Today's Gospel reading shows another miraculous deed of Jesus with the dumb demoniac (Mt.9:32-34).

Matthew recorded the miracles of Jesus to present Him as one who has: Conquered sin, disease and death; He subdues Satan and the hostile powers of nature.

All these point to signs of the Kingdom of Heaven - the promise of salvation to the poor, the needy, the oppressed and the marginalised.

The second part of the Gospel reading challenges us to examine our discipleship as mission. Jesus uses two biblical imageries: 'shepherd-sheep' and 'harvest' to point to the this aspect of discipleship - missionary discipleship.

Jesus was compassionate towards the people whom He metaphorically saw as sheep without a shepherd. Their leaders had failed them. Doesn't this sound familiar in our current context?

The weak leadership that we experience in our nation today should spur us to pray earnestly for another dimension of our missionary discipleship, which is trusting in our God.

The failure to live out our discipleship could result in what Hosea described in the first reading where we see God witnessing the Israelites' strange ways - submitting themselves to false gods and sinning against God, who brought them out of slavery in Egypt.

The Psalmist reminded the Israelites that failure to do what pleased God would result in punishment for their sins.