to get back against someone who did us wrong in the past.

Hurling baseless accusation is not only exclusive in church organization. In general

terms this happens also among friends, people in politics particularly during election.
But why throw baseless accusation? Why not become friends and co-exist peacefully? If
we are true followers of the Lord we will not dare try to destroy the reputation of
anybody.

In the latter part of the gospel, seeing how enormous the crowd. Jesus said to his
disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. Indeed, the laborers in
the vineyard of the Lord are so few. This statement of Jesus still rings true up to this
time. Many do not know Jesus very well we therefore have to share and live the
teachings of Jesus.