Lenten Reader | Day 12

March 3rd, 2026

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.

These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Mark 6:1-13

For the Journey

When Jesus sent out the 12 for the first commission, the instructions were clear. They were to travel light, taking only the essential personal property with them to support their mission. There are many parallels throughout Scripture that foreshadow this type of minimalist journey, but I believe Jesus had practical intentions for this command as well.

Stripping down allows us to focus on the mission, removing the distraction of managing and maintaining possessions. It turns our attention and our measures of success towards stewardship and contentment over competition and accumulation. Most importantly it puts our reliance to sustain on God.

Although I don’t believe that Jesus is calling for us to perpetually go about life without possessions, I do believe it is important to our core to experience periods of time with very little so we can live a truly abundant life.

Imagine you are lost in the woods; it’s cold and wet. You are underdressed and hungry. I think it would be fair to assume that any reasonable person would not be happy in this situation. Wandering around you come upon an old hunting shack, and you go inside. There is a fire in the fireplace, an old pair of coveralls draped over a chair, and a pot of chicken broth warming by the fire. These improved circumstances, although quite basic, would most likely make you very happy.

Where the problem lies in all this is we believe that filet mignon prepared by a chef and a closet full of brand name clothes inside a gilded mansion would make us even happier. And relatively speaking they do not. Even worse, often this mindset robs us of our contentment and only serves as a distraction to living the lives we’ve been called to live.

To be clear, the point is not possessions, it’s the focus. Leave space for the miracles to happen. “They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”

Eric Pritchard