Mt 10:7-15
[Jesus said to the Twelve,] 7“As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.9Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; 10no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep.
11Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. 12As you enter a house, wish it peace. 13If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. 14Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words—go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. 15Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”
Reflection:
Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give. I tried and experimented on this in my first parish a long time ago. I gave all the parish services for free. We did not charge any stipends or fees. It was touching and grace-filled. The people loved it. We enjoyed it and were proud of it. We were even tremendously blessed by this practice. It is possible to carry nothing and live and leave everything to God’s grace.
That is all right. But I believe the emphasis should be not only on the cost, on giving everything for free. Rather the focus should be on the receiving and the giving. We have received much in life. It is about time we give in return. Then the cost or gold or silver or copper would not be necessary. We were proud not so much about the free services but about the real community and Church we discovered.