Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority to proclaim the Good News. The conclusion to the Gospel passage we read yesterday was Jesus' instruction to his disciples to ask the Father to send laborers into the vineyard (cf. Matthew 9:38). It was a command that was occasioned by the sheer number of those whom they encountered in their course of ministry, men and women who were in need of some form of shepherding: the sick, the disillusioned, the poor, the marginalized. The situation was made worse by the blatant display of indifference and disregard on the part of the religious leaders and elders of the people, the men who prided themselves in their special elevation by God to be the shepherds of the people. And while Jesus was more than willing to step in and meet the needs of the people, he must have felt overwhelmed by their vast number. He needed help, and he knew where to get it. Turning to his disciples- the men and women who had enthusiastically received his proclamation of the Good News- Jesus summoned from among them twelve individuals whom he empowered and made partners in ministry. From then henceforth, these twelve were to be known as apostles. 
That Jesus summoned twelve of his disciples to help him in ministry is no mere coincidence. It was a move that had special significance for the work he had set out to accomplish. Jesus didn’t want his mission to be seen as coming out of the blue, as something that was being invented, so to speak. Rather, he wanted it to be understood and seen as a continuation of the mission of the prophets of old, a mission of calling Israel back into obedience. By choosing from among his disciples twelve men whom he gave the special name apostles, Jesus was symbolically "re-gathering" the scattered nation of Israel. Consequently, in summoning the twelve to share in his ministry, it can be said that Jesus was laying the foundation for the reconstitution of the people of God. However, unlike the original people of God (Israel) which was made up of only twelve tribes, this new one was going to be made up of every tribe and race under the sun. The responsibility of these twelve men was thus going to be that of helping Jesus in gathering everybody into one family of God. Together with Jesus, the twelve were to be the new shepherds of the people of God, leading them into the new kingdom whose good news he came proclaiming.