Refresh for better Leadership!

Mk 6: 7-13

Mark 6 (biblehub.com)

The Ministry of the Twelve

Being a leader is a difficult job.

Many of us know how much we need fortifying to do our job effectively. We live a life of needing vices, whether it is exercise, drink, food, and hopefully our Lord!

Reflect for a moment on the last time you had to psych yourself up to do your job. What is it that you use as armour to "get into it", or "get through it! Sometimes it might be items of clothing, like a suit. It could be your car, or a perfume or after-shave. Maybe it is not something material, it could be a routine, or a phrase or poem that you recite to yourself to steel your nerves.

Jesus seemed to be conscious of this in today's passage. He pairs his apostles together and sends them out to spread His Word, telling them to "take nothing but a staff for the journey - no bread, no bag, no money" and to "wear sandals, but not a second tunic".

Why does He instruct them in this way? One might reflect that Jesus is conscious of our innate desire to fortify ourselves when he go to work. Very often, we take too much baggage with us to be truly effective, whether it be material or emotional. Clearly, our Lord here is insisting that his men work in his ministry by stripping back, laying their true selves bare to the people.

This is an important point. Do we, in wearing our comfort blankets, truly show our true hearts and selves to the people that we lead? Do we deny material or physical sustenance? Jesus is not saying "go hungry", but rather underlining the importance of focusing on one concept only: spreading His Word.

When we "strip back", perhaps by going on retreat, or the gym, or on a holiday to "get away from it all", we usually return refreshed. Jesus wanted his leaders to be constantly in that state of refreshment. If we strip back our materials and find ways, through the study of the Word of the Lord, to become refreshed daily, then we will all be better leaders for it.