In this week’s gospel reading, from the
6th chapter of Mark’s gospel, Jesus sent out the Twelve disciples on a mini
missionary trip. Jesus instructed the Twelve to “take nothing for the journey
but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money.”
Wow! No food? No money? I don’t know
about you, but I would never even THINK about leaving home on a trip without
plenty of money (or at least plenty of credit cards).
However, Jesus sent His disciples out on
this missionary journey without any resources at all. They had to depend
completely on the kindness of strangers for their daily food and lodging.
Again, I don’t know about you, but personally, instead of depending upon the
kindness of strangers, I’d much rather depend upon the credit line of my VISA
card.
Well, actually, I misspoke. Jesus did
NOT send them out without any resources at all. Scripture tells us that He
“gave them authority over unclean spirits.” So, in reality, Jesus gave them a
fantastic resource for their journey (even more valuable than a wallet full of
VISA cards). He gave them the power of God. The Twelve went out on this mission
completely dependent upon God for their daily needs—and that was more than
enough.
Jesus also gave them another very
important resource for the journey. He sent his disciples out “two by two.”
Jesus gave them a precious resource that would not have been available if they
had gone out alone: the resource of companionship, support, encouragement, and
a shoulder to cry on when things went poorly.
Think of these two scenarios: First, a
solitary individual is sent by Jesus to preach in the countryside. When the
people in a particular village mock him and tell him to get lost, this person
heads off to the next village. As he walks alone, he starts second-guessing
himself. “Boy, that was terrible,” he mutters. “I couldn’t get a single person
to listen to me. I don’t know why Jesus sent me on this mission. I can’t do
this. I’m such a loser.” By the time he shuffles into the next village, he’s so
discouraged and depressed, all he wants to do is sit under a tree and have a
pity party for himself.
How different it is when two people are
sent together. After the villagers mock them and tell them to get lost, they
head off to the next village. As they walk, one of them says, “Boy, that was
terrible. No one listened to us.”
The other replies, “Yeah, those folks
were cranky, all right. Nothing like the people we met three days ago. Remember
how kind they were to us?”
“Good point,” the first one says, “Maybe
the people in the next village will be kind, too. But even if they’re not, what’s
the worst that can happen? They laugh at us? They tell us to get lost? No big
deal. Hey, you know what? I’ve got a good feeling about this next village. C’mon,
let’s hurry up so we get there before dinner time!”
Well, you get the idea. When two people
work together, they can commiserate together, encourage each other, and help
each other to get over disappointments more quickly and be able to laugh about
it.
This event in the gospels should be an
important lesson for us all. The Christian life is not meant for a bunch of
Lone Rangers. We need the support of each other to keep from getting
discouraged. That’s why we’re called to gather each week as a community of
believers and worship the Lord together.
It’s practically impossible to live a
vibrant, joyful Christian life in solitude. If we try to do it alone, it’s just
not going to work. We need the fellowship and support of other believers.
No comments:
Post a Comment