Heading Out: A Reflection for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary
Summer Vacations! Who does not love them? Growing up in NJ, my family’s go-to summer vacation spot was Ocean City, MD. But the Ata family did not travel like Jesus asked the disciples to travel. I think we traveled in the opposite way. We had no walking sticks; we had tons of food, more sacks then possibly needed, and money to spend. We did wear sandals, but not carrying a second tunic, my family, we had bags and bags of clothes.
In the Gospel today, Jesus is not talking about a summer vacation for the Twelve disciples – preaching repentance, driving out demons, and healing the sick – are not things that I associate with vacations. Jesus is talking about a way of living out one’s faith. There are three particular instructions from Jesus in the Gospel that you and I can apply to living out our faith today, here and now: carrying a walking stick, traveling two-by-two and shaking the dust from unresponsive experiences.
To live out our faith today, you and I need to carry a walking stick. Jesus told his disciples to take no food, no sack, and not even money. One thing they were allowed to take was a walking stick. The Lord knew they would need something to lean on. The roads were hilly, rough, and unpaved. A walking stick would help them keep their balance. Our walking stick is God. This is crucial for our Christian Life. You and I are called to lean and rely on God. God is there to give balance in our lives.
When life is tough and we do not understand why things happen the way they do, we lean and rely on God. When life is going well, we can also lean and rely on God in thanksgiving. God is the lightest walking stick in the world that is with us wherever we go.
To live out our faith life today, you and I also need to travel two-by-two. It is true that if the disciples went out alone, they would, of course, have reached more places, but Jesus in his wisdom sends them two-by-two instead. Why? Because they needed each other. In Genesis 2:18 it reads “The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.” We often think of this in reference only to marriage, but this relates to all human beings of every vocation. All of us need family, friends, partners, and companions for the journey. In life we need people to whom we can talk to, seek support from, and on whose prayer we can rely.
Lastly, to live out our faith life today, you and I must shake the dust from unresponsive experiences, from the towns that will not listen and move on. The message for us today is to not be paralyzed by failure; none of us will have a hundred percent success rate in sharing their faith. We need to make sure that we do our best and then move on. When we fail in life, God does not want us to wallow in our misery, but wishes that we learn from the past, strive to live in the present, and move on to the future. We all had experiences of failure, but living in failure is not living at all. We are called to shake off the dust of failure and move on in our lives.
Remember whether you are at home, at work, in school or on summer vacation: carry a walking stick, travel two-by-two, and shake the dust from unresponsive experiences. Know that you can learn and move on from failures. Know that you are never alone - for friends, family, and the Church are traveling with you two-by two. And know that God is always with you as your walking stick to lean on and give you balance.
