Radical Islamic ISIS and Christianity are both proselytizing faiths. ISIS reportedly proselytizes by giving non-Muslims three choices: convert, pay a fine or die.
In today’s section of Mark’s Gospel (6:7-13), Mark reports how Jesus sent his disciples on a short-term mission. His means and message were radically different.
Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two
and gave them authority over evil spirits.
These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff
— no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.
Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.
And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you,
shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”
They went out and preached that people should repent.
They drove out many demons
and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Jesus sent them out two by two. The Jewish historian Josephus counts 204 towns and villages in Galilee in the first half of the first century A.D. It might have taken six pairs of disciples six months to go to each town. We don’t know if they did.
Jesus likely sent them in pairs because in Old Testament Israel a testimony was corroborated by two or three witnesses. Jesus sent them (Greek apostellayn) to represent and bear witness of him–his words and his deeds.
Dr. Derek Thomas (the Robert Strong Professor of Systematic and Pastoral Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta and Minister of Preaching and Teaching at First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina) observes that the 5,000 whom Jesus fed (6:30-44)—ten or twelve thousand counting women and children—may very well have followed after Jesus because these teams of disciples had visited their villages.
ISIS sends out an army. Jesus sent out six groups of two men each—not outwardly impressive, but by his grace ultimately effective.
Jesus gave them authority over evil spirits. Jesus had authority over evil spirits. He ordered an evil spirit from a man in the Capernaum synagogue (1:21-28). He cast out many demons in the same town that evening (1:29-34). He commanded a legion of demons to leave a Gerasene madman and enter a herd of pigs (5:1-20). And he himself resisted Satan’s temptations for forty days in the wilderness (1:12,13). Jesus’ coming to bring God’s kingdom stirred up a hornets’ nest of demons, because the coming of God’s reign marked the beginning of the end of the devil’s—a hornets’ nest over which he had authority and power.
ISIS’ authority is the power of the gun, sword and knife inspired by demons. The disciples’ authority comes from Jesus’ word empowering them to free people from demons.
Jesus told them to travel lightly and stay wherever welcomed and shake the dust off their feet to those who wouldn’t welcome them. “Take nothing for the journey except a staff— no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”
Why travel lightly? So they would learn to trust God for their needs—a lesson they needed to learn for their long-term mission to come.
Why stay wherever welcomed? So as not to compromise their mission and message by finding “better” homes in which to stay, but to validate their mission by humbly accepting whatever was offered. (What does this reveal about “faith teachers”, who represent the crucified Christ while flying their million-dollar jets and sleeping in luxurious hotels?)
Why shake the dust off their feet at those who wouldn’t welcome them? When Jews returned home after visiting a Gentile country, law required them to shake the dust off their feet so as not to pollute the Holy Land. Disciples were to dust-shake as a testimony that those folks were no better than Gentile unbelievers because they had rejected the Gospel of the Kingdom.
ISIS travels with heavy weapons, violently forces their way into towns and murders those who refuse to adopt their belief. Jesus’ disciples travel lightly, humbly stay only where welcomed, and gently warn of judgment to come by their Lord.
The disciples preached repentance and worked miracles. They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
“Repent” is probably Mark’s typical sound-bite version. We can assume Mark emphasized repentance (turn around to follow Jesus in faith) while not recording the whole message Jesus preached: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel” (1:15). They also worked Jesus-like miracles that confirmed their message.
ISIS preaches repentance (convert to follow Islam) or die. ISIS has no miracles; only weapons to destroy. Jesus’ disciples preach repentance (convert to follow Jesus) and live. Jesus’ disciples have miracles—“weapons” of divine power that heal from sickness and liberate from devils.
Jesus sends us. We’re not apostles. We may go in pairs or singly. We have authority to represent Jesus against evil forces in this fallen world. We usually don’t have to worry much about traveling or lodging and we probably won’t be shaking much dust off our feet. But we should preach repentance as a key response to the Gospel and believe that our Lord will miraculously change lives through us.
We are a force to be reckoned with,
because Jesus sends us
and goes with us.
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