I’m getting ready to pack for vacation right now, and I think I really need to listen to this advice from Jesus to the disciples he sends out today. I’m a chronic over-packer. You just never know what the weather is going to be like or if you’re going to spill on a shirt, so you had better bring an extra! That piece of clothing that I haven’t worn in four years might get it’s chance to shine on vacation, but probably not. Maybe it’s because of my experience growing up in the Midwest, but I will try to pack for every season…despite the fact that we are traveling for a few days in the middle of summer. I told my fiancée that I’m planning to take the smaller of my two suitcases, and I’m pretty sure that she actually laughed out loud. I’m a bit disbelieving, myself, if I’m being honest, but the intention is there.
In today’s Gospel though, Jesus is sending out the disciples and telling them to pack lightly for their journey. They are not to bring all these extra things with them. And, while it might seem like a weird instruction, I think it’s actually an important reminder of two different things here. One, that they are guests where they are going, so don’t impose on the people they are staying with by having it feel like the disciples are moving in with them. Two, on a similar note, it is a reminder that the disciples are called to move about and to heal and spread the message. The Gospel isn’t just supposed to stay in Israel or the areas directly surrounding where the disciples live. It also defeats the purpose of having them leave their comfort zones for the sake of the ministry if they are just going to create a new comfort zone somewhere else because they simply ended up staying instead of moving about.
With this is also the recognition that the disciples might not be accepted everywhere that they go. They are commanded not to dwell on this rejection, but to shake the dust off from their feet and keep going (Mark 6: 11). In many ways, it is similar to the life of a prophet, but it is also different because the disciples are going out to people that they do not know. Whereas the prophets are called to preach to their own people, which is often an incredibly difficult task; and one that wasn’t very wanted. Jesus doesn’t promise the disciples that it’s going to be easy or that everyone is going to be overjoyed to see them, but as least they get to go to people who haven’t known them since they were born.
As Jesus learns in today’s Gospel today too, the people do not want to listen to prophets or to those who are given authority that they don’t see as worthy of having it. The crowd ridicules him and says he can’t possibly be the one who has authority to teach on these things because isn’t he just the carpenter from town (Mark 6: 3). I mean, it’s understandable that the people of Nazareth would have a hard time believing that Jesus was called to teach and preach on these things given that they have always known his as the carpenter, the son of Mary and Joseph. At the same time, having been the church kid who grew up to become the pastor, I know how difficult it is to have a leadership role in the midst of the community that still remembers you as the little child. People don’t see you as you are now, but how you were fifteen years ago. Once, when I was in Seminary, I was leading worship at my home church and someone said “it’s so nice to have a confirmation student involved in worship….”
I think this has something to do with the idea of packing lightly too. When we are placed in positions of leadership, especially when people think we shouldn’t have them, it is really easy to hold onto all of the negative comments that we receive about how we aren’t good enough or we can’t possibly have the right to do what we are doing. It’s something I hear so frequently as a young, gay woman in the church. And I’d be lying if I said there weren’t days that I let those comments get to me, and boy do they hurt. Despite my own sense of call and the call of the church, it is really easy to let some angry person on the internet get to me. And, like most things in life, of course it is the negative comments and not the positive ones that our brains like to hold onto. Regardless of how we serve and lead in life, those hurtful comments, from people we know and even those we don’t know, can be really hard to shake.
So, when it comes to thinking about the things that we carry with us, I think this Gospel is giving us permission to set those things down too. The guilt, the shame, the hurtful comments. All of those can be set down as we continue our journey of discipleship and caring for the world. When I was doing my hospital chaplaincy internship, they had us do a lot of reflection about our spiritual and emotional baggage that we carry with us, because we all have it. But they helped us to see what it is that we are carrying and how we can metaphorically set it outside the door when we enter into that chaplaincy space so that we can truly be present with the people we are serving. It may look different for each of us, but we all carry these things with us.
This Gospel reading today is about the disciples being sent out in order to provide healing and care to the community. I think part of that healing for us is a reminder that we get to set down that emotional baggage from time to time. That we do not have to carry it all with us. And the things that we get to take with us instead are the things that bring us life and give us joy. We get to bring with us the reminder that we are God’s beloved children who are loved just as we are and who are already called worthy. And, just as importantly, we get to set aside the things that keep us from remembering those truths.
So, as I am preparing for my vacation, I keep having to remind myself that I do not need enough clothes to last me for months. That it’s probably okay if I only pack a few snacks because we will in fact be getting food while we are gone. That maybe I can only bring one book instead of seven. And, I think spiritually and emotionally, it’s good for us to check what we have been carrying with us too. To look at what is life-giving for us and what are the things that are life-draining for us. And what are the theologies we want to add and what are the ones that we have maybe outgrown over the years. It’s good to take a look at our faith and see what it is that we’ve picked up along the way, and what are the things we want to keep with us as we continue our journey through life. May we hold all of those pieces with tenderness as they tell the story of who we are and where we have been. While, at the same time, we look forward to where we want to go next, holding onto the reminder that we are already loved and that sometimes it’s necessary to pack lightly.
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Sunday June 30th, 2024 Worship