“Third Reading,” is a reflection on the gospel, interpreted with an emphasis on Peace & Justice. This entry is for the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, as it is called in the Catholic liturgy. This new feature is brought to us by the San Antonio Chapter of Pax Christi, a Christian lay organization dedicated to preventing a repetition of the savagery of the twentieth century’s world wars.
Mark 6: 7-13
“Bring nothing on the road but a single staff—no bread, no leather pouch, no coins in the belt, but wearing sandals and not wearing two tunics.”
Fasces on the obverse of the Mercury dime.
These seem to be odd instructions, but we need to think about them in their historical setting. A single staff was for walking; someone who did not have a horse or wagon would use a staff. A bundle of staffs was the fasces, the symbol of the ancient Roman imperialism; in our era it is the symbol of fascist authoritarian governance. Disciples of Jesus are not to elicit awe and fear from those whom they visit.
Bread was something one might offer strangers to create the appearance of a following or to form a personal claque. The expression “bread and circuses” has come down to us from antiquity with that implication. The mission of the disciples was to have nothing to do with self-advancement through attracting groupies.
And the disciples were not to carry pouches. The concern is not what might be in pouches, but that one might put something into them. The objection is to the pouches themselves. The disciples were not to gain from visiting the towns.
No coins! In our world, where anything is to be obtained with money, it is hard to imagine traveling without some. However, simple people in antiquity worked for shares in a harvest, grew their own fruits and vegetables, caught their own fish, and slaughtered their own fowl. Money was something special, and the disciples were not to be flaunting special items.
Wear sandals! One was to be prepared to travel more. The disciples were not to make the locals become religious dependents but to enable them to generate their own resources of faith, so that the disciples could go on to the next town.
There were two kinds of tunic—a simple inner tunic and a decorous outer one. Working men and women wore the plain mono-colored inner tunic, usually one that did not go below the knees. Important people wore ankle-length outer tunics as well, with decorated hems that identified the city where they were citizens, and, if of noble rank, further décor. The disciples were to make no claims to privilege or prerogative implicit by the way they attired themselves.
The point of all this was to maintain control over evil spirits—the tempting spirit of power and authority, of self-advancement, avarice, ingratiation, privilege.
No doubt the mechanics of the disciples’ missionary internship would differ today—chevrons and epaulettes, for example, rather than fasces; on-line followings rather than claques; and hired lobbyists rather than pouches. Somehow, however, the demons remain the same.
© 2015 Anthony J. Blasi
