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How many times do parents tell their children to never go anywhere alone? To always make sure that they are with someone else when in unfamiliar territory or going out, particularly at night? This is probably one of the most important rules that are ingrained in our children in an attempt to keep them safe when parents can’t be there. Even primary teachers line up their classes in pairs or send students on messages with a partner. We have developed this familiar routine and structure of travelling with someone we know as a means of comfort, support, and safety.
Today we read Mark’s account of the commissioning of the disciples to go out and spread the ministry of Jesus, their first mission. Most of us would be relieved that we were going out in pairs to do this job as it is always comforting to know that there is someone to support you and help in the mission you have been given. This may also have been true for the disciples.
What was even more challenging was they could only take a staff or walking stick. No food, no money, no spare clothes. Only the sandals on their feet and the clothes on their back. Jesus was asking the disciples to travel light, to travel unencumbered by what we consider as the necessities of life. They had to rely solely on the welcome and hospitality of the people they encountered on their journey. It challenged their faith and trust in God, to trust they would be provided for and kept safe. Tough call for anyone to make and would certainly challenge even the most faithful today.
Setting out on their mission, the disciples knew that if they received hospitality, they would have shelter and food for the duration of the time they spent in that community. If, however, there was no welcome they would move on, ‘shaking the dust from your feet’, a symbolic action which meant not wanting anything more to do with that place. Professor Mary Coloe PBVM, Australian religious sister and New Testament biblical scholar, explains that the whole focus of Jesus’ instructions to his disciples was to ‘travel lightly’ - no haversacks, no bread and no unwelcoming dust! It was a way for the disciples to leave behind any anger, blame or sense of failure they may have felt when things didn’t go the way they hoped. It was a way of letting go and being open to new possibilities as they journeyed forward on their mission. A good lesson for all of us when things don’t go the way we would like.
As we reflect on today’s gospel, I wonder how the disciples would be greeted today as they journey without food, clothing or money. Would they be welcomed into a community and offered hospitality, shelter and food? Does this sound at all familiar? In our world today we have people who, like the disciples, leave their homeland with nothing but the clothes on their back. Unlike the disciples, they are fleeing a life of starvation, persecution, poverty, discrimination, and injustice hoping to find hospitality and welcome in another country. Unfortunately, they often experience fear, rejection, obstacles, and ill treatment. They don’t have the opportunity to even ‘shake the dust off their feet’ as they are often faced with having to return to the very environment in which they are trying to escape.
In his prayer intention for June, Pope Francis reminds us to pray for the people who have fled from their homes. In his address during the week of Christian Unity in 2020, Pope Francis said, “Working together to live hospitality, especially towards those whose life is more vulnerable, will make all of us Christians … better human beings, better disciples and a more united Christian people. It will bring us closer to unity, which is God's will for us." Let us keep these people in our hearts, minds, and conversations and pray that one day the doors of hospitality and welcome will be opened to them.
