Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Testimony in pairs
He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick–no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. Mk 6,7-13
Today’s passage puts before our eyes the scene of the departure of the apostles for their first mission. The content of the announcement is only briefly explained: “So they went off and preached repentance“. The Evangelist instead insists on the way the missionary goes: in pairs, in poverty, freely, with a few things, among which there must be, however, the cane.
Poverty is essential, because it is the outward sign of the faith in the Lord and His providence: the one who flaunts wealth or shows the need of too many things is not to be believed while going and announcing the gospel. Gratuitousness is equally important. A few days ago we went to report out testimony in the parish of S. Caterina in Florence, the one we used to attend when we were still engaged. In the end, father Luciano wanted to give us an envelope with the money for the return travel, but we thought it best to refuse it, because “without cost you have received; without cost you are to give” (Mt 10,8) the Lord says in another page of the Gospel. Anyway, he has always settled our bills. In today’s passage, only the cane seems to be important. In Jesus’s times, when the missionary had often to walk bumpy roads, the cane could be necessary, but, these days, what does it symbolize? It represents the prayer, which supports the missionary in his going. However, the missionary aspect which concerns a married couple more closely is that they go by two. When two spouses go and speak about the Lord, the mere fact of being together is already a testimony. By being together we witness the love, sharing, understanding and joy of union. A priest can go alone, although it would be better that he did it with a colleague or, even better, with a layman. But a spouse who goes alone loses much of his or her effectiveness, unless he or she can explain the reason for the absence of the other one, making the listeners feel him or her spiritually present.