Question: Although I have heard the Gospel containing Jesus’ instructions “take nothing for the journey but a walking stick” (Mk 6:8) a plethora of times, it still surprised me to hear in a recent homily that Jesus looked beyond its use as an aid for walking to self-defense. Also, some texts seem to say not to bring a walking stick. How to sort all this out?
— Frank Hickey, via email
Answer: The staff or walking stick seemed to have been carried by many in the ancient world and served at least several purposes. Its most obvious function was to be a support when walking, especially on uneven, steep surfaces. They would vary in size from shorter sized canes to taller staves. But this use, as a support, seems necessary only for those who are older; younger men and women might find them cumbersome. In such cases, there seems to have been a second purpose for such sticks: defense. And so, it also seems that those who were younger may have carried them, at least on longer journeys, but more for defense. These sorts of walking sticks were often shorter, a bit like an Irish shillelagh, looking more like a club than a staff or cane. It could be hooked to the walking bag or belt and free the hands. Finally, staves, especially the taller version, also came to be symbols of office, rank or power. These sorts of staves, a bit like a bishop’s crozier today, were usually ornate and ceremonial more than practical. However, among the elderly who routinely carried a longer staff, there seem to have been certain flourishes that may have had tribal or other significance.
When Jesus tells the apostles to carry a walking stick, but only one, he is probably referring to the shorter, defensive kinds of sticks since the apostles were younger men. Sadly, there were many robbers and other dangers along ancient roads, and defense was a necessary thing.
There is some apparent discrepancy in the accounts about Jesus’ instruction. Matthew 10:9-10 appears to say that they were not to take a walking stick. Yet Mark 6:8 has Jesus instructing the disciples to take a staff. Luke 9:3 appears to agree with Matthew. But there are linguistic complexities that can soften the apparent contradictions. One text speaks of “acquiring” a staff, the other merely of “bringing” one. One text can also be read as not forbidding a staff, but only not to bring a second staff, etc.
With all this in mind, we can see that with a cultural item like a walking staff, there were wide varieties and purposes that varied in times and places and with age. Finding a strict and universal answer to such an inquiry may not be possible.
