Are you a light packer? Or do you bring everything in your closet for a weekend getaway? In Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, Jesus sends his followers into the world empty handed – Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.

Jesus is not giving packing advice for 21st century travelers, but if we take Jesus’ words seriously, we must wrestle with the instructions with which he sends his followers (that’s us!) into the world. Maybe Jesus wants us to learn the value of vulnerability. Maybe Jesus wants us to experience first-hand God’s mothering care. Maybe Jesus, himself a refugee forced to migrate with his parents to a foreign land as a child to escape an authoritarian King Herod, was so moved by the experience of being the neighbor reliant on the care and hospitality of strangers, that he wants us to experience that as well.

Whatever the reason, Jesus sends his followers off two-by-two, empty handed into the world knowing that they will arrive at the end of each day with tired feet, hungry bellies, and no reservation at the 1st century’s equivalent of Motel 6. He sends them so that they will arrive desperately in need of hospitality and he expects they will find someone who will receive their greeting of peace with one of their own, and extend the mercy, kindness, hospitality, and generosity that they desperately need.

What if Jesus sends his followers into the world empty-handed because he knows that needing everything is the way God’s kingdom comes. It’s the way we receive the daily bread for which we pray. It’s the way that we experience God’s peace.

And what if Jesus is also revealing how to meet him in our world. What if Jesus is teaching us that the way to receive those who come to our doors and our communities is with peace-filled and generous hearts ready to extend care in whatever form is needed. What if Jesus is showing us that the neighbors who need help are worthy of our compassion, rather than our contempt.

We believe the kingdom of God as is the legacy we receive upon death — the eternal inheritance we are promised in our baptism. But what if Jesus sends his followers empty-handed into the world because he knows from first-hand experience and intimate knowledge of our mothering God that extending and receiving peace, meeting strangers with empathy and compassion and care, providing generously for the needs of others with our own resources and the resources of our communities is ALSO the kingdom of God made visible. And that this way of living is what topples demons and defeats evil.

This way of living, it seems, is where the joy of the Lord is found and where Christ’s peace is made known.