In today’s Gospel Jesus confronts the disciples’ complacency. No longer can they simply sit at Jesus feet, learning how to be disciples. Now they have to step out of their comfort zone, and go out to share the good news they’ve heard and found with others. But there’s another complication to this sending out: they have to trust God for everything they need and not rely on their own resources. For them, this meant leaving behind the traditional travelling supports; extra money, and extra clothes, and to go out in a spirit of dependency on God and on others. But this Gospel also confronts our complacency. We too are disciples who are sent out into the world to share the good news we have found in Jesus Christ, and we too have to trust God as we go.
This journey that the disciples were sent out on, an ‘evangelistic’ journey if you like, had two goals. They were to let people know that the kingdom of God had come near, and they were to bring healing and hope to the sick, the weak and the poor. And they were given a warning. This message they had to share wouldn’t necessarily be welcomed, and they were to be prepared for rejection. Fear of rejection shouldn’t stop us doing what we are called to do as disciples, to share the good news that God has an answer to the world’s pain and ours, and that in Jesus Christ we can be healed of the things that bind us and hold us down.
Just like them, we are called to step outside the safety of our gathered community, and to share our faith. That’s what being a disciple is actually about. How different would it be if we were all more diligent about this, not just because we have to, but because we are excited to share the good news we have in our own lives with the people around us, people we know and love.
In peace, Mother Lynda