Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
The Gospel today provides some interesting perspective on the first missions the Apostles received from Jesus. They were sent out in pairs to visit surrounding villages, to preach repentance, and to invite people back into relationship with God. In addition to this message of love and hope, they are also given authority over unclean spirits and the power to heal those they encounter. Armed as they were with these spiritual provisions, however, it is intriguing to note that they were also explicitly instructed not to prepare for almost any of the temporal needs that such a journey would certainly require. They are not to take money, food, or any other provisions. The Apostles are essentially told to set out with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the assurance that God Himself will attend to their necessities.
The logic of God presented to the Apostles here is nearly antithetical to the common logic of the world. Whereas we tend to plan out the logistics of our temporal pursuits to the Nth degree (often at the expense of our spiritual needs), Jesus instructs the Apostles to just go. And He sends them out with the assurance that everything that they could possibly need is already known by God and will be provided to them when and where they need it in ways they could not hope to anticipate. There is a profoundly beautiful dynamic at work in these instructions in that they call the Apostles to a radical trust in God’s Providence while at the same time enabling them to live into a very radical freedom.
While it is unavoidable that we must necessarily devote a greater or lesser degree of time and energy to our temporal responsibilities depending on our current state in life, there is an invitation in this passage to greater interior freedom and trust in relationship with God. He knows our needs before we need them and cannot fail to care for us if we are willing to entrust ourselves and all that we do into his loving hands.