Gospel Mk 6:7-13
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick— no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.”
So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured.
Homily
The Gospel reading for this Sunday takes me back to the Book of Genesis in which the account of the fall, the Original sin is described for us. We are told that Adam and Eve succumbed to the wiles of the serpent, the devil. With that fall the state of harmony in which God created the world was lost. Even at that moment however God was already promising a return to that state of harmony. We are told that God put enmity between the serpent and the woman and between her offspring and his.
In the passage of the gospel which forms the gospel reading for this Sunday, this prophecy comes to pass. Jesus, the primordial seed of the woman gives to his disciples authority over unclean spirits.
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We must ask ourselves however; from where this authority? The answer is given to us in the passage. It comes from nothing material which the disciples have. They are “to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick— no food, no sack, no money in their belts.” The disciples can rely only on the compelling power of their vision for the world and on the power of their conviction.
This dynamic is very evident in the lasting liberation movements which arise during the course of history. Mohandas Gandhi in India had nothing. He lived an extremely simple life. He was described by the English leaders as a half-naked kaffir, yet it was this half-naked kaffir, armed only with the power of his conviction and his vision of an independent India where the various peoples and religions would live in harmony, who brought the British raj to its knees and won independence for India.
It was Martin Luther King with his dream of equality in which the sons of slaves and the sons of former slave owners would sup together at the table of brotherhood, who brought change to the USA.
This dynamic is also evident in the lives of Nelson Mandela, of Mons Romero, of Mother Teresa. They truly wielded authority over the unclean spirits keeping God’s vision of harmony obscured in their world. Today we thank God for these exemplars who keep this dynamic alive in our world. All of us however still live in societies in which God’s vision of harmony is obscured by unclean spirits and by human beings who do the work of unclean spirits. Into this world we are sent because we are disciples of Jesus. We are tempted to go into this world carrying credentials in which we put our trust. The Gospel reminds us that if we are to have authority over the unclean spirits and their workers who are the obstacle to God’s vision of true harmony, we can only go with a compelling vision and the power of our conviction. This vision, for disciples of Jesus can only be the vision of the total harmony between, human beings; human beings and nature, and human beings and almighty God as enunciated in the book of Genesis and the recent encyclical letter of Pope Francis, “Laudato Si”. Let us all study this encyclical then and try to put into practice what it asks of us.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, you send your disciples into the world to recreate the harmony with which you created the world. You ask us to go without credentials, with only your vision of harmony and the power of our faith in you and the message you bring. Stir up in our hearts enthusiasm for a world of harmony. Strengthen our conviction that it is only this vision which can bring true happiness to our world. Accompany us so that the vision is not obscured and our faith not falter. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our mother and your son Jesus. Amen
