If I “follow” Jesus and am “with Him,” I am sent like Him. Only turning towards my brethren I become son/daughter of God, adult and responsible, equal to the Father. One is the Mission: that of the Son who makes Himself brother of all so that they may know their own truth like beloved children of the Father. His Mission continues in the Twelve and in the other seventy-two disciples (Cf. Luke 10:1ff), in order to reach out to Israel and all peoples. The Church embraces the whole of humanity: it is the body of the Son (Col 1:24), the fullness of the One who fulfills Himself fully in all things (Eph 1:23). Every Mission is like that of the Son, who from being rich made Himself poor so that we might become rich by means of His poverty (2 Cor 8:9).
Jesus “was going to the villages all around teaching”: He is the apostolic pilgrim who teaches His disciples by means of His example, doing Himself what He was going to ask them to do. After such a training, He calls them and starts sending them out. The mission that started then is still continuing and will go on forever, as long as there is one person who doesn’t know the Father’s love. The disciples are sent two by two, not alone, because “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). They have to be witnesses to love, God’s life and human beings’ as well. And love belongs always to the other person! “Two” is principle of otherness and community. If two people agree – they are one though being two, without division or confusion – it means that there is a third one: God Himself, who is love. Also Jesus, being Son, started His mission by associating some brothers to Himself (Cf. Mark 1:16ff).
The missionary who wants to be alone doesn’t witness what he says with his life: he is not a son because he doesn’t want brothers. He may be a propagandist, but not a witness to the Gospel. Propaganda is for money not for gaining brothers and sisters. It is because they are sent two by two that they receive the power over the unclean spirits. They triumph over the devil (= divider), the one who divides us from our brethren and from the Father, preventing us from being children of God. It is a victory over selfishness.
Jesus commanded us to take away everything that separates us from the others. The way that leads us to our brethren is not to carry anything with us: poverty. All that I have divides me from the others. I am not what I have, but what I give. If I have things, I give things. If I have nothing, I will give myself. Then I will be myself: in love I am son/daughter and brother/sister. Only the staff is allowed, prosthesis of the hand, sign of power and command: it is the cross, God’s royal scepter, his supreme power, that consists in serving and giving one’s life. The bread that gives life is not the one I own, but the one I break and give out: I am myself in the measure I give myself out. The haversack, surety of the poor, contains what is necessary for the journey. No haversack means that entrusting himself/herself to the brethren is the only surety of the son/daughter. The money, surety of the rich, is universal mediator of every good. No money means that the only treasure is love, the Spirit who is life of the Father and the Son. Sandals are allowed: whoever gives everything is not a slave but a free person. But two tunics are not allowed: only if I have given the second to my brother/sister I am clothed with the Son (Gal 2:27). Jesus sends us out as lambs among wolves (Mt 10:16): we are like Him, the Lamb that is slain has won evil with goodness. Poverty is a condition in order to be lambs. Those with full wallet and a bulging haversack are either wolves or are becoming such in order to defend themselves.
“You have received as gift, give as gift” (Mt 10:8): poverty is linked with the gratuity of the gift. If one works and is poor, he will certainly love: he gives what he has received as a gift. Love with an exchange of money is called whoredom. Paul, though saying that one doesn’t muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, renounces his right of being maintained by the community. He wants to stress the gratuity of his service. He prefers to die than to do otherwise. His only reward is to preach the Gospel freely (1 Cor 9:7-18). Popoli – www.popoli.info
