In a couple weeks my family’s heading to the beach.
We rented a big house in North Carolina
With my four daughters and their families.
And we’ll all meet there and spend a week together.
We’re already gathering up the stuff we’ll need to
take with us.
Our SUV has room for quite a bit of stuff.
But even so, we may need to put a luggage rack on the
roof.
It’s just a casual week at the beach,
But we’ll need to fill a couple suitcases with
clothes and cosmetics
And hair dryers and phone chargers.
We’ll need a couple laptops.
A bag with snacks for the trip, and a cooler.
We’ll need a couple beach bags with towels and sunscreen.
If we travel light, that may be enough.
Or, we might have to take some folding chairs and beach
umbrellas
And boogie boards.
But you can rent that kind of stuff at the beach.
We’re not the only ones who travel with so much
baggage.
The clogged highways are full of other over-stuffed cars.
Some haul trailers along.
Others are strapped up with bicycles and kayaks.
Quite a different scene from the way Jesus told the
apostles to travel.
A walking stick, the sandals on their feet, and the
tunic on their back.
No food, no money, not even an empty sack to
collect anything into.
If they traveled like we do, they’d each need a pack
mule or a donkey.
Loaded down with camping gear and half their
worldly possessions.
When we take a minute to think about it,
We realize just how demanding Jesus’ restrictions were.
Those apostles were heading out on an extended
journey.
With no provision
for their material needs.
Zero.
No safety net.
No American Express card.
Who among us would set out on a trip with no money
and no provisions?
Why did Jesus send them like that?
One reason might have been to distinguish them
From other traveling preachers of those days.
There were philosophers and wonder workers who made
the rounds
From village to village.
They traveled light too.
But they were easily recognized
By fancy, decorated “beggars bags” that they
carried.
Jesus wanted people to see immediately
That his
disciples were different.
More importantly, Jesus was building the apostles’
faith and confidence.
He sent them with a heightened focus,
And sense of
urgency and necessity.
Stripped down to the barest essentials.
With no materialistic distractions.
They had to have faith that somehow God would
provide food for them.
That he would provide shelter for them.
Unless they expected God to rain down manna from
heaven,
They also had to have faith in their fellow man.
Faith that God’s people would listen to them.
And would trust them enough and value them enough
That they would invite them into their homes
And give them that needed food and shelter.
The apostles had to feel that Jesus was sending
them on a tough journey.
He was sending them with not only a total lack of provisions
But also with a message that most people wouldn’t
want to hear.
A call to repent.
A call to change their behavior.
People don’t like to have attention drawn to their
shortcomings.
People don’t like to be pushed to change.
But the apostles couldn’t give up.
If they wanted to eat, they had to win over at
least some of those people.
Move them to listen, move them to want to hear
more.
Move them to extend their hospitality.
The journey could get tough.
But Jesus had prepared them for it.
He didn’t send them alone, he sent them two by two.
He sent them with support.
Support from each other.
Each had at least one ally wherever he went.
And he sent them with his own support.
Accompanied by his
mighty powers.
The power to heal and to drive out demons.
That power would get the people’s attention.
That power would convince them
That they should
listen to these apostles.
And they did listen.
The apostles returned in excitement and wonder at
their own success.
Amazed that they had actually driven out demons,
cured the sick,
And led many to repentance.
We can see ourselves in both the apostles and the
villagers.
We’re both the carriers and the receivers of the
message to repent.
We’re called to evangelize, and we’re called to
repent
—To change for the better.
Maybe one thing we’re called to improve
Is how we respond to our call to evangelize.
And there are surely other areas for improvement.
None of us are perfect.
And our extremely materialistic, secular world
Constantly works to draw us away from our spiritual
base.
It upsets the human balance,
The balance between our material
and spiritual essence.
If we can step back from time-to-time.
Put aside all that distracting material baggage.
All that stuff.
We can better focus on the basics, on the essence.
And ask ourselves,
How am I doing on my journey?
Is there anything I need to change?
What shortcoming do I have that I can work on improving?
That’s a big part of what our journey is about.
A commitment to incremental improvement.
Growing through the years and events of our lives.
As with the apostles,
Our journey might get tough at times, but we don’t
have to go it alone.
We have support
from others.
And we are
support to others.
We have companions journeying with us.
Companions who are far more important
Than the
material stuff around us.
And even if a companion should fail us, we’re still
never alone.
Wherever we go, we walk with the most helpful, loving
companion of all.
Accompanied always, by the
Spirit of Christ within us.
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