To the Center
Thursday of the Second Week of Lent
Daily Reading: Mark 6:7 – 13
Focus Passage:
Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.
These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt." (Mk. 6:7 – 9)
Jesus sent his twelve disciples into the world to carry on his life-work. They went out to do the very things Jesus was doing. In essence, they were his feet and hands, his mind and heart, his ears and lips and eyes as they went into the world.
The disciples had no special schooling for this Jesus-work of driving out demons and praying over the sick for healing. They had only their experience with Jesus, their apprenticeship to the One who did these things normally and naturally as a part of who he was.
The passage moves quickly to Jesus “sending out” the Twelve, but if we miss the first phrase, the rest of the narrative gets completely off track. Jesus did not first send out the disciples. He didn’t immediately set them on the road to replicate his ministry in the world.
First of all, he called the Twelve to himself. He drew them to his person. Without first coming toward Jesus, moving toward the One who is the Center of Life, these followers had nothing to give the world. They could give only as much as fishermen and tax collectors and political/religious zealots – which is what the disciples were – had within themselves to give people; however, they could not impart a radically new kingdom of love and transformation without first gathering themselves around the One who is the Heart of the world.
This movement accurately describes our own spiritual journey, as well. In order to offer ourselves as a transforming presence in the world, we must first move inward, toward the Center, toward the Core. In our zeal to “do something great for God,” we easily may miss this initial movement. We can easily move to action . . . jumping into the world and getting busy . . . finding the world’s needs, then working to fix or advise or construct a solution.
Jesus models another way, in which the initial movement is not outward toward the problem, but inward toward the Source of our life. At that Source, there is also re-source for us when we move outward. That is, when we have been to the Center, we have something to offer the world which is meaningful and life-giving. The disciples did not heal the sick, hold authority over demons, and preach a Spirit-anointed message because those things resided naturally within them. They offered what they had received from being with Jesus.
If that sounds difficult to trust in practical terms, it is. For that reason, Jesus insisted that his disciples go out on their journeys without packing any of the usual resources: “No bread, no bag, and no money,” so that people who encountered them would not attribute their power and authority to the physical resources they carried or to their own native intelligence and creativity.
The primary resources given by Christ to those on the journey are spiritual resources, unseen to the common eye. When we move to the Center, to Jesus himself, we are given his very life and Spirit as our resource. As the Gospels demonstrate time after time, this resource is more than enough for wherever the journey takes us.
For Reflection:
What does “moving toward the Center” mean for you today? Reflect on that question in two ways.
First, think about what it means. Consider it. Bring the phrase into your prayer.
Second, to what movement or action does “moving toward the Center” invite you? In other words, what will you do today to move toward the Center?
Hear Jesus call you to himself . . . before you go about the work of being sent into the world in his name.
Daily Reading: Mark 6:7 – 13
Focus Passage:
Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.
These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt." (Mk. 6:7 – 9)
Jesus sent his twelve disciples into the world to carry on his life-work. They went out to do the very things Jesus was doing. In essence, they were his feet and hands, his mind and heart, his ears and lips and eyes as they went into the world.
The disciples had no special schooling for this Jesus-work of driving out demons and praying over the sick for healing. They had only their experience with Jesus, their apprenticeship to the One who did these things normally and naturally as a part of who he was.
The passage moves quickly to Jesus “sending out” the Twelve, but if we miss the first phrase, the rest of the narrative gets completely off track. Jesus did not first send out the disciples. He didn’t immediately set them on the road to replicate his ministry in the world.
First of all, he called the Twelve to himself. He drew them to his person. Without first coming toward Jesus, moving toward the One who is the Center of Life, these followers had nothing to give the world. They could give only as much as fishermen and tax collectors and political/religious zealots – which is what the disciples were – had within themselves to give people; however, they could not impart a radically new kingdom of love and transformation without first gathering themselves around the One who is the Heart of the world.
This movement accurately describes our own spiritual journey, as well. In order to offer ourselves as a transforming presence in the world, we must first move inward, toward the Center, toward the Core. In our zeal to “do something great for God,” we easily may miss this initial movement. We can easily move to action . . . jumping into the world and getting busy . . . finding the world’s needs, then working to fix or advise or construct a solution.
Jesus models another way, in which the initial movement is not outward toward the problem, but inward toward the Source of our life. At that Source, there is also re-source for us when we move outward. That is, when we have been to the Center, we have something to offer the world which is meaningful and life-giving. The disciples did not heal the sick, hold authority over demons, and preach a Spirit-anointed message because those things resided naturally within them. They offered what they had received from being with Jesus.
If that sounds difficult to trust in practical terms, it is. For that reason, Jesus insisted that his disciples go out on their journeys without packing any of the usual resources: “No bread, no bag, and no money,” so that people who encountered them would not attribute their power and authority to the physical resources they carried or to their own native intelligence and creativity.
The primary resources given by Christ to those on the journey are spiritual resources, unseen to the common eye. When we move to the Center, to Jesus himself, we are given his very life and Spirit as our resource. As the Gospels demonstrate time after time, this resource is more than enough for wherever the journey takes us.
For Reflection:
What does “moving toward the Center” mean for you today? Reflect on that question in two ways.
First, think about what it means. Consider it. Bring the phrase into your prayer.
Second, to what movement or action does “moving toward the Center” invite you? In other words, what will you do today to move toward the Center?
Hear Jesus call you to himself . . . before you go about the work of being sent into the world in his name.
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