Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (2026) - Fr Paul Rowse, OP

The Lord's feeling for the crowds and the action he takes speak to what health and holiness is.  We believe health and holiness are when everything works as it is designed to do.  Sickness and sin are inhibitors of the Creator’s design.  We should just recognise that sickness and sin are used by God to make himself known to us: a sudden cure or a quick turn reveal the hand of God.  But apart from that, there remain those times when we must contend with sickness and sin.  Then, we put ourselves into the hands of a physician, whether medical or spiritual, and look for restoration.  So, health and holiness are when we are untroubled, when we live harmoniously in ourselves and with our neighbour.

Bernini's Salvator Mundi. Image by Livioandronico2013: Licence.

So, the sight of so many in Israel contending with sickness or sin or both is evidence of the divine plan not being fulfilled.  They evidence those people as not yet free.  And the Lord felt for them.  He was eviscerated for them, even gutted.  And because he was gutted for the sick and sinful, the Lord acted.  But, at this point in the Gospel he is not yet risen from the dead, and so in his humanity can only be in one place at one time.

Therefore, he commits his authority to the Twelve in just two areas: curing disease and exorcisms, and so also sin.  The Twelve do not need authority to calm storms or curse victories or multiply bread and fish to remove the inhibitors to the Creator’s design. But they do need authority to act on and enact the Lord's compassion for the sick and sinners.  He was gutted for them, and the Twelve act for him.

Similarly, the Twelve are sent just to Israel.  This is not yet the ministry of reconciliation and evangelization.  They do not go to monotheist Samaritans, nor yet are they in front of polytheists.  That mission will come after the resurrection, when the Lord in full possession of his authority sends them out to all the world.

The Twelve therefore are emissaries of divine compassion.  For now, they deal just with sickness and sin in Israel.  The field of mission will be opened up once they have learned how to work for the one whom we know will rise from the dead.

We are shown in this episode how compassion and authority work together.  On one hand, compassion without authority is just nice sentiment, well-placed feeling in worse experience, positive vibes, and a failure to act.  On the other hand, authority without compassion is unmoved by suffering, indifferent to circumstances, aloof, and also a failure to act.  Jesus’ compassion and authority come together in a most wonderful way. His compassion and authority have already been at work for some time by now.  And now, by committing to them authority to cast out devils and to cure sickness, he extends his compassion through the Twelve, so that all will know that there is a God in Israel, that he is God with us.

Our task is to grow in compassion and to grow in recognising the full extent of our authority.  It was important to the revelation of the Kingdom that just Twelve received authority to enact the Lord's compassion.  That power over the natural order is given, but more rarely.  But it remains important for the spread of the Kingdom now revealed that every one of the Lord's disciples does all that they can.  They do nothing more than they can, and nothing less than that.

To grow in compassion, we need to dedicate time to others.  We need to dedicate time to the Lord in prayer and time to the Lord in his people.  And over that time, we’ll soon see what he does.  Remember, authority without compassion is aloof and a failure to act.  We can remedy that aloofness by being with others.

To grow in recognising our authority, we must use our faith to see how the Lord won the victory for us.  He defeated death, our enemy, so we are uninhibited to approach his heaven.  His victory means nothing stands in the way of our resurrection except what we put back.  So, we must recognise what the Lord has done for us, and what inhibitors our neighbour is up against that we can remove.  Remember, compassion without authority is just positive vibes and a failure to act.  We can remedy that vain positivity by drawing on the Lord’s gifts to us.

May the Lord grant us wisdom and insight to see as he sees and to act as he acts.  May he remind us of our baptismal authority to live for him in every way: all this, so that all will know that Jesus is God with us.  To whom be the glory for ever.  Amen.

Fr Paul Rowse, OP is the Parish Priest of Camberwell East, Victoria.