The rich is not lamb: he is wolf, he or his father. The greed for riches is idolatry, source of all evils (Ephesians 5:5; 2 Timothy 6:10), divisions and struggles, injustices and wars. Those who make of money their god, sacrifice to it their own life and the others’. In order to overcome the wolf, the disciple must learn poverty. Poverty makes us serve in humility, like the Lamb. God is poor: He doesn’t possess anything, not even Himself. The Father’s being belongs to the Son and vice versa; and the Spirit is their mutual love that makes them be one for the other. We are not what we possess but what we give: if we have nothing, we give away ourselves and we become ourselves. God is love that gives away everything, even Himself. And in this way, God is Himself. Poverty is necessary to love: the one who loves has nothing because he/she gives everything and in giving everything, he/she fulfills herself/himself. Without poverty, there is market and whoredom. Poverty, instead, creates solidarity: our needs become place of communion and mutual giving. Poverty makes it possible to be accepted and to accept: it fulfills God’s kingdom, love given and received in the one Spirit. Poverty is the “mother” of Christian life: it generates us as children of the Father. Poverty is faith in God, victory over the world.
God chose the poor to make them rich, because of the faith, and heirs of His kingdom (John 2:5): the kingdom already belongs to them (Luke 6:20; Matthew 5:1). To Gideon, rich with a beautiful army, God tells that he cannot win: he is too strong (Judges 7:2). He must reduce his soldiers from 32,000 to 300 who are going to win without weapons. Also David, against Goliath, must get rid of his armor (1 Samuel 17:38 ff). The apostles Peter and John, as well, perform the first miracle because they have neither silver nor gold: only the power of Jesus’ name makes the man, who is lame since birth, walk (Acts 3:6). Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that by His poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Where missionaries used richness and power, it took centuries, and persecutions, for the evangelization to take off. Poverty is necessary to us so that we may not be wolves and may love. Those who possess things either part from them or separate themselves from people; those who have nothing look for the others’ company and give themselves up.
“Carry no purse” – In the purse, there is the money, universal mediator: in itself it is nothing, but it can do everything. Security of the rich and god of this world, it guarantees possession, domination and prestige. The security of the poor, instead, is fraternal love that gives and serves in humility.
“No bag” – In it, we usually put bread and provisions: it is the security of the poor. Our security doesn’t consist in what we possess, but in the bread we share: it is solidarity that is already pledge of eternal life.
“No sandals” – Slaves are barefooted. The apostle is a slave of the Gospel he owes as a debt to everybody (Romans 1:14): he is like the Son who made Himself the brethren’s servant. The freedom of the children is the dignity of serving and loving the way they are loved (Galatians 5:13ff). These are the sandals of the lost son who was found (Luke 15:22): the Exodus sandals Mark tells we can wear (Mark 6:9).
“And salute no one on the road” – The disciple’s road is the one trod by the Master who brings salvation to everybody. The disciple is like Gehazi, Elisha’s servant: sent to raise the widow’s son from the dead, he must not stop along the road (2 Kings 4:29). There is no time to waste. The announcement is urgent: it makes people pass from death to life. It is God’s power for the salvation of whoever accepts it. It is for this reason that Paul says: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” and “I am not ashamed of the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16; Romans 1:16). The reference to Gehazi sounds, as well, like a threat: because of his greed for riches, he contracted the leprosy Elisha had healed Naaman, the Syrian, from (2 Kings 5:20-27). The disciple who loves money, too, infects himself and the others with the lethal disease he is supposed to cure.
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