On Mission and Dispossession

Reflection on Amos 7:12-15; Psalm 85:9-14; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13

What does the Lord Jesus Christ require His disciples who are sent out to mission?

“Jesus summonned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two.” The Lord entrusted the mission of building up His kingdom to His Church, and it is clear that He desires to see His disciples perform His work as a community. In this gospel account, Jesus empowered a small community of two persons to the common mission of sharing His life and love to others. This number reminds us of couple power. It reminds us of the small church- the Christian family, which the Lord has blessed to be both a saved as well as a saving community. By sending out a community to mission and arming it with His authority, the Lord communicated this demand of His disciples: that they be of one mind, heart and purpose, and that they be present to one another.

“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.” The Lord asked His disciples to embrace His example of dispossession to signify and affirm their trust and reliance on the Lord. Jesus does not ask His disciples anything that He Himself did not do. His was the ultimate dispossession: although He was God Himself, He emptied and humbled Himself by taking the form of man and by becoming obedient to death on the cross (Philippians 2:6-7). He became poor that we may become rich (2 Cor 8:9). Jesus took nothing for His journey on earth. In Matthew 8:20, Jesus said, "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

As the Master and Teacher has done, so must His disciples (John 13:13). His disciples must leave behind everything that is not of the Lord- all material, emotional and spiritual baggage- and must depend only on God’s grace, which is sufficient whatever the circumstance. Worldly dispossession reflects our love of God (1 John 2:15ff) and our poverty of spirit. The latter is a beatitude that carries the supreme promise: possession of God Himself in Christ (Matthew 5:3). This is what St. Paul means when He said “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Ephesians 1:3). When the Lord blesses us with His strength, no task is impossible.

“Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” The Lord’s disciples must not let rejection, opposition or difficulties discourage, slow or stop them. They are not to feel sorry about themselves, nor take offense against their tormentors. Anger, hurt, frustration should be not allowed to attach themselves to us. In community, these negative feelings are to be shaken off like the dust from our feet through fraternal correction and reconciliation. Nothing that the enemy will throw our way should prevent us from obeying the summons and call of the Lord. The Lord rewards obedience with fruitfulness. The apostles “went off and preached repentance” and as a result “drove out many demons and healed the sick”.