Articles
“The Twelve Sent Out”
And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
Mark 6:7-13
Jesus’ ministry entered an important new phase in what some call the ‘limited commission.’ The “twelve,” a theologically significant number reminiscent of the twelve tribes of Israel indicating a fresh beginning for God’s people, would be crucial in the spread of the gospel throughout the whole world (Mt. 28:18-20; Col. 1:23). To prepare them for this monumental task, Jesus, the Father’s “Apostle” (Heb. 3:1), trained them, commissioned them and “sent” (apostellÅ) them out to the Galilean villages as his ambassadors. Endowed with the authority of Jesus, they presented the gospel in both word and deed, preaching the message with accompanying miracles. Christians, though not apostles, can learn several practical lessons from this Galilean mission. Those who are saved have a responsibility to proclaim that message of salvation to others.
First, notice that Jesus sent them out in pairs. There may be several reasons for this: traveling with companions is a safeguard against physical threats and increases the reliability of one’s testimony. Christian coworkers also provide much needed encouragement in the often lonely and difficult work of preaching.
Second, Jesus told them to take nothing with them in the way of supplies. They were to go out with the bare necessities and rely solely on the kindness and hospitality of those who would “receive” them (Mk. 10:10). This would be an act of faith on the apostles’ part. They had to believe they would meet receptive people in the villages and learn to trust their hospitality (3 Jn. 5-8).
Third, Jesus prepared them for a varied response. The apostles could expect to find people receptive to the message but should not be surprised to encounter those who would refuse it. Earlier, Jesus taught that the gospel would elicit a wide variety of responses in his parable of the sower with its four different soils (Mk. 4:1-20).
Fourth, Jesus told them how to respond to rejection. They were not to retaliate against the unreceptive in any way. Rather, they were to simply move on after shaking the dust off their feet “as a testimony against them.” Why this action? It was customary for Jews who traveled abroad to shake the dust off their feet before returning home, so as not to defile the holy land with the soil of heathen lands. Similarly, Jews who rejected the gospel were to be treated as heathens. By doing this, the apostles signified that those who rejected God’s salvation were fully responsible for their own spiritual condition. Paul did this very thing in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:51) and in Corinth adding the verbal warning, “Your blood be on your own heads!” (Acts 18:6; see also Ezek. 3:16-21).
The apostles obeyed these instructions and experienced success in their mission. There are doubtless many other lessons for us in this text but let us, at least, learn to speak the gospel by the authority of Christ (Col. 3:17), to labor with faithful companions, to trust that God will care for us as we do his will and to respond to opposition with gravity and grief but never vengeance. There are receptive soils waiting for the seed. We are called to sow that seed in faith and leave the results to God (1 Cor. 3:6-7).
