4 February 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” Mark 6:7
Hebrews contrasts two mountains. At Sinai Israel met God in “a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet”, so terrifying that “Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’” But Christians have come somewhere else: “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven… and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Abel's blood cried out for vengeance; the blood of Jesus speaks forgiveness. This is what happens at every Mass: we stand with angels and saints at the festival of heaven.
In the Gospel Jesus “called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” They go in pairs, because witness is never solitary. They travel light: “nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts.” They depend on God and on the hospitality of those who receive them. Their message is simple, “that all should repent”, and their works are signs of the Kingdom: “They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” The Church sees in that anointing the beginning of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Mission is not a privilege of a few; every baptized Christian is sent.
Theme: “He began to send them out two by two.”
The festival of heaven and the mission of the Twelve.
“Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently.” Exodus 19:18
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,” Hebrews 12:22
Apply: At Mass this week, join consciously in the song of the angels at the Holy, Holy.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news,” Isaiah 52:7
“He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” Mark 6:7
Apply: Do one act of service together with a friend.
“We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.” Psalm 48:9
“So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” Mark 6:12–13
Apply: Visit or call someone who is sick.
At Mass we stand on Zion with angels and saints.
From Mass we are sent, together and trusting, to heal.
Take-home resolution: Visit a sick or lonely person with a companion this week.
Dear friends, Hebrews tells us we have not come to Sinai with its fire, darkness and trumpet. You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering (Hebrews 12:22).
We have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). Every Mass is this festival of heaven.
In the Gospel Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two (Mark 6:7). They took nothing but a staff. They preached repentance, cast out demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them (Mark 6:13).
We too are sent, not alone but together, not loaded with baggage but trusting in God. Let us go from this Mass two by two to bring his healing. Amen.
Children, Jesus sent his friends out in pairs to help people and tell them about God. Who can you go with to do something kind this week?
Lord Jesus, mediator of the new covenant, you send your disciples two by two with nothing but trust. Free us from the baggage that holds us back, and send us to call others to repentance and to bring your healing. Amen.
Hebrews describes where the Christian stands at worship: not at a mountain of fire, but in the assembly of angels and saints, in front of Jesus. Mark shows the same Jesus sending twelve men out with almost nothing, to give what they have received. We come in to the feast and we are sent out, and the two go together. Psalm 48, in praise of the city of God, supplies the words for the gathering: “We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.”
Setting.
This is one of the high points of the letter. The author sets two mountains in front of his tired readers. One is Sinai, as Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 4–5 describe it: fire, darkness and a voice that frightened the people. The other is Zion, the heavenly city. His argument is pastoral: look at where you have come, and do not turn back. The Lectionary omits v. 20.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”” (12:21)
Exodus does not record these words at Sinai. The nearest is Deuteronomy 9:19, when Moses was afraid after the golden calf. Hebrews brings it into this scene.
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,” (12:22)
The tense is striking: “you have come”. The author does not say “you will come one day”. The Christian who worships is already, in hope and in sacrament, in that company.
“and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (12:24)
The blood of Abel cried out to God from the ground (Genesis 4:10). The blood of Jesus also speaks, and it asks for mercy. The sprinkling recalls the blood with which Moses sealed the covenant (Exodus 24:8). The whole list ends here, on the note of mercy.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that in the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem (Sacrosanctum Concilium 8; CCC 1090). This is why every Preface ends by joining the angels and saints in the Holy, Holy, Holy. At every Mass, however small the parish and however few the people, this passage is what is really happening.
Setting.
After the rejection at Nazareth, the work widens. Jesus chose the Twelve “to be with him, and to be sent out” (3:14). They have been with him, and now they are sent. Mark sets their mission around the story of John's death (6:14–29). They return only at 6:30.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” (6:7)
Two witnesses were needed to establish a matter under the Law (Deuteronomy 19:15). Two also means company on the road. No one in the Gospel is sent to be a lone hero.
“He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;” (6:8)
The poverty of the mission is the message: they depend on God and on the people who receive them. Matthew 10:10 and Luke 9:3 report that even the staff was forbidden. The Gospel writers differ on the detail and agree on the point.
“So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” (6:12–13)
They say what John said (1:4) and what Jesus said (1:15). Word and healing go together, as they do in Jesus' own work.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes these two verses in speaking of Christ's call to his disciples to share his ministry of compassion and healing (CCC 1506). The Council of Trent taught that the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is alluded to by Mark and is recommended and promulgated by James (James 5:14–15; CCC 1511). The sending of the Twelve is the root of the apostolic ministry in the Church (CCC 858–859).
Does Hebrews mean that Sinai was a bad thing, or that God has rejected Israel?
No. Sinai was God's own work, and the Law is holy. Hebrews compares the fear of that first meeting with the access given in Christ, and it does so in order to encourage tired Christians, not to condemn anyone. The Church teaches that the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old is made clear in the New (Dei Verbum 16), and that God's covenant with Israel has never been revoked (CCC 121; Nostra Aetate 4).