Missionary Church

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Mark (6:7-13)

Jesus called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.” So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.

Reflection from 'Bible Alive'

Different horses, different courses’, so the saying goes. Jesus’ instructions to the disciples were spoken in a different age – an age without cars, aeroplanes, mobile phones or (and we know it’s hard to imagine) emails! If, therefore, we adopted an overly literal approach to today’s reading, we’d look pretty daft! Jesus instructed his disciples to take nothing for the journey except a staff: no bread, no money, no bag. A modern disciple would be fine without the bread and the bag: it would be being without money that would present the problem. They were encouraged to stay in one house as a kind of base and not move around, remaining there until the work was done. If they were rejected, or their message, they were told to ‘shake the dust off their feet’, a familiar Palestinian gesture which expressed the contempt in which their rejection was held.

Cultural differences aside, what is striking about the disciples’ mission is that their preaching and ministry involved the proclaiming of the message of repentance supported by amazing miracles of deliverance and healing. The gospel has, since the beginning, been a message to be shared, witnessed to and boldly proclaimed. We can hide from this fact, we can shirk our responsibility, or we can simply convince ourselves that as long as we are nice, kind, decent and law-abiding people, then we are giving witness. The problem, though, is this – we are giving witness, but all we are giving witness to is being nice, kind, decent and law abiding. This in and of itself is good and positive, and no one would decry it. However, Christian witness and evangelization of the sort that Jesus exhorted his disciples to do is of a different quality.

Ask yourself this question: if building God’s church or kingdom on earth depended on you, would it ever get done? Thankfully and mercifully it doesn’t just depend on us but we are called to give witness to Christ, and sooner or later it involves sharing with others the reason for our hope, our joy and our faith. For sure a good life is the best sermon, for sure ‘preach the gospel, and if necessary use words’, but let us not be ashamed of the gospel and its message of repentance and turning to Christ.

‘No fragrance can be more pleasing to God than that of his own Son. May all the faithful breathe out the same perfume.’ (St Augustine)