Sunday, July 3, 2016

Weighed Down

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells the 72 to go out to the surrounding towns - but to carry nothing.  

No money bag, no sandals, no sack, no food.  

I've heard two explanations for why Jesus might have done this.

The first, and more obvious, is that these possessions might weigh down the disciples.  Literally and figuratively.  Yes, they would be quicker afoot if they weren't carrying lots of stuff.  But their minds would also be lighter without having to worry about it as well.

(Mental note: how weighed-down are we with all the possessions and worries we have?)

The second, and less obvious, is that perhaps Jesus knew that if the disciples had to ask for everything, it would force interactions with people.  Instead of camping out and eating amongst themselves, they would be forced to dine with people from the town.  

(Mental note:  how many new people do we interact with every day, that might be open to the words of Christ?)

I hope you all have a blessed week!

2 comments:

Victor S E Moubarak said...

You have this great gift of seeing things differently from all of us. Thank you Michael.

How many new people do we interact with? These days with Facebook, Twitter, and all the other social media people have more "friends" than real people I have met in my whole life. Yet, very few of these "friends" are real people they interact with and get to know and enjoy their company.

True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends. But in their worth and choice.

God bless you, Michael.

Michael said...

Victor, you are much too kind. Thank you for always visiting and commenting on my blog. God Bless you.