JESUS Sends Out The First Missionaries

"Go and proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven is near.  Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons.  You received this as a gift, so give it as a gift.  Do not carry any gold, silver or copper in your purses.  Do not carry a traveler's bag, or an extra shirt, or sandals, or walking stick: workers deserve their living.

When you come to a town or a village, look for a worthy person and stay there until you leave.

As you enter the house, wish it peace.  If the people in the house deserve it your peace will be on them; if they do not deserve it, your blessing will come back to you.

And if you are not welcomed and your words are not listened to, leave that house or that town and shake the dust off your feet.  I assure you, it will go easier for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment that it will for the people of that town." - Matthew 10:7-15 

(The successors of the apostles will be missionaries like them.  They will not be primarily the administrators of an established Church, but living poorly among them the poor, they will establish new Churches.  This new chapter will speak of a mission, the major responsibility of a Christian community.) 

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Can A Mortal Be Just Before GOD?

"Then Job answered:

Very well I know that it is so.

But how can a mortal be just before GOD?

If one were to contend with HIM,

not once in a thousand times would HE answer.

HIS power is vast, HIS wisdom profound.

Who has resisted HIM and come out unharmed?

HE moves mountains before they are aware;

HE overturns them in HIS rage.

HE makes the earth tremble

and its pillars quake.

HE commands the sun, and it does not shine;

HE seals off the light of the stars.

HE alone stretches out the skies

and treads on the waves of the seas.

HE made the Bear and Orion,

the Pleiades and every constellation.

HIS wonders are past all reckoning,

HIS miracles beyond all counting.

HE passes by, but I do not see HIM;

HE moves on, but I do not notice HIM.

If HE snatches away, who can stop HIM?

Who can say to HIM, 'What are YOU doing?'

GOD does not turn back when angered;

before HIM Rahab's cohorts cowered.

How then can I answer HIM

and find words to argue with HIM?

If HE does not answer when I am right,

shall I plead with my judge for mercy?

Even if I appealed and HE answered,

I do not believe that HE would have heard."

- Job 9:1-16

(Job is upset before an inaccessible GOD.  The Creator's greatness does not console the one who suffers without being heard.  The misfortune of a single just one distorts creation.

Again, Job not only questions evil, but the very situation created by human existence with its freedom.  The GOD who made us free persons must also be a Person, and as long as HE does not speak to us, HIS silence may be interpreted as a refusal to dialogue and a proof of indifference toward us.

Can a mortal be just before GOD?  The same question is found in 4:17 and 22:2.  This guilt feeling and the opposite feeling of hostility towards GOD are two sides of the same truth: the human condition is unacceptable as long as GOD makes people who cannot find HIM.)

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