JESUS SUMMONED THE TWELVE AND BEGAN TO SEND THEM OUT IN PAIRS

XV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 6:7-13

Jesus came to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God, and the Good News is that the Kingdom is being initiated and will grow until it comes to completion. The message of the Kingdom of God must be announced and made known everywhere, so that people may choose which way to go: with Christ who is the way to life and salvation or against Christ, thus bringing damnation upon ourselves. Since the beginning of his ministry, Jesus prepared the way for the continuation of his mission. First, he called by name the ones he chose. Vocation comes from God and can neither question his choice nor blame him for his wrong choices. Most of the time, He chooses the humble, the poor and even the sinner so that his mercy and his power of salvation may be revealed. All those who accept his call and welcome his grace are transformed from within, becoming witnesses of God’s love and mercy. Then, Jesus started teaching his disciples and especially the group closest to him, the apostles. Practical experience was part of the training. So Jesus “summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs”. Twelve is a symbolic number, representing the new people of God, the people of the New Covenant, built upon the Apostles with Jesus as the cornerstone (Ep 2:20). The group of the Apostles stands for the whole Church. Jesus entrusts his mission to the Church, that is the community of disciples. There is no place for individualism in the preaching of the Gospel. This is well stressed by Mark when he notes that Jesus sent them out in pairs so that one confirms and strengthens the other. As he sent them out, Jesus gave “them authority over the unclean spirits”. The goal of the mission is to set people free of everything that enslaves them, mainly the power of evil. Jesus came to save us from the power of darkness and transform us into children of the light. He came to establish peace, reconciling us with God. And that is the mission which the Church received from Jesus. 

How to carry out this mission entrusted to the Church? With simplicity, humility and poverty. Wealth and power are always a source of corruption and a wide road betrayal, ending up in selfishness, pride, jealousy and hatred which tramples down justice, righteousness and peace. If we carry out the very same mission that Jesus received from the Father, then we must do it as he did. At the end of his life, Paul was able to recognise that when he was weak, then he was strong because his human fragility made it possible to recognise God’s mercy and powerful love. Jesus advises us to avoid anything which hinders us or constitute an obstacle to the preaching of the Gospel.

“So they set off to preach repentance”. The mission entrusted to the apostles is the mission entrusted to us. Like them, do we preach the Good News? Do we call people to repentance? And do we give witness to God’s love and mercy?