Lent 3 - Tuesday - The Bare Necessities

Text: Mark 6:1-13 (see below)

This may be the silliest post I have written so far!

I read this text last night just before I went to sleep, a daily routine for me. After I had finished perusing the passage about Jesus sending his disciples out two by two with nothing but the bare necessities, a tune from the 1967 movie The Jungle Book popped into my head. When I woke this morning, it was still playing!

The song I am thinking of is that moment in the Disney animated film when Baloo, the sloth bear, teaches Mowgli, the boy, about how to live in his new surroundings. He sings:

“Look for the bare necessities

The simple bare necessities

Forget about your worries and your strife

I mean the bare necessities

Old Mother Nature's recipes

That brings the bare necessities of life

Wherever I wander, wherever I roam

I couldn't be fonder of my big home

The bees are buzzin' in the tree

To make some honey just for me

When you look under the rocks and plants

And take a glance at the fancy ants

Then maybe try a few

The bare necessities of life will come to you

They'll come to you!....”

I wonder if Jesus was trying to suggest perhaps the same sort of philosophy to the disciples. In essence, Jesus was saying: “Quit worrying about how you will accomplish this task. Trust in the Higher Power that all will be made well. Simplify your life. Focus on what is important and watch how real life will come to you!”

The biblical text is quite explicit. The more that the disciples got down to the bare necessities of their mission, the more success they found as they preached the Gospel and men and women became transformed turning from their self-absorbed ways; as they drove away demons; and as they anointed folks with oil laying hands on them healing many souls. Could our many possessions be in fact a hindrance, or distraction, to accomplishing the mission of the Gospel which Jesus calls all of us?

At the conclusion of the song, as Baloo and Mowgli float peacefully down a stream in the middle of the jungle, the old bear offers his little friend sage advice:

“And don't spend your time lookin' around

For something you want that can't be found

When you find out you can live without it

And go along not thinkin' about it

I'll tell you something true

The bare necessities of life will come to you.”

Here in this middle period of Lent, what are you and I looking around for that can’t be found? Can we live without that desire or possession? Instead, can we set our heart and mind on the things that truly matter? God and each other.

I said at the beginning that this may be the silliest post I have written so far!

Maybe not….

Love One Another – Brian



The Bare Necessities
Voice of Phil Harris

Source: Youtube.com

Mark 6:1-13

Jesus left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?" But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "He's just a carpenter—Mary's boy. We've known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?" They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further. Jesus told them, "A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child." Jesus wasn't able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that's all. He couldn't get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching. Jesus called the Twelve to him, and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition. He sent them off with these instructions: "Don't think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple. And no luxury inns. Get a modest place and be content there until you leave. "If you're not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way." Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.

Translation: The Message