Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
MARK 6:7-13 (Amos 7:12-15; Psalm 83:9-10, 11-12, 13-14; Ephesians 1:3-14)
In the context of Mark’s gospel Jesus experienced a less than enthusiastic visit to Nazareth, His hometown. In response, the Marcan Jesus turns to His new family, as our gospel reading for this Sunday begins, “He called to him the Twelve….” Earlier in Mark’s gospel, 3:13-19, Jesus had chosen these twelve disciples, “and he appointed them to be with him, to be sent out to preach, and to have authority to cast out demons.” That was their job description during Jesus’ time with them. They were apprenticed to Jesus. Up to this point in the gospel they had not yet functioned according to their job description except “to be with him.” Jesus instructed them, as we read in 4:34, “…privately he explained everything to his disciples.” The time had come to exercise the “faculties” He gave them – preaching, casting out demons, and another function is added, “anoint with oil the sick and heal them.”
There was little packing before their departure on their first mission journey. “He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no sack, no money in their belts.” A staff only: the staff could have been of assistance climbing steep hills or warding off the attacks of feral animals. No bread: like an invading army, the apostles were to depend for food on the land they invade or on its inhabitants. We know that St. Paul for the most part lived off the work of his own hands during his missions. He strongly defends his right to live off the gospel. Paul even calls upon the Torah of Moses to justify his right to live off the gospel. To us it may seem a bit of a stretch, but he cites in his defense “animals rights” legislation from Deuteronomy 25:4, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain.” In addition to this law, Paul writes, “If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits. If others share this rightful claim among you, do not we (Paul and Barnabas) still more?” Then typical of Paul, “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel….”
No sack: perhaps something like the modern rucksack, literally a sack on one’s back. This kind of baggage carrier has become very popular in our day, as we see everyone from tots to collegians carrying books and supplies in “briefcases” strapped to their backs. Not having a rucksack lessens the temptation to take money and food. No money in their belts: a bag or sack would have made it possible to take a considerable amount of money. To be forbidden to take even a few coins stuffed in one’s belt ruled out all financial security. What was the point in this form of extreme poverty or dependence? It certainly demanded trust in God. Another point could be that Mark was convinced that the end was at hand. There was little time to proclaim the gospel to the world, Mark 13:10. Therefore Christian missionaries must not be loaded down with anything that would slow their ability to move along as fast as Jesus Himself did in the one-year public minis-try the Gospel of Mark allots to him. As has been noted before, Jesus is in a great hurry in the Gospel of Mark. Therefore Mark uses the adverb immediately forty-two times.
The apostles or missionaries receive one little concession. They may wear sandals, although sandals are forbidden in Luke’s and Matthew’s version of Jesus’ missionary instructions. The authors of the gospels adapt the missionary instructions to the needs of the Christian community for which they are writing. No two tunics: the tunic was the garment worn next to the skin.
“Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.” What can be the reason for this unusual regulation? Perhaps this forestalls any idea that the apostles and later Christian missionaries were beggars wandering from house to house. This rule may also have prevented social climbing or seeking out the homes and dining pleasures of wealthy Christians. The Letter of James 2:1-7, written before the end of the first Christian century, already knew of Christian leaders being partial to the rich and discriminating against the poor.
The final rule: “If any place will not receive you, and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake the dust that is on your feet for a witness against them.” The origin of this custom is uncertain. It may have originated from a custom of pious Jews who traveled beyond the Holy Land of Israel into Gentile territory, where they might have acquired some kind of ritual impurity. Shaking off the dust from alien lands when re-entering Israel symbolized separation from any contamination or ritual defilement one may have acquired outside Israel. Paul and Silas used this gesture in a different way, probably meant as a curse. When they were persecuted and driven out of Antioch of Pisidia, “they shook off the dust from their feet against them.” In Acts 18:6, Paul was preaching in the synagogue at Corinth. “When they opposed him and cursed him, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your own heads.’” The Twelve, obedient to Jesus’ instructions, “went out and preached that people should repent.” The content of their preaching should be understood as similar to the description Mark gives of Jesus’ preaching in 1:15, “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Good News.” Next Sunday’s gospel: the Twelve return from their first mission.
