Mark 6:7-13. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 18, 2019.
Today, our passage involves Jesus sending his twelve disciples out on a mission. If his words before his ascension in Matthew 28:18-20 are to be called The Great Commission then our story today should be called the Small Commission. It involves them going out only to the towns of Israel and preaching to them. Perhaps Jesus saw this as a trial run for the greater mission that he would give them later.
Our title for this sermon comes from John 20:21. There Jesus tells his disciples, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (NKJV) Everything that Jesus is doing with them throughout Israel is leading up to that point when he will go back to Heaven and the Apostles will need to take the Gospel to the nations of the world. This would not be an easy task and it would be filled with many difficulties and trials. Yet, it would also be filled with many joys.
There is a hymn that was published in 1954 and written by a Canadian woman named E. Margaret Clarkson. She grew up in Toronto in the 1920’s. In the 1930’s when she came of age, jobs were hard to come by in Toronto. This led to her going into the far north of Ontario to become a teacher in the logging and mining camps. Here are some quotes from her concerning her time there.
“I experienced deep loneliness of every kind-mental, cultural, and particularly, spiritual- I found no Bible-teaching church fellowship, and only one or two isolated Christians, in those years. Studying the Word one night and thinking of the loneliness of my situation, I came to John 20, and the words, ‘So send I you.’ Because of a physical disability, I could never go to the mission field, and this was where He had sent me. I had written verse all my life, so it was natural for me to express my thoughts in poem. Some years later [in 1963-after more life-experience and contact with real missionaries] I realized that the poem was really, very one-sided; it told only of the sorrows and privations of the missionary call and none of its triumphs. I wrote another song in the same rhythm, so that verses could be used interchangeably, setting forth the glory and the hope of the missionary calling.” (from https://propempo.com/story-behind-so-send-i-you-margaret-clarkson/)
This second version was published in 1963 as Margaret felt, if choosing between the two, the second one was the more biblical. Here are the first stanzas of each version.
So send I you to labor unrewarded, to serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown, to bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing, to send I you, to toil for Me alone.
So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph, o’er hosts of hell, o’er darkness, death and sin, My name to bear and in that name to conquer, so send I you, My Victory to win.
Of course, singing nine verses (the first version has 5 and the second has 4) would not fly in very many churches today. However, the words of this hymn are of great value and worth looking up. It teaches us to count the cost and also the rewards of going forth for Jesus.
The greatest rewards for taking up the task that Jesus gives to his Church are yet to be had. In this life, these things are bitter sweet, but once our work is done, and we have reached the end of our race, we shall enter into the full rewards of our labors on this earth.
Mark’s version of this passage, again, is very short on details. If you read Matthew 10:1-15, you will see that Jesus limits them to going only to the towns and cities of what he calls “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This did not include Samaria, which was an area of Israel that had mixed with Gentiles in marriage and in religion.
We are told that Jesus sends them out in pairs. Thus, we would have 6 pairs of two disciples heading out to different parts of Israel. This was not to keep an eye on each other, but rather because, “Two are better than one.” Like Adam in life, it was not good for them to be alone in ministry. They could keep each other encouraged in the difficult times and supply gifts where the other fell short.
It is interesting that this same phrase, two by two, occurs in the Noah’s Ark passage. There the animals are brought into the ark in pairs, two by two. That passage is unclear as to whether Noah is rounding them up, or if God’s Spirit is drawing them into the ark. Regardless, in our passage the disciples are going out in pairs to call people to enter the ark of God, Jesus. If comparing the ark to Jesus is a foreign concept to you then think of it in this way. Just as Noah’s family were protected from the judgment of the ancient world by getting into the ark, so those who come inside of Jesus by putting their faith in him will be protected from the coming judgment of fire that has been promised to the whole earth.
We are also told that Jesus gives them authority over unclean spirits. The word “authority” is sometimes translated as power. However, the word properly means authority, and of course authority always has an involvement with power. Regarding the unclean spirits, we have touched on this earlier. This phrase is more of a description than a title. Verse 13 helps us to see that the phrase is synonymous with “demons.”
It is sad to think that God’s people had become spiritually captured and plundered. Everywhere Jesus and his disciples went in Israel, they encountered demon-possessed people. I will remind us that people are not easily possessed. It occurs when people dabble with false religions and the occult arts. By listening to the teachings of demons, people give permission to those unclean, defiling spirits in their life. You cannot surrender authority in your life without becoming a slave, and such was the case of many in Israel.
No doubt, America has not seen as much activity in this area because of our Gospel foundation in Christ. However, today it is becoming more and more prevalent for people to pursue the occult arts, and spiritual teachings of all sorts, which opens them up to such possession. We will see more and more of this in our society, even though secular society will never call it demon-possession.
As a Christian, we need to recognize that such things are very real. We must learn to stand on our own two spiritual-feet, and in the same authority that Jesus gave to his disciples then, proclaim the gospel and command unclean spirits to leave. We need not fear any evil when we are on the side of Christ. However, no one should approach these matters lightly and proudly.
Jesus also limits what provisions they can take with them on the journey. They were to take only a staff, sandals, and one tunic (no bag, no food, no money, and no extra clothing). Clearly, Jesus is putting them in a position that is more dire than it really was. They had these things, but could not take them along. Why? The most logical reason homes in on the reality that Jesus is their teacher and they are the students, master and disciples. So, at its foundation it is about them learning something by taking no extra provisions. In such a situation, they will need to trust God to provide for them. If God sends you on a mission then he will provide for you. This is not just true in ministry, but in life as well. All Christians are on a mission from God and he promises to take care of our needs, if we will put his kingdom first. Of course, faith in God’s provision is easier said than done. This will prepare them for times in the future when they will not be in their current state of being full of provisions.
It is worth noting that Jesus does reverse these limitations later and allows them to take provisions. The point is not that we should purposefully test God in this matter, but that we can trust him to help us in whatever we lack. They are not testing God. They are responding to a command of the Lord. Perhaps in this country of plenty our level of needing to trust in God for our provisions is very anemic. However, Christians all around the world, both today and throughout history, have had to trust that God would provide for them. Instead of falling into the habit of complaining and grumbling against God, they learned to pray, work hard, and trust God to provide.
The last part of the instructions of Jesus have to do with how they should conduct themselves among the towns of Israel. This part will make more sense if you read the Matthew 10 passage. Basically, they were to go to a town and publicly proclaim the Gospel. If no one received them then they were to leave the town and go to the next. Jesus tells them to shake the dust off of their feet in such a case. This is interesting because it was the common practice of religious Jews to shake the dust off of their feet when leaving a Gentile city. It was a symbolic way of saying that you are not going to take any part of that city with you because it is defiled. Here they receive a bit of their own medicine. If you are going to reject the Gospel and its ministers then the very dust of your city will become a witness, or evidence that they came and offered you grace. In fact, Jesus says that those cities that reject his disciples with the Gospel message will have a more difficult judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah because they had a far less powerful and enlightening ministry from Lot.
If they are received positively and someone welcomes them into their home then they are to stay with them and let them care for their physical needs. We don’t know if they were instructed to stay for a certain period, or if they had a certain amount of time to reach a particular list of cities. Regardless, they would go from one town to the next proclaiming the Gospel.
In verse 12, the disciples take off to do what Jesus has instructed. They leave Jesus behind and go in pairs to different parts of Israel. In our passage, we are told that they preached, or proclaimed, that people should repent. In Matthew they are told to proclaim, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This reminds us of the message that the Bible says Jesus preached from the beginning, “Repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The kingdom did not fully arrive in the first century. It came in spiritually, but awaits the judgment in order to come in physically and politically. Thus, the whole world is in the same position as the first century, and we need to preach the same message.
The word for repentance here means to “change one’s mind.” The people of Israel were supposed to be a people who lived for God and his purposes, but they had become a people living for themselves and for their own purposes. Their mindset led to lifestyles and bondages that were never God’s intention for them or humanity. The biggest leverage to getting them to change their mind is the warning that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
God’s prophets had promised a time when God would send his anointed king who would heal Israel and rule over all the earth. If Messiah (from the Hebrew word for “anointed”) the king was to be in Israel in their days then they would want to change their lives and get ready for his presence. If I truly change my mind on a matter then it will truly change how I live. Another term in the Bible that is used for repentance is the concept of turning. When I am driving in the wrong direction, I need a change of mind before I am ever going to turn around and go in the right direction. Let’s be clear. Most people in America, and in this world, are going in the wrong direction. Even many who claim to be Christians are simply placing a label on their life, but not really living for Christ and his purposes. May God help us to daily change our minds and turn towards his path, rather than our own. May he help us to turn from our tendency for the self-led life, and to embrace the Holy Spirit-led life.
As the disciples went into the cities, we are told that they cast out many demons. The delegated authority that Jesus gave to them was recognized by these unclean spirits. The key here is not a mantra or ritual for casting them out. The key is that they had an authentic relationship with Jesus and he has authorized them to have authority over these spirits. Yet, it is not just The Twelve. Luke 10:19 is a place where Jesus talks to a larger group of disciples called The Seventy, who also are told they will have power over these unclean spirits (serpents and scorpions are metaphors for these unclean spirits). Also, in Romans 16:20, Paul expected that God would soon crush Satan (and his operators) underneath the Christians in Rome. Yet, we cannot merely declare authority over such spirits if we are not in true relationship with Jesus. It is his power they fear and obey, not mine.
We are also told that the disciples anointed the sick with oil and healed them just as Jesus did. It must have been something for Israel, who was still reeling from Jesus going everywhere healing and casting out spirits, to see his disciples doing the same all by themselves. O, how God loves to take the weak and lowly, and lift them up to take the place of the great and mighty.
So, why did they use oil? The purpose of the oil is to be a symbol of God’s Spirit and also an aid to faith. In the end, people were being restored by Galilean fishermen, or a tax collector, or a zealot, etc.
You and I are not called to become Apostles of Jesus in order to lay down the faith once and for all for Christ’s Church. However, we carry the same Gospel into whatever scope of ministry that he gives us. Whatever sphere he gives us, as a friend, co-worker, spouse, relative, parent etc., we must be faithful to share Christ in words and deed, so that people can believe on him and have a place in his kingdom, both now and in the future. All believers are called to be proclaimers of the Gospel, and may God help us to warn people to change their minds because the next phase of the Kingdom of God is at hand!