Your Needs Will Be Provided For – Travel Light!
Introduction
Our religion today is not inspired or instilled by the fear of the terrifying signs of Mount Sinai but rests on Christ our mediator of the new covenant who sacrificed himself for us.
Jesus wants his disciples to be without security and power, so as to be free to go to people in their own life situation and to be free to preach and witness to the Gospel without ambiguity. Would that the Church today could give such an unambiguous witness.
1 Reading: Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24
Brothers and sisters:
You have not approached that which could be touched
and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness
and storm and a trumpet blast
and a voice speaking words such that those who heard
begged that no message be further addressed to them.
Indeed, so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said,
“I am terrified and trembling.”
No, you have approached Mount Zion
and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and countless angels in festal gathering,
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,
and God the judge of all,
and the spirits of the just made perfect,
and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and the sprinkled Blood that speaks more eloquently
than that of Abel.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 48:2-3ab, 3cd-4, 9, 10-11
R. (see 10) O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, fairest of heights,
is the joy of all the earth.
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
As we had heard, so have we seen
in the city of the LORD of hosts,
In the city of our God;
God makes it firm forever.
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
O God, we ponder your mercy
within your temple.
As your name, O God, so also your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Of justice your right hand is full.
R. O God, we ponder your mercy within your temple.
Alleluia: Mark 1:15
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the Gospel. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.
He said to them,
“Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.”
So they went off and preached repentance.
The Twelve drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Commentary
While the value of voluntary poverty may be implied in today’s Gospel, the main emphasis is on the need to “travel light.” On their journey, the disciples are not to be encumbered or preoccupied. Their needs will be provided for; hospitality will not fail. The only accommodation allowed is that they are permitted to wear sandals.
There is a sense of urgency in their mission. The fathers of the Church saw in their traveling in pairs an allusion to the importance of charity.
Arriving at their destination, they were to stay with one family for the duration of their visit. Their message centered on the need for repentance in the light of the kingdom’s arrival. Their work was a healing ministry. It was a moment of great anticipation.
Our liturgical prayers frequently reference the return of Christ, an event that, for most of us, seems quite remote. But there is a historical return as well as the one that will happen at the end of the ages. Sooner or later, we will personally meet our redeemer. We want to live our daily life in anticipation of the meeting. We have here no lasting home, but at times we act as if we did.
The account of the Church’s beginnings is infused with a great deal of excitement. We could use some of that excitement today. After all, the Gospel really is “good news”, the assurance of a future life in God. If only we just respond!
Hebrews assures us today that as we draw near to die, heavenly Mount Zion, the new Jerusalem, we should not be filled with the terror and trembling of Moses as he approached Mount Sinai. Full of hope, we must move forward with confidence.
Blessing
Jesus sent out his apostles to bring his message to people. They should not carry useless baggage and must depend on the people’s hospitality. They are sent to heal and save. May your lives speak the message of the Gospel, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!