Thursday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 386

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;
no sack for the journey, or a second tunic,
or sandals, or walking stick.
The laborer deserves his keep.



Saint Francis began his research of the gospel with a theological/spiritual insight. He saw the magnificent all-powerful, all-holy Lord of Heaven and Earth abase himself to be born in poverty and laid in a manger. The Poverello did not conduct a sociological, economic study to suss out whatever financial arrangements Jesus made. Nor have I heard of anyone doing such a study. Historians tell us that ancient philosophers and prophets wandered throughout the Mediterranean basin, and people were happy to support them. They often had large followings and significant influence.

In today’s gospel Jesus describes a style of life that the twenty-first century finds unimaginable. Can anyone travel from place to place without making arrangements well in advance? How will they carry all their stuff? Even missionaries to “mission lands” travel heavily and maintain connections with their families, friends, and financial sponsors. Flying home to see their doctors is not unusual.

Jesus urged his disciples to travel light. His advice fit expectations and practices of the time, but also have spiritual content today.

The Christian’s "baggage" today includes more than material stuff. Everyone also has a heavy burden of fears, anxieties, and traumas which travel with them. And, at least as significant: cultural prejudices.

Charles King, in his book, Gods of the Upper Air, describes the work of Franz Boas, (1858–1942) a German anthropologist and pioneer of modern anthropology, as he challenged the racism endemic to European culture. As a young German doing research on Baffin Island, he had come to appreciate the genius of Inuit hunters who thrive where he barely survived. One of his early assignments, at the Chicago World’s Fair, was to show how the skulls of white people were different from all other skulls and, presumably, superior. But he found no proof of either belief. As he developed his science, Boas trained Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Ella Deloria, Zora Neal Hurston, and others to study non-western cultures with great respect for their native intelligence and integrity. 

Influenced by the new anthropology, Christians also began in the mid-twentieth century to question their belief in European superiority. Respect for native intelligence and cultural wisdom has come reluctantly to many Christian missionaries. Many were trained to believe their own Catholic or Protestant doctrines were (obviously!) superior to all other Christian beliefs. How would they not belittle "pagan" religions? We’re still learning how to sift the wheat of the Gospel from the chaff of culture as we carry out the Great Commission.

But Jesus’s words challenge not only foreign missionaries. In an age of future shock, polarization, political correctness, and sensitivity to minority rights, we are all strangers in a strange land! Every Christian is sent to evangelize an alien culture! Each person must decide which cherished opinions to discard, which to retain for personal use, and which mystery of the gospel should be announced and celebrated, prized and defended. 

I "make disciples" by living the gospel, and the most ferocious resistance I'll ever meet will come from me. With Saint Francis, I pray, "Make me an instrument of your peace." In the hands of the Lord, Mary, and the Saints I may yet prove to be a useful tool, perhaps a megaphone or transmitter through which others meet Our Savior.