“He instructed them to take nothing.” —Mark 6:8
In our culture, we say: “Ready; get set; go.” Jesus says something different: “Ready; don’t be ‘set upon the things of this world’ (Phil 3:19), and go.” To get ready to go for Jesus doesn’t mean that we pack our bags; rather, it means that we get rid of our baggage. Jesus “instructed them to take nothing on their journey but a walking stick — no food, no traveling bag, not a coin in the purses in their belts” (Mk 6:8).
Jesus practiced what He preached. He went out with nothing. When God became a man, He emptied Himself (Phil 2:7). When He was born, there was no room for Him except in a stable (Lk 2:7). When Jesus did His public ministry, He had nowhere to lay His head (Lk 9:58).
How does this apply to us? For example, if you have three children, the Lord obviously does not want you to be homeless, penniless, and without food and clothes. However, He does want you to go on mission for Him, and he wants you to go in the simplicity, austerity, and poverty appropriate to having been crucified to the world (Gal 6:14). Today’s Gospel reading applies to all of us. In love, truth, and freedom, apply it.
PRAYER: Father, may I let You free me.
PROMISE: “You were sealed with the Holy Spirit Who had been promised. He is the Pledge of our inheritance, the first Payment against the full redemption of a people God has made His own, to praise His glory.” —Eph 1:13-14
PRAISE: “Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens!” (Eph 1:3)
(From a reflection by a member of the editorial team of the late Fr Al Lauer’s Presentation Ministries) For the full Readings in English and Maltese and other reflections please go to: https:thewordonsunday.blogspot.com OR access it through our Facebook page, “The Word on Sunday”.
John Portelli
