Christ Calls, Equips, and Provides: Mark 6:7-13

Mark 6:7-13

This section in Mark’s Gospel signifies a turning point for Jesus and his disciples. Up to this point, Jesus has been doing and teaching, and they have been following and watching. From this point on, however, Jesus begins to give more responsibility and authority to his disciples. As Jesus commissions them, there are several lessons we can learn about what it means to be his disciples.

First of all, Jesus sent them with his authority to do the work he had already been doing. Jesus gave them “authority over unclean spirits” and they “proclaimed that people should repent” (vs. 7, 13). When we live as disciples of Christ, we do not do it in our own power or ability; we do it as people given the power, wisdom, and work of Christ. We do not end our days by bringing to Jesus our work’s accomplishments for praise and reward. Instead, we begin each day sent out by him to do the work he would be doing if he were living our lives with his power and wisdom.

This implies something else. I cannot imagine I am an effective follower of Jesus Christ if I am not close enough to him to see what he does. I cannot pretend to follow a man I do not know. How I am doing with my time in God’s Word, my time in prayer, the development of spiritual disciplines in my life, will tell me how well I am doing the deeds and speaking the words of Christ.

Secondly, this commissioning gives us insight into what Jesus wants to do with me before I am perfect. If we were to go back through Mark’s Gospel and list the accomplishments of the disciples so far, the list would look something like: they tried to coerce Jesus, they showed a lack of faith in Jesus, they rebuked Jesus, they misunderstood Jesus. I don’t want to paint too grim a picture, but their achievements to date are not all that impressive.

Discipleship is not primarily about my strengths and gifts, but about Christ calling and equipping his followers. The disciples were far from perfect, but the one thing they really did well was follow Jesus. As a result, they were given the responsibility to extend Christ’s ministry through his empowerment long before they became saints.

And third, there are times in life when God ordains it such that the minimum of worldly goods results in the maximum amount of faith. Jesus sent the disciples off with the shirts on their back, their shoes, and staff—no food, no money for food, and no lodging preparations. This means that every step of their journey required absolute trust in Christ. Every meal they ate was a gift from God. Every night with a roof over their head was a gift from God.

When we find ourselves in these seasons of life they may be difficult, but they can be profound. One of the day-to-day roadblocks to trust in God is our trust in everything else we have. We tend to not put faith in Christ because we haven’t yet run out of our other options.

Christ not only called and equipped you, he has already provided for you as well.

Now, Go And Do Likewise: Mark 6:6b

Mark 6:6b

From time to time, the Gospel writers give us insight into Christ’s priorities that come and go so quickly, we are likely not to notice them at all. After Christ is forced out of his hometown of Nazareth, Mark simply tells us that he “went about among the villages teaching.” (See also Matt. 9:35, Mark 6:56, Luke 8:1, Luke 9:6, Luke 13:22.)

Nazareth, we have discovered, was a very small town. The fact that Jesus was born there is the only reason its name was not lost in the dust of history. The reputations of the surrounding tiny country villages were not so lucky--we don’t know their names or locations. What we do know is that Jesus spent time traveling to several of them and teaching the Kingdom of God.

With his disciples in tow, Jesus did in these social nooks and crannies what he did on the seashore of Galilee when thousands of people were watching. When Jesus was crushed by the crowd in Capernum, he taught in their synagogue and performed miracles. When he was with a small group of people in Nazareth and the surrounding countryside, he taught and performed miracles.

Very few of us will ever have a national or international reputation. Very few of us will ever speak to or influence thousands of people on a regular basis. Every one of us, however, does live life as a disciple of Christ among the small circles of our family, our coworkers and our friends. If we add up the number of people we will genuinely influence, that number will be relatively small.

But, according to what Jesus taught his disciples as he lead them from one backwater town to another, he considers that genuine ministry. Jesus spent real time with small groups of people, and he did it with the same program and sincerity he used when surrounded by the crowds. Everyone deserves to hear the truth of the Kingdom of God, and if the news is spread a couple of dozen people at a time, then so be it.

Part of what strikes me as so important in this passage is that it is here, far away from the crowd that Jesus decided to first commission his disciples. Just a few days earlier, they were speaking to and ministering to vast crowds of people who would have followed Jesus wherever they could find him. Jesus could have, at the end of one of those days, turned to his motivated and thrilled disciples and said, “Now, go and do likewise.” Who would not want to answer that call!

Instead of that scene, imagine the disciples frustrated and confused after Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth and a little road-weary from the country village tour. Without the fanfare of the multitude or the exhilaration of mass healings, Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “Now, go and do likewise.”

What is important to me as a disciple? Am I looking for influence on a mass scale or recognition from as many people as possible? Or am I convinced that every soul needs to see and hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and that that usually takes place without much publicity? It was important to Jesus. It needs to be important to his disciples.