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Thursday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
Mk 6:7-13
Jesus sends out the Twelve today two by two on a mission. As expected from a mission-sending event, Jesus gives a list of instructions to the Twelve. Let us review the list. Jesus instructed the Twelve not to take anything for the journey except a walking stick. Food, sleeping bags, extra clothing, and cash are also explicitly prohibited. Sandals are all they are told to wear, and if they are not welcomed in a particular place, they should leave that place while shaking the dust off their feet. They are also directed not to move from house to house for lodging. Quite a list of things to remember carefully! But is there something we are missing here?
Jesus does not tell the Twelve what they are to preach about! There are no about details regarding the message that the Twelve have to spread around. Nothing before Mk 6:7-13 and neither is there anything about it after Mk 6:7-13. It is only when the Twelve returns from their missionary assignment will we come to know what they preached about. They preached the need of repentance. Not a bad topic for evangelization, but, still, it is not explicitly in the list of Jesus’ instructions. Or Mark simply takes it for granted in his narration.
Why?
St. Francis of Assisi is said to have the practice of sending his disciples on a mission each day with this instruction: “Go and preach the Good News. Talk if necessary.” Quite an unusual instruction to preacher being sent out to evangelize, is it not? Yes, but that is precisely the secret of the best preaching. The absence of words is not the absence of message. When words are not present, the messenger becomes the message himself.
By not telling the Twelve the explicit message of their preaching, Jesus seems to be instructing them that, first and foremost, they themselves are the words that will carry out His message to the ends of the world. By their detachment from material things, conveniences and comforts, power and prestige, the Twelve will give witness to the people that they are men dedicated to God. By following His list of instructions to them, the Twelve become the outward signs of God’s kingdom. The signs are, actually, signs of “absence”.
The message to preach seems to be absent in the list of Jesus’ instruction because the more the things He mentions in the list are absent in the life of the Twelve, the Twelve themselves become the message. Are those things present in our life? If yes, then what is absent in our preaching?
Mk 6:7-13
Jesus sends out the Twelve today two by two on a mission. As expected from a mission-sending event, Jesus gives a list of instructions to the Twelve. Let us review the list. Jesus instructed the Twelve not to take anything for the journey except a walking stick. Food, sleeping bags, extra clothing, and cash are also explicitly prohibited. Sandals are all they are told to wear, and if they are not welcomed in a particular place, they should leave that place while shaking the dust off their feet. They are also directed not to move from house to house for lodging. Quite a list of things to remember carefully! But is there something we are missing here?
Jesus does not tell the Twelve what they are to preach about! There are no about details regarding the message that the Twelve have to spread around. Nothing before Mk 6:7-13 and neither is there anything about it after Mk 6:7-13. It is only when the Twelve returns from their missionary assignment will we come to know what they preached about. They preached the need of repentance. Not a bad topic for evangelization, but, still, it is not explicitly in the list of Jesus’ instructions. Or Mark simply takes it for granted in his narration.
Why?
St. Francis of Assisi is said to have the practice of sending his disciples on a mission each day with this instruction: “Go and preach the Good News. Talk if necessary.” Quite an unusual instruction to preacher being sent out to evangelize, is it not? Yes, but that is precisely the secret of the best preaching. The absence of words is not the absence of message. When words are not present, the messenger becomes the message himself.
By not telling the Twelve the explicit message of their preaching, Jesus seems to be instructing them that, first and foremost, they themselves are the words that will carry out His message to the ends of the world. By their detachment from material things, conveniences and comforts, power and prestige, the Twelve will give witness to the people that they are men dedicated to God. By following His list of instructions to them, the Twelve become the outward signs of God’s kingdom. The signs are, actually, signs of “absence”.
The message to preach seems to be absent in the list of Jesus’ instruction because the more the things He mentions in the list are absent in the life of the Twelve, the Twelve themselves become the message. Are those things present in our life? If yes, then what is absent in our preaching?
posted by Fr. Bobby @ 4:00 PM
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