Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Mark 6:1-29, Key Verse: 6:7

1. Read verses 1-6a. What did the people of Jesus’ hometown know about him? Why were they first amazed, then take offense at him? Why was Jesus amazed? What does this show about the importance of faith?

2. Read verses 6b-7. Where did Jesus and his disciples go? How did Jesus equip his disciples? Read verses 8-11. What were the limits Jesus gave them? What principles did he want them to learn?

3. Read verses 12-13. What were the message and work of the apostles during their fieldwork training? What did Jesus want them to learn?

4. Read verses 14-16. What did King Herod and some others think when they heard about Jesus’ ministry? Why was Herod especially fearful? Read vs 17.

5. Read verses 17-29. Why and how had John the Baptist rebuked King Herod? What was the terrible crime Herod had committed? What does this event tell us about the environment into which Jesus sent his disciples?

JESUS SENDS OUT THE TWELVE

Mark 6:1-29, Key Verse: 6:7

“Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.”

Thank God for showing us His glory through the ISBC last week. We witnessed His glory in Jesus’ incarnation, in his crucifixion and resurrection, in his disciples’ changed life, and in his promise of second coming. Personally, I experienced His glory in my transportation duty as I observed lots of foreign delegates coming to Door 4 at the Shuttle Center and having wonderful fellowship there in their own mother tongues: Ukraine, German, Japanese, Mongolian, and Korean. After tasting such marvelous glory, what do we do now? We may need to come back to our mission field with a renewed vision and purpose. In today’s passage, we are reminded of what kind of mission field we are to come back to. Jesus’ own homecoming albeit a sour one, his sending out the Twelve two by two with authority over impure spirits, and the sad story of John the Baptist all reveal how dark the time was and how challenging the mission field was. May God strengthen us to continue see His glory through our life of mission. 

1. Isn’t This the Carpenter? (1-6a)

Look at verse 1. In the previous passage, Jesus healed a sick woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years and raised up Jarius’ dead daughter. He was praised and well-received as a holy man by many people there. At that moment, suddenly, our Lord Jesus realized he had his own townspeople to take care of. After all, Nazareth, his hometown, was the place where he grew up and received much care and help. He probably had fond memories there like picking apples and playing with other kids. Now that he became the one who could bless others with healing the preaching, why not blessing his own? With this in mind, Jesus went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. His heart must have been pounding with a hope of helping many there. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were amazed. It was quite a homecoming. When a sports-star comes to his hometown after a great achievement like the World Cup Championship, it would be a joyous moment for everyone there. Jesus became more than a super-star. However, what was their response?

Look at verses 2b-3a. “‘Where did this man get these things?’ they asked. ‘What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?’” They were not that enthusiastic or joyous. Instead, they questioned each other about him. Note how they called Jesus: “this man” and “the carpenter.” They even took offense at him, which actually means, they were very upset.

Why were they upset with Jesus? Perhaps, their preconception about him and their own ego could not let them accept the reality of who it is now. Maybe a little jealous, too? It was like how we felt when the US Olympic basketball team was defeated by an obscure European team and then by another, which resulted in a bronze medal. At that time, we were very upset that we had to accept that the number one basketball team in the world got beaten. So were the Nazarenes. They were outrageously upset that someone they used to know as a carpenter or a brother to his siblings became such a great figure whilst they still remained nameless people. So, they rejected him. Because of that, they lost a once-in-a-lifetime chance to directly receive his blessings. How many times have we suffered from insisting our preconception and ego when there was God’s blessings?

Look at verse 4. Our Lord Jesus was heart-broken and yet had to point out one hard truth. “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” A prophet or even a secular scholar is well-received with honor when he or she goes somewhere else. It is because the people in that place without preconception or pride can objectively and correctly assess him or her and accept who it is. I remember my first job interview at Carnegie Malon University in Pittsburgh for a postdoctoral researcher position, the department of engineering there sent me a black limo with a driver and posted my presentation demo advertisement throughout the campuses so that everyone interested could come to my presentation. Although I did not get that position, I still vividly remember the black limo and the driver. In verses 5-6a, we see that Jesus could not do any miracles there. Note the phrase in verse 6a that Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. In the previous chapter, an incurably sick woman and a dead girl were healed and raised because of their faith. At Jarius’ house, only the believing people were allowed to have the right environment. Here at Jesus’ own hometown, that kind of environment could not be set up because of their lack of faith. And Jesus was amazed. 

May God help us to get rid of our preconception and ego but to have strong faith and build a believing environment so that Jesus could mightily work among and through us after the ISBC.

2. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve (6b-13)

Look at verses 6b-7. Jesus was not deterred by the rejection of his hometown people. So, he continued his efforts to expand the work of God. This time, he sent out his twelve disciples two by two. Why two by two? We can find a good reason in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, which read, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” Surely, two are much better than one and can help each other. We experienced this first-hand this summer as our DuPage UBF sent out Danny and Nek to Thailand as short-term missionaries. We have seen how these two young men could help support the Thai ministry. We heard amazing stories one after another on their mission trip. 

Look at verses 8-11. These are the detailed instructions that Jesus gave them for the trip. They read. “‘Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 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.’” Why take nothing? In our trip to the ISBC, we packed everything we needed including pajamas and some ramen noodles. However, in Mt 10:10b, we see a good reason why Jesus gave such a direction, which reads, “for the worker is worth his keep.” In other words, the gospel workers deserve God’s provision. At the same time, it also means that Jesus wanted them to depend on God more than anything. An interesting point was raised in our Friday meeting that why only a staff was allowed. One man of God said that in hiking or in a long journey, a staff could be a great help. Others suggested it could be used to fend off wild animals or symbolize their being shepherds for the flocks. Msn. Mary Kim shared her real-life story regarding how God provided her with everything she needed. When all the money ran out and she lost hope of survival in a foreign land, her internship was granted at a local pharmacy out of nowhere. Later another Kyungsung UBF pharmacist coworker got the same favor at the same pharmacy. A behind story was shared that the owner of the pharmacy had a dream where an angel urged him to help that Kyungsung coworker. 

Look at verse 11. The Twelve would not be always welcome in their mission trip. So, Jesus asked them to have confidence and conviction toward their mission by shaking the dust off their feet as a testimony against them in case they would be rejected. Shaking the dust off was a customary act for the Jews who came back from a Gentile land so that their influence might be shaken off. It probably meant that those who rejected the Twelve would be treated as the Gentiles. In verse 12, we see that they went out and preached the message of repentance. It was the same message as John the Baptist’s. Where there is repentance, there is the work of God. They also drove out many demons and healed the sick. 

3. John the Baptist Beheaded (14-29)

Look at verses 14-16. When the mighty work of God was going, the people could not but notice what was going on. It was like when Asbury Seminary in a small town in Kentucky was going through an amazing revival, not only the people in US but also all around the world notice it and began to come to see it in-person including the broadcasting companies like Fox News and CNN. Many people had their say about it. Some said Jesus was John the Baptist being raised up. Others said he was Elijah because he never died but was promised to come back. Still others claimed he was one of the prophets of long ago. However, to King Herod, regardless of what others said about him, Jesus was John the Baptist revived because he had a guilty conscience about John. There was a sad story about it. 

Verses 17-29 narrate that sad story. In fact, this was one of the longest story lines that explained about one specific event in detail without adding the much-needed added lessons. What happened? In the first place, Herod had ordered to have John arrested and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. In our Friday meeting, we were told that to get married to each other, both Herod and Herodias divorced their respective spouses. From even a worldly point of view, this was not right. Yet no one dared to say it to Herod. Only John the Baptist who had no fear of men challenged him and said it was not lawful that he married his brother’s wife (Lev 18:16; 20:21). Especially, Lev 20:21b clearly said that it would dishonor his brother and they would be childless. Even though it was Herod who had him arrested, it was Herodias who nursed a grudge against him and wanted to kill him the most. Herod somehow protected him from Herodias because he knew he was a righteous and holy man and liked to listen to him.

Finally, an opportune time came. On his birthday, Herod gave a banquet for his VIPs in Galilee. Then, the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, which pleased Herod and his dinner guests. She must have been an I-Pop star and a dancing queen. What followed next was quite troublesome. In his pride and vanity, the drunk Herod promised the girl with an oath whatever she would ask, up to half his kingdom. Obviously, the girl had no clue about what to ask, so she asked her mother to choose. At this, without any hesitation, Herodias asked her daughter to request the head of John the Baptist. Then, the girl asked Herod about the same thing, adding one more gruesome element to the request, that is, a platter. A platter was for serving food, especially meat or fish and yet this girl inhumanely requested John’s head be on that platter. At least, John’s disciples showed their due respect to their master by laying his body in a tomb.

Even though we were told earlier there were not many lessons to learn from this, what can we possibly get from the story? We could see how dark the time was and how difficult it was to serve the work of God. Righteous people were being persecuted while evil people were prevailing. It is no different now than then. It may be a little different to a certain degree, but still, justice is not well served, and something terrible keeps happening. In that situation, what can we do? Let us remember that Jesus still sent out the twelve in the hope of serving the work of God. 

In conclusion, we learned that preconception and ego can hinder having faith in Jesus. We must humbly but objectively see what God has done in me and in others. We also learned two is better than one and we are to depend on God in our life of mission. The dark times are getting darker and our respective mission fields are ever more challenging as terrible things keep happening. Even in that situation, we are to remember Jesus sent out the Twelve. With that in mind, may God help us to keep seeing His glory in our life of faith.