RADICAL MISSION
Opening Prayer
Amazing God, sometimes You have traveled through the shadows in my life to find me. I am humbled before You.
Read MARK 6:6b–13
6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“I no longer call you servants… I have called you friends” (John 15:15). How fortunate we are for Jesus’ gracious invitation into friendship, in which he shares with me his heart.
Think Further
The twelve have been called from their previous work, have spent time with Jesus, enjoying private teaching (Mark 4:11), and have witnessed his public ministry of word and power. Now they, too, are to exercise that authoritative ministry; Jewish legal practice counted someone sent as a representative as if he was the one doing the sending, so the ministry continues to be that of Jesus. They go “two by two” (7), not just for mutual support but to be true witnesses to what they have seen and heard (cf. Deut. 17:6).
In commissioning the twelve, Jesus prohibits them from making any provision for their own welfare. They must take no food or money and will need to depend on those they are ministering to for overnight hospitality; a second tunic would have allowed them to sleep outdoors and not be so dependent. The logic appears to be that “those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14). As the disciples share good news with their hosts, the hosts in return share their material provision with the disciples. The disciples should accept whatever they are offered (10) and not shop around for the best offers. What matters is the spontaneous generosity of the offer, not the quality of the provision.
The twelve are at this stage only sent to the “lost sheep of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). Yet if anyone does not accept their message, they are to be counted as Gentiles. Whenever Jews went to another country, as they returned and crossed back into the Promised Land, they were to shake the dust of the Gentile country from their feet, lest it pollute the land. The boundary around God’s people is now being redrawn according to their response to Jesus and to those he sends.
Apply
Why does being vulnerable allow us to share our faith more easily? Where are the places where you are vulnerable and dependent on others?
Closing prayer
Father, being vulnerable before others is counterintuitive for me. I pray for the Holy Spirit to work on me in this area of my life so that I can be more available to you and others.
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