We Are All Sent

 These are Jesus’ instructions for those who preach the Gospel. They apply, to some extent, to all those who realize their mission to share the good news with their brothers and sisters.

“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.”

“Take nothing for the journey” is said in order to prevent anxiety about temporal things, “lest whilst the apostle’s mind is taken up with temporal things, he should provide less of eternal things to others,” as Saint Bede explains.[1] “Take nothing” he said, “but a walking stick,” which is a sign of their God given authority. That is, they must not be anxious about temporal things because, thanks to their God given authority, nothing will be wanting to them, as Saint Augustine explains. God provides for the ministers of His Gospel!

Saint Augustine explains that, “by saying that they are to be shod with sandals or soles, warns us that this mode of protecting the feet has a mystical significance, that the foot should neither be covered above nor be naked on the ground, that is, that the Gospel should neither be hid, nor rest upon earthly comforts.” Moreover, by forbidding “their wearing two coats, He bids them walk simply, not with duplicity.”

What does it mean that the apostles should take “no food, no sack, no money in their belts”? Saint Bede says that we could understand this metaphorically: by food “is meant temporal delights”; under the figure of a sack “is pointed out the burdens of this world” and “by money in the purse, the hiding of wisdom.” Saint Bede explains the meaning of these metaphors as follows: “he who receives the office of a doctor (read: apostle, preacher, missionary), should neither be weighed down by the burden of worldly affairs” because teaching the Gospel is a full time profession, like a consecration; nor should the doctor “be made soft by carnal desires,” because this would obscure his mind to understand the truth he has to teach; “nor hide the talent of the word committed to him under the case of an inactive body,” that is, the doctor (the missionary!) should be active in spreading the Gospel he has received with his words, with his writings and with his life.

Do you have a sack of worldly worries that prevents you from sharing the good news? Is the food of temporal delights distracting you too much from God and your God-given mission? Do you realize that the truth you know is a treasure, and that many people around you are poor of it? Why keeping this treasure hidden, when you can make people happy (and you yourself happier) by sharing it?


[1] Cf. Aquinas, The Golden Chain, for the following quotes from St. Augustine and St. Bede.

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