Traveling Light

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. 8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff–no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” 12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. Mark 6:6b-13

Context:

Jesus has begun his public ministry. He has performed miracles of healing and exorcism. He has chosen his 12 disciples that will follow him and travel with him. Last week we saw how he calmed the wind and the waves as they encountered a sudden storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee.

In this text, Jesus is traveling around to various villages, teaching and healing. He begins sending his disciples out two by two. They are to do the same work that he is doing. He gives them authority over evil spirits (and we can assume from verses 12 and 13…..an authority to heal various other diseases and to preach the gospel with authority.)

He gives them the following instructions:

• Take nothing for the journey except a staff 
• no bread, no bag, no money in your belts
• Wear sandals but not an extra tunic
• Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town
• And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them

Before we try to figure out what we should learn today, I have to admit that the text begs several questions:

1. Seriously? Jesus thinks that the disciples have been trained enough to trust them with this important work? (this balance between adequate training….and reliance on the Holy Spirit….continues today.)
2. Why are they to take nothing with them? No food, no money? Doesn’t this just cause a burden for those around them?  (“hospitality to the stranger” may have played a much more important role in their culture. No convenience store on every corner – and therefore a recognition that all travelers will need assistance from others.)
3. Why did they have to stay in one home only?
4. If someone didn’t want to listen to them….wasn’t it rude to shake the dust off of your feet as you left their home and village?

How do you pack when you travel?

• Most of us understand the concept and importance of traveling as light as possible. But most of us also fail at it.
• I can’t even decide on which shoes and how many pairs to take for a short trip!
• Present day “standard” – take only as much as can be fit in a carry-on piece of luggage? (so that we won’t be inconvenienced by having to check the bag.)
• Even in a world where almost everything could be easily purchased at our destination location, we usually try to pack in such a way that we will be completely ready for anything!

The culture in Jesus’ time was clearly different than ours. His disciples had a lot less stuff than we do. He may have been sending them out, knowing that the challenge of completely depending on God’s grace and the kindness of strangers…would lead to many powerful and important experiences. “Traveling light” was to be important to the disciple of Jesus. Is it still possibly true today?

So for us today: How is the instruction from Jesus on “traveling light” appropriate for us as individuals….and as a congregation? What does it mean for us to travel light?

Questions raised by Pastor Janet Hunt in her article about this passage – found on her blog “Dancing With The Word”

1. How does my attention to all my own stuff…sometimes distract me from reaching out with a gesture of kindness to another?
2. As I rely on my own careful planning for every eventuality, how am I less open to what God may have waiting for me?
3. If I already have everything I need on this journey (food, money, extra clothes, etc.) how am I less able to receive the gifts of those I meet along the way?

On this last point I can speak personally. As we served as missionaries, we were not allowed to work for profit or at a normal job in Japan. We didn’t have a work visa. Thus, we needed to have all of our needs covered by friends and churches and supporters back here in the U.S. It was never completely easy to feel so beholding and in debt to so many people – and yet it was through all of those connections that the work of God’s mission through us was accomplished, that needs were met, that prayers were offered, that friendships were deepened, that trust in God was strengthened.

Here are a few more questions that Pastor Hunt suggests for us as disciples and congregations:

1. Why do YOU think that Jesus had the disciples “travel light”?
2. What was absolutely essential for the disciples’ journey as they set out?
3. What should we “leave behind” as we are sent on our journeys of sharing the Good News?
4. What is absolutely essential for us as individuals? As JCC?

Thinking about these important considerations may help us move toward traveling more lightly!

(The above is a summary of the message shared during worship on July 7, 2024.)