In today’s Gospel from St Luke, we hear about Jesus sending out the disciples two by two to bring his proclamation of God’s kingdom to the world. Jesus is certainly a minimalist as to what he wants the disciples to bring on their journey. He tells them to bring no money bag, no sack, and no sandals – I guess he expects them to go in their bare feet!
I used to travel a lot as a missionary, as most of you know. When I was working with the Comboni Missionaries in the rainforest jungles of northern Ecuador in South America, I used to travel to a village every Friday afternoon from our mission site. I would spend the entire weekend working in this small villages. The journey would be about 4 hours in a canoe in the hot equatorial sun. I did not think I was taking very much with me by modern American standards for this weekend journey, but in light of Jesus’ commands in today’s Gospel, I was pretty high maintenance in what I brought with me. Let’s see what I would have here:
1) A large backpack to carry everything
2) Bottles of water to drink
3) A small bottle of iodine or bleach with which I would use for treating water
4) A swimsuit, a towel, and soap for bathing in the river
5) A Bible in Spanish that I would use in my Bible study classes.
6) A change of clothing.
7) A sleeping bag, to keep the creatures away from me.
8) Normal hygiene items, like a tooth brush and tooth paste
As I mentioned, I did not think I was taking a lot with me – I thought I was just taking the essential items. I don’t think Jesus’ idea was for the apostles to be martyrs or to starve to death on their journey or to practice bad hygiene. Rather, I think Jesus’ instructions dealt with who and what we are to rely upon on our journey of faith. If we have a lot of stuff with us, we can become slaves to our possessions and rely on them too much. Jesus wants us completely dependent on God, which is why he instructed the disciples to be such minimalists. If you notice, I did not take any food with me. I could have brought cans of food with me each weekend to provide for all my meals. However, relying on the people for food in the communities where I stayed and sharing a meal around the table with them – that could be very challenging at times, especially eating the jungle creatures that the people usually ate for lunch or supper. However, it helped me grow closer to them, it pushed my boundaries and my comfort zone, and it made me feel like a true missionary, that’s for sure.
We live in a modern world where our material possessions control us much more than we think. Going unplugged for a while can be very freeing. I remember when I was preparing for my pilgrimage to Spain when I was serving in the parish in Yazoo City in 2012. My secretary asked me about getting in touch with me by phone, and I told her that I was not even bringing my cell phone with me. She couldn’t believe that I was going to be that far away from all the forms of technology that I use each day. I told her – no cell phone and no laptop, that I might have the chance to check my email once or twice a week. To be honest, I did not miss it at all, and it really helped me focus on my faith during the pilgrimage with fewer distractions.
Does our faith should mean so much to us that we are willing to make sacrifices and put up with inconveniences. Maybe we can ask ourselves: What do we need to do to become more dependent upon God, to grow and develop during our journey of faith?
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