November 18, 2005

HE SENT THEM OUT

Mark 6:1-29

One of the themes we find woven throughout Mark’s Gospel is the selection, training and commissioning of the twelve Apostles. It began in the very first chapter with the account of the calling of the first disciples. In chapter 2, Jesus calls Matthew to follow him. In chapter 3, we have the account of the selection of the Twelve to be with him. In chapter 4, he takes time apart to specifically explain his parables to his disciples. In the rest of chapter 4 and chapter 5, we see that several of his miracles were performed primarily for their impact on the disciples. Much of Jesus’ ministry really ran, like a train, on these two rails: public proclamation to the multitudes and private instruction and preparation of his disciples.

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to be one of Jesus’ disciples? Personally, I think it must have been like one incredible roller coaster ride, with some thrilling highs and incredible vistas from the high points, often followed by heart-stopping plunges, followed by times when the whole world seemed upside down. I mean, think of the events we looked at in the message last week. They experience the terror of the awful storm, followed by Jesus calming the storm with a word; then they witness the encounter with the demon-possessed man on the other side of the lake. And then Peter, James and John are present at the bedside of the young girl when Jesus raises her from the dead. That’s all in less than 24 hours. Can you imagine Peter’s diary or journal entry before he went to bed that night?

In chapter 6, the roller coaster ride continues for the disciples. I want to look at this chapter primarily through the eyes of the twelve, because I believe that much of what happened in this chapter primarily relates to them and to their development and training. We are only going to look at the first 29 verses today, and we’ll study the rest of the chapter in two weeks’ time.

The chapter begins with the account of another visit to Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. (Read 6:1) I believe this is a second visit, and is not to be confused with an earlier visit Jesus made which is recorded in Luke 4, when the crowd attempted to cast him off the brow of the hill. He returns now with considerable local fame preceding him because of his ministry around the Sea of Galilee. But the outcome of the visit is much the same as the first time although apparently without the threat of violence. (Read 6:2-3)

There is a saying that goes: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” I think we might refine that a little more precisely in this case: “Superficial familiarity breeds contempt.” They thought they knew him. They knew his earthly origins and his earthly family. For thirty years he has been one of them; playing with the other children; working with his hands as a carpenter as he grew up. His brothers and sisters still lived in the town. They thought that they knew all there was to know about him. They simply could not put such humble beginnings together with the things he was now saying and the miracles they heard about. So they chose to reject the testimony of his own lips and his own works and believe instead in their own prejudices.

(Read 6:4-6) How do we know that Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith? I think we know it, and Mark records it here, because Jesus talked about it with his disciples as they left the town. This was a downer in their roller coaster ride. It was disappointing for Jesus, but it was also confusing for his disciples. Aren’t you the Messiah? Why don’t your own family and neighbors believe in you? What’s going on? Why don’t you impress them with some dramatic miracle? It was puzzling and disheartening.

The down cycle doesn’t last long, though, before they are propelled to the high ground again. Jesus begins a preaching ministry in the surrounding villages. And now, for the first time, he sends the twelve out to preach on their own, as his emissaries. He sends them out, two by two with very specific instructions. (Read 6:7-12)

I believe Jesus had two purposes in doing this. The first is very obvious and straight-forward. He sends them so that he can extend the scope of his ministry and the spread of his message. With six teams going out at once, they can cover six times as many villages than if they all stayed together. Jesus wants as many people as possible to get an opportunity to hear the good news of the kingdom of God.

But there is a second purpose to sending out the twelve, and that is to train them for ministry. This was kind of internship. Many schools and training courses now utilize the idea of internships as part of their curriculum. It’s an opportunity for the student to put into practice what they have learned. To use what they already know and to experience what they do not yet know. Both our son Dennis and his wife Emily are teachers. They both spent one semester while they were in college doing “student teaching”. That is what is going on for the disciples in this account. We can imagine what a high point this was for them. It is one thing to watch someone else do something. It is something else to actually do it yourself. As they preached, as they cast out demons, as they even anointed people with oil and saw them healed, what a thrilling time it must have been for them. Their hearts must have soared as they experienced the joy of God working in and through them.

But the roller coaster ride goes on. The next paragraph is not only a real downer, but seems to spin us right upside down, as Mark embeds a flashback into his account at this point. Because of Jesus’ spreading reputation and the building popular enthusiasm for his teaching which has spread even further through the disciples’ ministry, word reaches to the palace of King Herod himself. Now, you have to be a bit careful when you see the name Herod in the Bible. You practically need a scorecard to keep track of the different Herods. This is not the same Herod as the one who threatened the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, but rather his son. He inherited ¼ of his father’s kingdom, the area of Perea and Galilee. Now Mark tells us how this King Herod, when he heard about Jesus and his miracles, began to speculate that Jesus was in fact John the Baptist, raised from the dead.

At this point, Mark realizes he needs to fill us in on some history. He left off his account of John the Baptist’s ministry back in Mark 1:14 where he mentioned John being put into prison. Now he flashes back to give the account of his death. I believe he relates it here primarily because it had happened quite recently, but also because it had such a devastating effect on the disciples of Jesus. John was a hero for them. We know that at least two of them, Andrew and John, had been followers of John the Baptist, and that John was the one who had introduced them to Jesus. They knew how highly Jesus himself regarded John and his ministry. In Matthew 11:11, Jesus describes John with these words: I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

The news of John the Baptist’s death must have hit them like a thunderbolt; especially when they heard the details of how it happened. That is what Mark recounts for us now, and it is a story that is grisly and macabre in the extreme. I cannot narrate the story any more effectively than Mark has written it, so let me simply read it. (Read Mark 6:17-29)

The horror of that story remains, even after all these centuries. It’s not just the tragic outcome of the death of this man of God, but the awful pettiness and uselessness of it all. A spiteful woman, a suggestive dance, a drunken oath, a prideful king – and the greatest of the prophets ends up with his head on a platter. There is not even a death scene profession of triumphant faith to redeem the awful facts. John died alone in the prison at the hands of an executioner, because of the whim of a wicked ruler. Frankly, it doesn’t make any sense. We can only imagine the effect it had on those who had followed him and loved him.

Well, that’s as far as we are going to go in the text today. I must admit it’s been a bit of a struggle identifying the central theme or the lessons. Ian asked me early in the week what the text was for this week so he could choose appropriate songs. When I told him, he responded that he didn’t have many good beheading songs. And that’s true. I don’t have many good beheading sermons, either. So how do we make sense of it, and what do we take away with us? As I said earlier, I want to look at this through the eyes of the disciples and what they learned through these experiences. How was all this digested, how was this processed, to become part of their training and equipping for Christian life and ministry?

As I relate these four lessons, I am not necessarily implying that they learned these lessons or drew these conclusions immediately. But as they processed these events over time, I believe there were some valuable insights for them to ponder. I think we can benefit from them as well. Here are the four that I have extracted.

First was the important and valuable realization that Not everyone responds to Jesus and his message with faith. This truth or fact actually runs through all three sections we have looked at. First of all, it is obvious in the story of his return to Nazareth. His own neighbors and relatives rejected him and his message. That was painful, but it was a reality. Even in the story of the sending out of the twelve, Jesus gives specific instructions for what they are to do when a town or community rejects them and refuses to listen. Of course the theme of rejection is strong again in the story of John the Baptist’s death.

The Bible doesn’t sugarcoat things. It doesn’t over-promise. It is very realistic and as Jesus’ followers, we should be too. Jesus had already prepared them for this fact in the parable of the sower, and the different kinds of response to the preaching of the kingdom of God. There is a kind of teaching that has been around the Christian church for some time. It states that most people want to receive Jesus Christ, but they just don’t know how. If we tell them, they will come to faith. The challenge becomes simply a matter of disseminating the information to enough people. As much as I believe in evangelism and in spreading the Gospel message, I think we need to have a realistic viewpoint going in. Not everyone will respond, even if Jesus and his message is presented clearly. They didn’t all respond positively to Jesus and they won’t all respond positively to us when we present the message.

The second lesson I took away from this is: Lack of faith is often found in the most unlikely venues and in the most unlikely people. I’ll be honest with you. The response of Nazareth still surprises me. If I had never read the Bible, my logical assumption would have been that his strongest followers would have come from his own hometown. A politician is always supposed to carry his own home state or home district. But it didn’t work that way for Jesus. It may not for us. People we may logically expect to be responsive may in fact be the most resistant. What can we do about this? Not much really, except to be forewarned, and not have our own faith affected when people disappoint us and do not respond the way we think they will or the way we wish they would.

By the way, there is a reverse corollary to this truth. It isn’t found in this passage, but we will find it elsewhere in Mark’s Gospel. Faith is often found in the most unlikely venues and in the most unlikely people. But that’s for another sermon!

The third lesson that I think the disciples were able to take away from these experiences is this: God’s commissioning is accompanied by God’s enablement and resources. We see this in his instructions to the disciples as he sent them out. The first thing he gave them was his authority in verse 7: he gave them authority over evil spirits. He didn’t send them out to minister in their own strength or in their own authority. He gave them the power and the authority they needed to do what he sent them to do. And God always operates this way. We see this in the Old Testament as well. When God called someone to a task, they often argued that they were not up for the task: Moses did it, so did Gideon and Jeremiah and others. Repeatedly God responded: If I send you, I will enable you. I believe it is the same for us today. If God is stirring in your heart to do a particular job or undertake a particular ministry for him, don’t be afraid. God will equip you.

He will also give you the necessary resources. This is why Jesus sent his disciples out without any spare resources. They were to take no extra clothes or food or money. Later on, when Jesus is commissioning his disciples for their long lives of ministry ahead, he referred back to the lessons of this time period. “When I sent you out two by two with no resources in your hand, did you ever lack anything?” he asked. “No,” they responded. The conclusion was that they had learned the lesson of depending on God. It is an important lesson that we often need to learn again and again. When God commissions us and sends us, he also promises to provide what we need, both spiritually and materially.

Finally, the fourth lesson: Life doesn’t always make sense but God’s kingdom marches on. Here of course I am reflecting on John the Baptist’s death in such a seemingly pointless way. It doesn’t make sense. But hidden in the account itself is an important perspective. How does Mark introduce the account of his death? (Read 6:14, 16) Mark introduces the account in such a way as to highlight that the work of God, the spreading news of the kingdom of God is moving forward. King Herod hasn’t stopped it. Yes, he beheaded John. But now he’s hearing about these miracles done by another itinerant teacher in his territory. He is so plagued by his own guilty conscience that he concludes it must be John raised from the dead. But the important thing for us to see is that God’s truth and his kingdom is continuing to spread. Evil doesn’t triumph, at least not in the long haul. God is going to carry out his purposes in his own time and in his own way. We may not understand how or why certain things happen. We don’t need to. We only need to know that God’s kingdom marches on.

Why did the disciples need to know this? Of that little band of twelve disciples, leaving Judas out, all but one of them would die as martyrs for their faith in Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was the last of a long line of Old Testament prophets to die for his faithful proclamation of God’s truth. The disciples would be among the first of a long line of New Testament witnesses who would give their lives for the Gospel. Sometimes those deaths make sense. We can see some way in which the Gospel message is advanced through the death of God’s servant. Other times we cannot see the purpose behind it. It may seem utterly pointless. But in spite of this, God’s truth marches on and his kingdom is advanced. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates a hell shall not prevail against it.”

Whether you were newly baptized this morning, or you have followed Christ for many years, these are still valuable truths for us to ponder on if we would have a persevering faith, a faith that is ready for the long haul of serving Christ wherever he leads.