Peace to this house – 5 July 2013

Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’  [Luke 10: 3-5]

Once again it is important that we leave our literal minds at home, preferably in the recycling bin.  Jesus sends his disciples on ahead, with a list of formidable  instructions.  We however are not living in 1^st century Galilee.  We live in another world, undreamed-of, incomprehensible, to Jesus and his disciples. And it is in our world, not theirs, that we respond with hearts and lives – and with our intelligence -- to Jesus.  It is in our prayer, in the times of silence and stillness and consent to the Spirit of God, that we are inwardly formed as followers. 

Greet no one on the road, perhaps, is best understood – at any rate it is by me – as a growing dislike of the mindless, idle chatter that passes for communication so often these days.  A perfect example of it is on the National Radio morning programme each Friday, in the last 15 minutes or so before they wrap up for the week at midday.  They import celebrities able to talk over the top of each other and shriek with laughter.  It’s not that we contemplatives are supposed to be humourless– just that we keep a healthy respect for the gift of time.   No purse, no bag, no sandals... is surely an invitation to journey unencumbered by useless baggage.  Of course we need purse, bag and footwear, credit cards and mobiles.

Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’  Well, that would certainly stop the conversation.  Of course we don’t say that.  However, entering someone else’s house is a moment to be still, receptive and observant.  It is pointless to bless the house with peace if we ourselves are not carrying peace, love, reconciliation and justice.  If we are men and women of peace, then presumably we will be keener to practise it than talk overmuch much about it.

I am constantly struck in these sometimes difficult Gospel passages, that Jesus seems to expect his followers to be contemplative people.  I am not sure that Jesus ever envisaged the church – it’s hard to say what he envisaged – but certainly in his company one would have to take seriously contemplative themes, based on contemplative life and prayer, paying attention to human need and frailty, making good use of the gift of time, imparting peace, love, reconciliation, justice, by being formed that way oneself, travelling light, or as light as is possible and sensible.  The shedding of excess baggage is very much the effect of the disciplines of silence and stillness, over the days, months and years.