Their Mission, Our Mission

 

 Mk 6:7-13

 Commissioning The Apostles

⁷ Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.

⁸ These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. ¹⁰ Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹ And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹² They went out and preached that people should repent. ¹³ They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Jesus gives his disciples clear and concise instruction to keep them focused on their first journey to evangelize, preach repentance and drive out demons. Their "luggage" was the bare minimum, basically,  the clothes on their backs, and their message fundamental, change their way of life and adapt to a simpler life of faith. As we know, this is not the style of today's preachers, nor ours, yet the call to simplicity reminds us that the focus on spreading the need to change, believe, and follow up with maybe even drastic actions in our lives, is a special call and a necessary one.  With Lent now less than two weeks away, we might begin to examine our lifestyle and see how we can trim it to conform a bit more to what Jesus recommends here. With him all things are possible.

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, help me be an effective apostle who lives simply and who focuses on the mission. Amen.