Wednesday in the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, September 23, 2020

Luke 9:1-6

Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

“Jesus summoned the Twelve.”  Luke phrases this very formally, as though a king or a general were summoning his emissaries for a mission.  Luke says “the Twelve” as though he were naming an official body of men.  The number seems important to him, and he is the Evangelist who informs us of how the Apostles added one to their membership after Judas hanged himself, thus preserving the number.  The Greeks to whom Luke was writing considered the number twelve a sign or even component of the cosmic order.  They recognized twelve constellations in the zodiac, counted twelve months in the lunar year, and worshipped the twelve gods of Olympus, who had overthrown their predecessors, the twelve Titans.  The number of the Apostles thus reflected for them the new cosmic order of the Gospel.

“And gave them power and authority.”  That is, the Lord shared his power with them; they did not possess power on their own, and the sharing lasted only for the duration of their mission.  He gave them both the power and the authority to use this power — he left its use to their discretion.  “Over all demons and to cure diseases.”  The demons possess varying levels of their own power according to their hierarchy.  The power and authority Jesus lends the Apostles takes in all of them.  These actions, exorcism and curing the sick, act as signs that God walks among men, that the kingdom of the devil is shattered, and for the forgiveness of sins.

“Take nothing for the journey.”  The Apostles are to go abroad as though they were fleeing from something, or fleeing to something.  They were hurrying without impediments just as a person drops everything he is holding in order to run and greet a long-lost loved one.  Nothing matters except seeing them again.  Their entering a town or village as travelers but without a staff, a second tunic, or sack would certainly have drawn people’s attention.  This kind of arrival would also contrast with the arrival of Pharisees or scribes, or any traveling preachers, who would attempt to impress the locals with their wealth, which would imply approbation.  The Apostles come as simple messengers.  “Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.”  The better off denizens of the place would vie with one another to house the Apostles when they saw them perform miracles, but the Apostles had come not for their own benefit but to announce Christ.  They were not to accept honors of any kind.

“And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.”  To shake the dust off from one’s feet amounted to declaring that one would never return to that place, or to write off the place.  The Apostles were to show this sign to a town where they were not welcomed, that is, if they came to a town and began to preach and they were told to leave.  There will always be people who will reject the Gospel no matter how well it is preached or how many miracles support it.

“Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.”  We see here the commitment of the Apostles.  They did not think of themselves merely as students of Jesus but as his messengers as well.  We should try to imagine how this looked, the Apostles tired and hungry from walking, arriving unannounced into a strange town with no money.  They might have begun to preach in the marketplace, announcing the coming of the kingdom of God and calling people to repent.  They probably lacked charisma and were not used to speaking in public, and they came without credentials — they were neither scribes nor Pharisees from Jerusalem.  They probably spoke of Jesus as the Messiah.  If they gained little hearing, they might have spotted a lame man lying in the shadows, or a child with a deformity, and then laid hands on them to cure them.  The man or child would have stood up healed instantly, and this would have caused a commotion, with a crowd surging around the Apostle to find out who he was.  Then the Apostle would have his audience.

You and I may not possess the power to cure, but we all have the power to perform charitable works.  These are the signs that will draw others to us.  May they see us and our good deeds and find Christ.