Luke 9:1-6

“Take nothing for the journey...” - Luke 9:3b CEB

As I write this, I’m preparing for our Spring Break trip with our family, and I can’t help but think about what it would be like to leave for our vacation and to have packed nothing. I would panic. How can you travel and not prepare? How can you leave for a trip and simply plan to rely on the goodness of others? And yet – that's precisely what Jesus instructed the disciples to do.

And so, as the disciples engage with each home, each town, they are instructed to stay if they are welcomed and to leave if they are not. What an interesting rhythm. So often, we feel the pressure to continue to engage no matter the outcome, and here, Jesus is saying, “you can’t control the results, so if they aren’t ready for you, it’s okay to move on.” We are called to be faithful to the calling, not to control the results.

This passage reminds us that faithful work is often about simplicity and trust. We aren’t required to carry the responsibility of evangelizing the entirety of the planet. We aren’t called to carry the burden of expecting every engagement we have with others to have a positive result. We’re just invited to be a part of God’s mission, God’s calling, to say “yes’, and to see where that leads. 

We show up. We offer care. We move with discernment. And we trust in the provision and the promises of God. Even if God is calling us to pack light. - Allison