Wednesday, 25th Week OT - Fr Alberic Maisog

-The paradox in today’s Gospel is that the Lord Jesus both armed and disarmed His disciples for their missionary journey. He armed them with power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, but He disarmed them even of the necessary things for the journey such as a walking stick.

-Christ’s instructions for the mission are still important even if few would be tempted to carry a walking stick. First, commitment to the redemptive mission is inseparable from the commitment to be a follower of Christ. Being sent out is the natural result of being with Christ.

-In modern terms, mission and evangelization are the natural result of worship and Christian education. Similarly, the Christian mission is rooted in worship, meditation, and study that sustain and empower the disciple.

-In ancient days there was in effect only one way of spreading a message abroad and that was by word of mouth. Social media such as, radio, television, internet, Facebook, & Instagram had not been dreamed of. So Christ’s helpers had to be mouths to speak for Him.

-The disciple has to travel light simply because the person who travels light travels far & fast. The more a person is cluttered up with material things the more he/she is shackled to one place.

-One thing which stands out about the ministry which Christ laid upon the twelve is that over & over again it joins preaching and healing. It joins concern for peoples’ bodies and souls.

-It was a message which was not confined to news of eternity only, it proposed to change, conditions on earth as well. It insisted that health to peoples’ bodies was as integral a part of God’s purpose as health to their souls.

-In conclusion, although the disciples do not yet understand fully who Christ is, they serve effectively when they respond to His commissioning, and as a result of their obedience they will eventually see more clearly who the Lord Jesus is, for revelation is the companion of experience and the by-product of obedience.