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.
— Matthew 9:32-38
The peace of the Lord be with you. Both the old testament reading from Hosea and our gospel reading from Matthew today remind us of the consequences that happen when disorder enters our lives. By disorder I mean simply when we fail to recognize the natural order of people, places, and things.
Today Jesus’s heart is moved with pity because the people have lost sight of the fact that God walks with them. For them, and just like us, when we forget that God is with us, the weight and the burdens of the world grind us into the earth.
Lord help us to be wise and teachable so that our lives are ordered according to your will and we can be free from the burdens of daily life. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.