From: Mark 6:7-13

The Mission of the Twelve

[7] And he (Jesus) called to him the Twelve, and began to send them out two
by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. [8] He charged them
to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in
their belts; [9] but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. [10] And he said
to them, “Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. [11]
And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you
leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.” [12]
So they went out and preached that men should repent. [13] And they cast out
many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.

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Commentary:

7. Cf. note on Mk 1:27; 3:14-19.

[The note on Mk 1:27 states:

27. The same authority that Jesus showed in His teaching (1:22) is now to be
seen in His actions. His will is His command: He has no need of long prayers
or incantations. Jesus’ words and actions already have a divine power which
provokes wonder and fear in those who hear and see Him.

Jesus continues to impress people in this way (Mark 2:12; 5:20-42; 7:37; 15:39;
Luke 19:48; John 7:46). Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Savior. He knows
this Himself and He lets it be known by His actions and by His words; according
to the gospel accounts (Mark 1:38-39; 2:10-11; 4:39) there is complete continui-
ty and consistency between what He says and He does. As Vatican II teaches
(”Dei Verbum”, 2) Revelation is realized by deeds and words intimately connec-
ted with each other: the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery con-
tained in them; the deeds confirm the teaching. In this way Jesus progressively
reveals the mystery of His Person: first the people sense His exceptional autho-
rity; later on, the Apostles, enlightened by God’s grace, recognize the deepest
source of this authority: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew
16:16).]

[The note on Mk 3:14-19 states:

14-19. The Twelve chosen by Jesus (cf. 3:14) receive a specific vocation to be
“people sent out”, which is what the word “apostles” means. Jesus chooses
them for a mission which He will give them later (6:6-13) and to enable them to
perform this mission He gives them part of His power. The fact that He chooses
“twelve” is very significant. This is the same number as the twelve Patriarchs of
Israel, and the Apostles represent the new people of God, the Church founded
by Christ. Jesus sought in this way to emphasize the continuity that exists be-
tween the Old and New Testaments. The Twelve are the pillars on which Christ
builds His Church (cf. Gal 2:9); their mission to make disciples of the Lord (to
teach) all nations, sanctifying and governing the believers (Mt 28:16-20; Mk 16:
15; Lk 24:45-48; Jn 20:21-23).]

8-9. Jesus requires them to be free of any form of attachment if they are to
preach the Gospel. A disciple, who has the mission of bringing the Kingdom of
God to souls through preaching, should not rely on human resources but on
God’s Providence. Whatever he does not in order to live with dignity as a herald
of the Gospel, he must obtain from those who benefit from his preaching, for the
laborer deserves his maintenance (cf. Mt 10:10).

“The preacher should so trust in God that he is convinced that he will have every-
thing he needs to support life, even if he cannot himself obtain it; for he should
not neglect eternal things worrying about temporal things” (St Bede, “In Marci
Evangelium Expositio, in loc.”). “By these instructions the Lord did not mean
that the evangelists should not seek to live in any other way than by depending
on what was offered to them by those to whom they preached the Gospel; other-
wise this very Apostle (St Paul) would have acted contrary to this precept when
he earned his living by the labors of his own hands” (St Augustine, “De Consen-
su Evangelistarum”, II, 30).

13. St Mark is the only evangelist who speaks of anointing the sick with oil. Oil
was often used for treating wounds (cf. Is 1:6; Lk 10:34), and the Apostles also
use it for the miraculous cure of physical illnesses by virtue of the power given
them by Jesus. Hence the use of oil as the matter of the sacrament of the Anoin-
ting of the Sick, which cures wounds of the soul and even, if appropriate, bodily
diseases. As the Council of Trent teaches—”Doctrina De Sacramento Extremae
Unctionis”, chap. 1—in this verse of St Mark there can be seen a “hint” of the sa-
crament of the Anointing of the Sick, which our Lord will institute and which later
on “is recommended and promulgated to the faithful by St James the Apostle”
(cf. Jas 5:14ff).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

Hebrews 12:18-19,21-24 ©

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or a gloom turning to total darkness, or a storm; or trumpeting thunder or the great voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them. The whole scene was so terrible that Moses said: I am afraid, and was trembling with fright. But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a ‘first-born son’ and a citizen of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and been placed with spirits of the saints who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator who brings a new covenant and a blood for purification which pleads more insistently than Abel’s.

Psalm

Psalm 47:2-4,9-11 ©