The sending-out of the twelve (Mark 6:7-13)

[Stephan Choe]

December 10, 2024

Leading verse 7:    “And he called the twelve to him and began to send them out, two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.”

Jesus wanted to proclaim the good news in his hometown. But his hometown people rejected Jesus and his message.

Jesus could become bitter. But Jesus remembered the Old Testament prophets who were rejected in their hometowns and then took a positive step: he sends out his twelve disciples to train disciples two by two.

Today we want to learn about this sending out of the disciples for disciple training and draw practical lessons from it for ourselves.

When the home people rejected Jesus, he could become very disappointed and bitter. If you become disappointed and bitter, you will be caught up in the disappointment and bitterness so that you cannot take any positive steps.

But Jesus remembered the experiences of the prophets in the Old Testament. Many prophets were rejected and persecuted by their homeland. Prophet Elijah, for example, was severely persecuted by Ahab, the king of Israel.

It is a good teaching of Jesus that we should not remain prejudiced by bad events, but should take positive steps if we have experienced any negative events. God then turns the bad experience into a positive experience.

I have experienced this myself. When I injured my right hip in my primary school days, I studied hard and was able to attend university with a scholarship and come to Germany as a missionary.

Verses 7-8 say: “And he called the twelve to him and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.”

Jesus had a dual purpose for this sending out: He wanted to train his disciples and, secondly, he wanted to spread the gospel. He wanted the disciples to know Jesus and later proclaim Jesus and the gospel. So this sending out had a double aim, namely to train the disciples as his messengers and to practice spreading the gospel. 

The word for “send out” in Greek is ἀποστέλλω (apostello), from which the word apostle comes. Apostle therefore means to send out for a specific purpose.

The word “authority” in the Luther Bible “Vollmacht” means power and the right to give orders or make decisions. So Jesus gave the twelve the power and the right to preach the gospel and cast out demons.

This authority and healing of the sick should serve to preach the gospel, because this should serve to show that God loves people very much and delivers them from demons and diseases.

What were those sent out to preach?

The Gospel of Matthew 10:7 gives us Jesus' commission: “But go and preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

Jesus' mission is therefore to proclaim the good news, namely that the kingdom of heaven has come through Jesus Christ.

There are different empires in the world: socialist nations like China, capitalist nations like the USA and South Korea and dictatorial nations like North Korea. Of course, a dictatorial nation like North Korea is the worst. People are arbitrarily arrested or executed there. Although we should strive to build a just political system, there is no completely just nation on earth because people are basically ego-centered or selfish. That is why all people need the gospel and the kingdom of heaven, where God rules completely justly and benevolently.

Many Koreans had been proud of democratic system and prosperity recently. But on December 3, 2024, the president attempted an arbitrary seizure of power through martial law. And his attempt failed after a few hours. And Koreans are ashamed of his attempt.

There is no perfectly just nation in this world. The Bible teaches us again and again that we should place our hope in God's kingdom.

Rome, then known as the Eternal City, fell on August 24, 410. Prior to this, Christianity was recognized in the year of Constantine's reign (313). It then became the state religion and the persecution of Christians disappeared. After this, the pagans oppressed by Christianity began to fire arrows of resentment at the Christians. Christianity and Rome were soon invaded by foreigners and fell into decay. The pagans then said that Christianity was the cause of Rome's fall.

In his work “The City of God”, which Augustine began writing in 413 and completed in 427, he said that Rome was not “The City of God”. Christians live in the city of this world, but they live in the Eternal City of God. In writing “The City of God”, Augustine distinguishes between the “City of the World” and the “City of God”. The world eventually disappears, but the kingdom of God remains eternal.

We are emissaries of Jesus Christ. We are to do various things better in the world. But we must not forget that we are first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of God. We are to proclaim Jesus Christ and God's kingdom so that people can receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and God's kingdom. This message is our first priority.

What instruction did Jesus give to those he sent out?

His instruction is given in verses 8-9: “And commanded them to take nothing for the journey but a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but shoes, and not to put on two shirts.”

This instruction does not necessarily mean that the disciples should dress like street beggars or Franciscan monks. Rather, his instruction is intended to teach them to be completely dependent on God in material things and to trust him completely. Those sent out should therefore be independent of money and other conditions and always rely on God, trust him, and follow him. Those who follow this instruction out of their heart will experience God's care and his wonderful love.

When Hudson Taylor followed this instruction and trained himself to receive all needs from God through prayer, he was able to work mightily for the China mission.

In verse 10, Jesus instructs his disciples to stay in the first house in a town that would take them in, if possible. The disciples are to help one person or one family in each city for as long as possible so that this person or family can grow in faith and become good coworkers in the city.

The 16th chapter of Acts tells of Paul's evangelization in Philippi. When Paul began to evangelize Philippi, Lydia was the first to accept the gospel and took Paul and his companions into her home for as long as he worked in Philippi. And Lydia was able to grow in faith and work well with Paul to evangelize the city. As a result, a good church was built up in Philippi, as the letter to the Philippians shows us.

Of course, Jesus' disciples should also expect rejection from time to time.

In such cases, Jesus said in verse 11: “And where they do not receive you or listen to you, go out and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

“Shake the dust off your feet” means that they should make it clear that rejecting the gospel will result in eternal condemnation. They should therefore clearly show people the consequences of rejecting the gospel.

The messengers should neither react angrily nor be discouraged at the rejection. However, they should clearly state the consequences of rejecting the gospel and actively proclaim the gospel to other people.

What were the fruits of their preaching?

Verses 12 and 13 give us an account of their missionary work: “And they went forth preaching repentance, and casting out many evil spirits, and anointing with oil many that were sick, and healing them.”

The disciples were to go from village to village and preach. The content of their preaching was the gospel (see Luke 9:6). They were to tell people that they should repent of their sin and believe in the gospel. 

In order to receive the kingdom of God, one should repent and believe in the gospel.

“Repent” means to confess one's sin before God. Sin consists of unbelief in God and disregard for divine commandments. Anyone who does not believe in him as his Creator, is a sinner. And anyone who disregards God's commandments, e.g., the Ten Commandments, is also a sinner.

People should confess their unbelief in God or their disregard for the Ten Commandments and believe that Jesus died for their sin and rose again. Then God forgives him all sin and accepts him as a child of God.

That is why the prophet Isaiah said in 53:5.6:

“But he (the Christ) is wounded for our transgression and bruised for our sin. The punishment is upon him that we may have peace, and by his wounds we are healed. We all went astray like sheep, each one looking to his own way. But the Lord cast our sins upon him.”

Because Jesus has already received the divine punishment for all our sins, God forgives us our sins and accepts us as his children with joy and gives us peace, joy and eternal life. He saves us from the power of death and from hell and leads us into his heavenly kingdom, where we can experience neither sorrow nor death. There we will enjoy great joy, divine blessings and eternal life.

Jesus' disciples are to proclaim this good news to the world.

And the disciples are to cast out evil spirits and heal the sick. In the world, people are possessed by evil spirits. And there are sick people everywhere. The disciples who have received the gift of casting out evil spirits or healing the sick are to use their gift and free people from evil spirits and heal the sick. In addition to proclaiming the gospel, the disciples should also help people in practical matters as a witness of Jesus Christ.

So we pray: “Our Father in heaven! May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven ...”