Do Not Pray for Easy Lives - January 26
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 45; PM Psalm 47, 48; Isa. 48:12-21; Gal. 1:18-2:10; Mark 6:1-13
Today’s Reflection
In the scene we enter through today’s passage from Mark 6, Jesus summons his friends together so that he can then send them out on their own, two by two. Apostles are ones who are sent out, and here is the moment when Jesus empowers the Twelve to cast out unclean spirits, cure sickness, gather the lost sheep, and proclaim the good news. As Jesus does this, he gives them some advice:
He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. –Mark 6:7-13
In this moment, Jesus is commissioning the disciples (those who are his followers) to now become apostles (those who are sent out). He is sending them out, entrusting them to go out on a mission of their own, and he is giving them this wise advice to carry with them in their hearts and in their minds as they set out on their journeys.
And the crux of what Jesus is telling them is this: Travel light. You don’t need to carry a lot of stuff with you. Just bring yourself—all that you are, all that I have created you to be. And I will provide for you along the way. You will meet people along the way who will come alongside you, to shelter you and provide for you—people who believe their ministry is, in part, to support you living into the vision God has cast for you and through you. And you also will meet some people who will not welcome you or support you in your sense of call—don’t let them hold you back from your journey.
Know this, Jesus says: I have given you everything that you need. You are ready for this quest. Be brave, hold onto faith, and go out and do the work I have given you to do. Kind of sounds like Jesus is giving them (and us) a pep talk, which is appropriate, since the apostles are beginning a new thing—and maybe we are, too.
As I read Mark’s account of Jesus’ commissioning the disciples to go out and do the work he has given them to do, I am reminded of words of wisdom offered at the Evening Prayer service the night before our seminary commencement in Austin. Inspired by thoughts originally penned by Bishop Phillips Brooks of Massachusetts, Bishop Andy Doyle of Texas passed this wisdom along to us as we were on the precipice of being sent out from seminary into the work each of us was called to do:
Do not pray for easy lives but pray instead to be stronger people for the living of life.
Do not pray for tasks that are equal to your gifts, and talents, and treasure,
but instead pray for the gifts, and talents, and treasure to meet the tasks that are in front of you.
For in that way, when anything is finished, any mission undertaken, any ministry accomplished,
it will not be the miracle—but instead you will be the miracle.
And every day you shall wonder at the mercy, love, grace, and power
that has come from God through you into the world.
I pray that, just as the disciples had the faith needed to become apostles, that we, too, will have the faith to step out in faith—to live fully into the mission we have been set: to share God’s love, mercy, grace, and power with all the world.
—Becky+
Questions for Self-Reflection
Where do you see yourself and your story in the Gospel passage we read for today? Are you like the prophet rejected in your own hometown? Are you like the disciples looking with trepidation at the mission Jesus was setting before them? Or are you like someone else in this story? How so?
Daily Challenge
Pray today in thankfulness to God “for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts” and for God “leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.” But also acknowledge what God has taught you through “those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on [God] alone.” (For the full text of A General Thanksgiving, see p. 836 of the Book of Common Prayer.)