He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
We are meant to be able to trust in Jesus for the things we need. In the first place we are cautioned against excessive worry about such things. Worry insinuates itself into us as a discomfort which feels productive when we focus on it but which actually does nothing to help.
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (see Matthew 6:27).
We are called to do what prudence dictates to prepare for our future, but without worry. The point is that as long as we are trying to do what God tells us, if we fail or fall short, we will fall back on him, and he will catch us.
Sometimes Jesus calls us to trust him even beyond what prudence would dictate. Unfortunately, at such times we often hesitate. There may be a journey he is calling us to make but which we delay because we don't think we're prepared for it. We hesitate indefinitely, waiting for our endless preparations to turn the journey into a sure thing. Ultimately, we want to be able to rely on ourselves and not need to walk in faith. Yet sometimes Jesus calls us to set out with what seems like not enough. It should be expected that as Christians we will sometimes be called to give out of our need. Sometimes we are called to move before we have the journey fully mapped out. We are often called to go out to others without having a guarantee of being welcomed.
Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.
Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you,
leave there and shake the dust off your feet
in testimony against them.
As long as what we do isn't a concession to the flesh but a response to God, an act of seeking the Kingdom first, we can be confident that, whatever happens, we'll be able to shake it off like the dust from our feet.
This attitude of walking in faith in a prerequisite to walking in the authority of Jesus. Our contribution to the world is made possible by this authority. Our natural gifts have some value. But they become part of the story of the redemption of the world when they are at the service of this authority. But this means a fundamental disposition of relying on God and not our own strength.
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
We are meant to help others approach Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is present mystically in the Church. But if we rely on the human strength we will only be able to reveal a human institution, flawed and broken. In order to see the deeper truth of this reality we need faith. In order for our faith to be persuasive we need divine authority. By it we can lead others (and even our own hearts) from a place of fear and a sense of obligation that comes from feelings of guilt to a place of awe that recognizes and trusts in the action of God which is always and everywhere just below the superficial surface of merely human appearances.
Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.
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