Barnabas, Apostle, Reading: Matthew 10:7-13“The gift you have received, give as a gift.” Tell that to some professional people I’ll try to leave unmentioned for the moment who grossly overcharge for their services.
Jesus was sending his disciples off to do some leg work for him. Actually, it was his way of running a vocational school. Experience in the field was the best way he knew for teaching his apostles and disciples how to carry on after he was gone.
And from what we know of his followers, his methods bore much fruit. They converted many when they went forth after Pentecost and spread throughout the world preaching the good news.
Did they receive money for their labors? Jesus said, “The workman is worth his keep.” St. Paul, though he made tents and sold them to support himself, repeated the words of Jesus by saying, “The workman deserves his wages.” (lTim.5/18) The early Christians supported their priests and deacons and religious workers as you do today. And where you work, you are being paid. At least I hope you are.
Unfortunately, many people are not being paid a living wage for their forty hours of work. There is injustice at both ends of the payment scale. Some workers are not getting paid enough, others are getting much too much. But we all must remember where our talents and energy have come from for doing any kind of work at all. From God, of course.
Jesus gave his disciples the ability to cure the sick, raise the dead, and expel demons. Then said to them, “The gift you have received give as a gift,” modifying that statement with another, “The workman is worth his keep.” May doctors, lawyers, employers and employees everywhere consider those statements seriously and give them due respect. They come from the mouth of Jesus Christ.
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