From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts–
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.
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.
Sunday’s Gospel, Mark 6:7-13
After they had been with Jesus for a while—following him as he went into different towns, praying and eating with him, listening to him teach—the Twelve were ready for the next step. The huge crowds that gathered around Jesus were a clear indication he needed collaborators in his mission. He decides now is the time.
He sends them out together, by twos, emphasizing the collaborative nature of service and mission. Two witnesses can support one another and are more convincing (two varied voices, two different approaches to things) and Jewish law insisted on the necessity of a minimum of two witnesses in the most important kinds of cases. (See Numbers 35:30)
He gives them authority over unclean spirits (who are the spiritual core of both sin and death). Notice: it is HIS authority he gives them. The Twelve have none unless he confers it upon them. Later, they will have to confer his authority on collaborators they will need. It always remains Jesus’ authority, always being passed on to another generation. We call this “Apostolic Succession.” Since “apostles” in Mark’s Greek means “those sent,” Apostolic Succession simply means “the sequence of those sent.” [as found in The Memoirs of St. Peter, p.102 Michael Pakaluk). The pattern for that sequence begins here.
They were to travel light. In this short-term training experience, they were to rely completely on the hospitality of those they met, conversed with about the Kingdom, and healed. It must be evident that the pairs are not in this for money. They should be obviously in need of welcome, food, and a roof over their heads. They are not even to take a “second tunic” which could serve for cover while sleeping out in the fields around villages. House-hopping, too, would be evidence of self-aggrandizement and thus undermine their witness. (Clearly, we do have a responsibility to support our pastors. They are not quickly passing through but living among us for years at a stretch.)
If they are rejected in one village, they are to move on. This becomes the model for new missionary activity after the Resurrection. When the early church leaders are hounded out of Jerusalem, they begin evangelizing Samaria and other areas. When Paul and Barnabas are thrown out of one city, they head down the road and begin again in another.
In this “training exercise” Jesus lays out the pattern on which his Church will begin to build.
For further reflection:
Two other parts of the “pattern”: First, the Twelve drive out demons by words of command, as with basic exorcisms today, such as ones used before all regular baptisms. Second, they anoint the sick with oil, and this became the basis of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. It is a bit much to say this establishes the Sacrament itself, all of this happens well before the Church is founded on Jesus’ sacrifice, Resurrection, and his sending of the Holy Spirit upon them, but when the young Church begins to deal with response to illnesses, Jesus’ earlier instructions to them would come quickly to mind.
Your thoughts, comments, suggestions welcomed.