XV Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

The Mission with Sandals on Feet and Staff in Hand

“He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs.”
Mark 6:7-13

The central theme of the readings for this 15th Sunday is vocation and mission:
– The vocation/mission of the prophet: “It was the Lord who took me from herding the flock, and the Lord who said, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.” (First reading, Amos 7:12-15);
– The vocation/mission of the Christian: “Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence” (Second reading, Ephesians 1:3-14);
– The vocation/mission of the apostle: “Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs” (Gospel).

Some Reflections on Vocation

Before moving on to the gospel passage, let us reflect for a moment on this pairing of vocation and mission, that is, calling and sending, election and commission, discipleship and apostleship… the two inseparable dimensions of being and doing.

First of all, let’s remove from our minds the old idea that vocation only concerns priests and nuns, religious and missionaries, or at most, a few laypeople called to perform a particular task in the Christian community. In reality, the Christian life is a vocation, whether lived in special consecration or in lay and matrimonial life. Indeed, one could say, in a broad sense, that “vocation” characterizes every human life, as a search for meaning.

Secondly, it would be misleading to think that the question of vocation only concerns young people in search of a life project or God’s plan for them. It embraces the entire span of our existence. The “vocational search” does not cease once we have learned what God wants from us, but continues throughout life. “Every morning he makes my ear attentive to listen like a disciple” (Isaiah 50:4). Living our lives in vocational tension gives each moment a taste of freshness and novelty. Otherwise, we easily fall into the weariness of grey everyday life. To be faithful to the vocation, it is not enough to go forward by inertia. We must constantly rekindle the fire of the call, as Paul recommended to Timothy: “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:6). Our “Yes” must be renewed every day, otherwise it wears out and fades.

Finally, I would dare to say that our “Yes” does not only concern the present and the future, but even the past because, strange as it may seem, past faithfulness is never safe until the final “Yes.” Today, I can regret a choice that I made at the time with joy and generosity. Indeed, the great “Yes” renewed to the past can be even more challenging than the “Yes” of today, made perhaps out of necessity or inertia. This explains why so many vocations, both consecrated and matrimonial, end in bitterness or failure. Here lies the supreme beatitude – that of salvation – which Jesus proclaims precisely in the context of sending the Twelve on a mission: “He who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22).

After these considerations, perhaps not entirely pertinent, let us underline some aspects of today’s gospel.

The Three Stages of Vocation

The gospel passage begins by saying that “Jesus summoned the Twelve”. There are three special calls in our lives. First of all, there is the personal call: “As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew… James and John… and he called them” and they became DISCIPLES (Mark 1:16-20). This call has also reached each of us!

Secondly, there is the communal call: “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.” (Mark 3:13-14). Thus, the disciples became a COMMUNITY. We are all “convoked,” ‘called together.’ There are no ‘private’ vocations!

Finally, there is the apostolic vocation, the sending on a mission. This is the moment presented in today’s gospel: “Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs” and they became APOSTLES. Every vocation culminates in mission. A communal mission (two by two), ecclesial, not as lone rangers!

This is the first sending of the Twelve, an apprenticeship in view of the final sending after the resurrection, which will definitively characterize them as “apostles,” sent ones, missionaries: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Let us therefore take a closer look at this third stage.

Our Mission Continues that of Jesus

The apostles continue the mission of Jesus (Mark 3:14-15): to proclaim the Kingdom of God, cast out demons, and heal the sick. Therefore, the Lord bestows upon them his power: “giving them authority over the unclean spirits”. The Gospel of Mark is known for highlighting Jesus’ activity in casting out impure spirits. Why does he do this? Not only to demonstrate Jesus’ divine power but to highlight that the Kingdom of God is advancing and defeating the kingdom of Satan.

The apostles are aware that they have received this “authority over the unclean spirits” and exercise it successfully. Unfortunately, with us, it is often not so. We do not have faith in this gift given to us through the sacrament of confirmation. Out of fear or cowardice, we often do not fight evil and thus allow “the unclean spirits” to spread in our environments.

The Mission of the Staff and Sandals

Once this power is conferred, the Lord “instructed [commanded] them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic’”. This command of Jesus challenges any missionary. It is the only time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus commands something to the disciples. He commands it because this is not a natural thing. We are tempted to do mission with powerful and effective means. Deep down, we do not trust the power of God’s Word and his providence. By instinct, we seek other human securities.

“Until you are poor, everything you give is only an exercise of power,” says Silvano Fausti. Life and mission, however, take charge of stripping the apostle. Failure, disappointment, opposition, fragility… lead us to the conclusion that the mission is carried out in weakness so that God’s power may be manifested in us (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

If we look at the parallel texts in Matthew (ch. 10) and Luke (ch. 9 and 10), we will notice that Jesus says not to even procure a staff and sandals. In this case, the staff is considered the weapon of the poor, and the mission is to be carried out unarmed. For Mark, however, the staff is the pilgrim’s tool that helps him walk. Moreover, it is the sign of the power that God gives to his envoy, like the staff of Moses.
Sandals for Matthew and Luke are a luxury. For Mark, in a different cultural context, they are a sign of freedom. Slaves went barefoot. Evangelization, however, carries a message of freedom.

In Conclusion, Let Us Ask Ourselves:

1. Am I a pilgrim Christian or a sedentary Christian, with too much “baggage” to be able to move?
2. Do I recognize God’s action in my weaknesses, stripping me of false securities?
3. What is the “staff” I lean on to walk?
4. Am I an Easter Christian, “with my loins girded, my sandals on my feet and my staff in hand” (Exodus 12:11), always ready to depart?

Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia MCCJ
Verona, July 2024

The Mission of the Twelve and our mission

A commentary on Mk  6, 7-13

After being refused by the people of Nazareth, Jesus, according to Mark, set up a new stage of his Mission involving in it the Twelve, the seed of a new people who accepted the Kingdom of God and made it flourish in villages and towns. In the text of Mark that we read this Sunday, we can find many points of meditation useful for our live as disciple missionaries. I just reflect a bit on four of them:

• He called the Twelve and started sending them

The Mission is not a fruit of a personal initiative, but of a call. On the way of missionary discipleship there are moments in which it seems that it is us that take the initiative, it is us that have a project for humanity, an interesting ideology, our clever way to look at things. But real discipleship only starts truly when, passed the stage of a self-centred mission, we come to realize that it is the Lord that calls us and sends us.

Moses and other important prophets have gone through this experience: Mission usually ends up in complete failure when it is taken as a personal way to become somebody in society, while it becomes fertile when it is taken as an answer to a call from God.

Even artists tell something similar to that prophetic experience.  Poets, for example, often say that it’s not they that look for words, buts it’s words that look for them; in fact, poetry reaches a special forceful expression when somehow it “imposes” itself to the poet, who has maybe worked hard with the words, but at the end he feel that the inspiration came as a gift. On the same way, in our missionary discipleship there must be a moment of surprising grace, an awareness of being freely called, breaking our barriers and our desires of self-control and personal ideologies or pretentious self-made projects… Only then Mission becomes really the Mission of the Lord, fertile, even if it has to go through failure and cross.

• Two by two

Sending the disciples out “two by two”, Jesus follows the Hebrew tradition, according to which, messengers are sent two by two, so that the message conveyed by the spokesman will be confirmed by his companion. Going on mission two by two the disciples sustain each other on their witness giving more credibility to the message of the new brotherhood.

Moreover, mission “two by two”  is no longer an individual, private mission, but it becomes a social, public proposal. Certainly, Jesus used to pray for hours alone, but his mission was always public: in synagogues and streets, in towns and villages, in private houses and public places. Jesus’ mission was not a private but a public and social affair. This does not mean that it makes mission easier, but a more authentic and credible one.

• To enter peoples’ homes

In the missionary practice of Jesus there are no reserved places: he preaches and heals everywhere.  Jesus’ mission does not exclude the Temple, but neither remains limited to it. Looking at that, we are sure that the Church’s mission today cannot be confined to parishes; it has to come out of parish’s premises and go to meet people wherever they are and live.

• To announce the nearness of the kingdom

Nearness: this is a key word in Jesus’s experience and mission. Jesus announces, with words and actions, that God is near to people and He performs actions of healing, liberation, forgiveness and love that makes people rise up and walk. This is the power Jesus has, the power that shares with his disciple missionaries, the power that make people rise and walk as free children of God.

Fr. Antonio Villarino
Bogotá

A NEW STAGE OF EVANGELIZATION
by José Antonio Pagola

Mark 6:7-13

Pope Francis is calling us to a «new stage of evangelization marked by Jesus’ joy». What could it consist of? Where can its novelty lie? What needs to change? What was Jesus’ real intention when he sent his disciples to continue his evangelizing work?

Mark’s story makes it clear that Jesus is the source, the inspiration, and the model of doing evangelization for his followers. They are to do nothing in their own name. They are «sent» by Jesus. They won’t preach themselves: only announce his Gospel. They won’t have other interests: only dedicate themselves to opening up paths to God’s reign.

The only way to push a «new stage of evangelization marked by Jesus’ joy» is to purify and intensify this connection with Jesus. There won’t be a new evangelization if there aren’t new evangelizers, and there won’t be new evangelizers if there’s not a more living, lucid and passionate contact with Jesus. Without him we will do everything except introduce his Spirit into the world.

When he sent them, Jesus doesn’t leave his disciples abandoned to their own power. He gives them his «power», which isn’t a power to control, govern or dominate others, but his power to «cast out evil spirits», free people from what enslaves, oppresses and dehumanizes them.

The disciples know full well what Jesus has put them in charge of. They’ve never seen him govern anyone. They’ve always known him to heal wounds, alleviate suffering, regenerate lives, help people live free from fear, spread trust in God. «Heal» and «free» are priority tasks in Jesus’ way of acting. They will give a radically different face to our evangelization.

Jesus sends them out with what’s necessary to go walking. According to Mark, they will only take a staff, sandals and one tunic. They don’t need anything else to be witnesses of what’s essential. Jesus wants them to be free and without hindrances, always available, without getting comfortably settled, trusting in the power of the Gospel.

Without recovering this evangelical style, there’s no «new stage of evangelization». What’s important isn’t to put in place new activities and strategies, but to let go of customs, structures and compulsions that keep us from being free to spread what’s essential in the Gospel truly and simply.

In the Church we’ve lost that itinerate style that Jesus suggests. Her walking is slow and tiresome. We don’t know how to accompany humanity. We don’t have the agility to pass from a culture that’s over and done with, to the culture of now. We hold onto power that we’ve had. We get caught up in interests that don’t coincide with God’s reign. We need conversion.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf