Gospel: Mark 6:7-13

 

The passage through Nazareth was painful for Jesus. He was rejected by His own people. His community, is no longer such. Something has changed. 

 

In the face of the mental stubbornness of the people of His community, Jesus leaves Nazareth and begins to go to the neighboring villages. He extends the mission and intensifies the announcement of the Gospel, calling other people to involve them in the mission. He summons the Twelve, and begins to send them out, giving them authority over unclean spirits. They receive authority over unclean spirits, they are to be a help for others in suffering and, through purification, they are to open the door for direct access to God.

 

It is the beginning of a new stage. Not only Jesus but the whole group will announce the Gospel to the people. If the preaching of Jesus caused conflict, much more now, there will be conflict with the preaching of the whole group. If the mystery was already great, now it will be greater since the mission has been intensified. 

 

They should go without taking anything. That meant that Jesus obliged them to trust.  They could not live separately, providing their own food, but they were to accept to sit at the same table. This means that they should not be afraid of losing purity. They should live together in a stable way. They should work like everybody else. In other words, they should participate in the life and in the work of the people.They should take care of the sick, cure lepers and cast out devils (Lk 10: 9; Mk 6: 7-13; Mt 10: 8). They had to carry out the function of Defender (“go’el”) and accept within the community those who were excluded.