These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. – Mark 6:7

 Today's Scripture Reading (November 16, 2020): Mark 6

When I was younger, I used to hide some money in my wallet. It was folded up and placed in the corner of my wallet, where no one would see it. But I knew that it was there. The money was my security blanket. The practice grew out of moments in my life where I was stuck in an emergency without any money to help get me out. Once, I was stuck a distance away from home when my car suffered a severe break-down, and I had to depend on a friend's help not only to give me a place to sleep but to help me pay to get my car repaired and back on the road. And I never wanted to be caught in that situation ever again.

However, those moments when I have been caught without money have also shown me the caring nature of humanity. They are uncomfortable memories, but they are also cherished recollections. And if it wasn't for these moments, I might have missed some essential life lessons, and I might have had a much more pessimistic outlook on life in general. It was in my moment of need that the world showed me what it meant to love and care for others; and be a hospitable place, even for a stranger.

It was a lesson that Jesus was trying to teach his disciples. He wanted them to go out and depend on the goodness of people for their support. He wanted them to not just teach about love and about how God loves them, but he wanted to give them a chance to put that love into practice. People who were willing to love would also be open to hearing a message based on love. But for those who seemed only ready to practice hate, they would never hear a message of love and would never offer hospitality to his disciples.

And hospitality was the point of Jesus's instructions. We sometimes miss that. As much as Sodom and Gomorrah seem to have become our poster examples of God's opposition to homosexuality, the reality of the story is that it is about rape and inhospitality. Jesus's message supports that interpretation. He tells his disciples to go out without anything to sustain their lives and allow the people to practice hospitality with them. But, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town" (Matthew 10:14-15).

Jesus sent his disciples out with nothing so that the people would have an opportunity to practice hospitality. If they did, they would receive God's message of love. But if they didn't, if they rejected the disciples in their time of need, it would be better for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah than it would be for them.

And if we reject hospitality with all that Jesus has done in our midst, it might be even worse for us. Because we, the Christian Church, have no excuse not to be part of a hospitality revolution. That is the revolution that this world needs and the response to this world that God demands us.

 Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 14