After a period of preaching, teaching, and healing in Galilee, Jesus now commissions and instructs the Twelve to do likewise.  He gives them their marching orders, namely, no staff or traveling bag, no bread or money, one coat, acceptance of hospitality.  These are stark directives for a specified journey, the short haul.

Jesus also commissions and instructs us.  Our journey involves the long haul and maybe some prioritizing of lifestyle.  The tasks of preaching, teaching, and healing are also ours.  We preach by the example of our lives.  We teach by sharing graced experiences with others.  We heal by being present and listening with compassion.

As Jesus points out, there may be rejection.  There is to be no fire and brimstone, either literally or figuratively.  Ezra, in the first reading, and the disciples, with their limited resources, help us to realize that our efforts only bring results through the Lord at work in us.  God’s grace often works in strange ways.  Like the disciples, it is necessary for us to “set out” and be confident of God’s presence and working in our lives.