Already the Master had called them more than once. He had "many things to say" unto them, and was ever drawing them into closer sympathy with himself, and a higher sense of individual responsibility. St. Mark is not so full as St. Matthew, but from what he does tell us we are able to understand the nature of the work and its reason. The disciples are now to become apostles.

I. CHRIST PREPARES AND AUTHORIZES HIS OWN MINISTERS. There was need for this. Many whom he had cured were proclaiming him, not only without permission, but against his express command; and the devils were continually confessing him. This was inconvenient on account of danger to his person, because of the fact that he had been charged with being in collusion with Beelzebub, and the misrepresentation that took place as to the nature and aims of his kingdom. Christ first says, "Come, follow me," ere he says, "Go." He "began to send them forth by two and two," i.e. tentatively, as they were ready, and as his purpose demanded. "Great is the authority of conferring authority (Bengel).

1. The representatives of the Christian ministry were qualified for their task by the personal instruction of the Master, and communion with him in suffering.

2. Those most highly qualified to proclaim the gospel waited until he authorized them.

3. Their appointment had relation to their personal fitness and the exigencies of Christ's work. All the disciples do not seem ever to have been away from Christ at one time.

II. WHEN CHRIST HAS PREPARED HIS DISCIPLES HE HAS WORK FOR THEM TO DO. Their office was not to be a sinecure. The state of society, its rampant evils, its transitional character, and the attitude of expectancy exhibited by many, were so many reasons for their being sent forth.

2. There is never a time when earnest Christian effort is ]PGBR> needed.

3. The adaptation of men is to be considered in determining the ministry they have to perform.

III. THE APOSTLESHIP INVOLVED TESTIMONY, MORAL APPEAL, AND SUPERNATURAL POWER. (Vers. 7, 11-13.) The particular duties of the Christian ministry are determined by the demands of the age, etc, in which it is carried on, but in essence they are always the same.

IV. IT INVOLVED A DIVINE COMMUNION AND A HUMAN FELLOWSHIP.

1. He sent them forth, but his spiritual presence went with them. It was only of what he had given that they could communicate to others, and as he accompanied their efforts with his power.

2. He sent them by two and two. For mutual comfort, help, and co-operation. The deficiencies of one would be made up in the gifts of the other.

V. THE EQUIPMENT FOR IT WAS SPIRITUAL, NOT MATERIAL; DIVINE, NOT HUMAN. What they were to take with them is suggested only by the directions as to what they were not to take. It was in their message and its spiritual accompaniment their influence was to consist. The Master who sent them would provide for them. Christianity, which subsidizes all honorable means and influences, is independent of all. Silver and gold have I none, but what I have give I thee" (Acts 3:6). - M.

Christ sends them forth.

I. ORDERLY.

1. As to the persons evangelized. To the Jew first. To have disregarded that, would have excited most bitterly the jealousy of His countrymen, as well as committed the apostles to a work for which they were by no means prepared, because their national antipathies were not yet eradicated.

2. As to the persons engaged in the work of evangelization. Two and two: companionships most desirable arrangement. How important then was this pairing off, enabling them to hold sweet converse together, and strengthen and correct one another when necessary.

II. THE MISSION WAS IN A SENSE SELF SUPPORTING. They were to go forth in simple dependence upon their Master, and He would put it into men's hearts to supply their wants. The work on which they were now sent demanded the total surrender of all their energy and will for Christ's cause.

III. IT WAS FRAUGHT WITH SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES. Those to whom they addressed the gospel message would reject it at their own peril; and the guilt of impenitence would be proportioned to the force with which the truth was revealed.

(H. M. Luckock, D. D.)

I. CONSIDER BY WHAT THIS MISSION WAS PRECEDED.

1. By a return to Nazareth where His life was once threatened. (a) This shows Christ's readiness to forgive and to do good to His enemies.

2. By graciously seeking to win back His fellow townsmen.

3. By another scornful rejection of Himself and His message.

II. THE OCCASION AND PURPOSE of this mission.

1. The occasion (see Matthew 9:36-38).

2. The purpose.

(a)To preach.

(b)To heal the sick.

(c)To cleanse the lepers.

(d)To raise the dead.

III. THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY WERE TO GO FORTH.

1. They must go forth without taking anything for their journey.

2. If rejected in one city, they must proceed to the next. "They might flee from danger, but not from duty"

(Matthew Henry).

3. They must refrain from all resentments and retaliations.

4. The full assurance of their Lord's assistance in every trouble.

(D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

I. Christ's ministers receive from Him power for their appointed work.

II. When called to high service, they need not care for common wants.

III. The rejection of the greatest good leads to the greatest ill.

(J. H. Godwin.)

Mark significantly says, "Then Jesus began to send them forth:" forever since that day He has been giving similar work, and qualifying similar representatives.

I. To go forth from the presence of Jesus.

II. To be willing to work together.

III. To be content with the use of moral influence. Men are to be urged, not forced.

IV. To exercise self-denial and cheerful trust in God.

(A. Rowland, LL. B.)

The grandest commission ever entrusted to man. Consider —

I. ITS IMPOSED CONDITIONS.

1. In company: "by two and two." Thus for mutual encouragement and help. For the heart of the strongest may fail in presence of danger, difficulty, death.

2. In poverty. Thus was it shown that their power and influence with men was not of earth.

3. In danger. Those whom they went to bless would turn against and persecute them.

4. Yet in safety. God watching over and protecting them. And even if the body is slain, the soul will be safe, and the confessor of Christ will be owned by Him before the Father.

II. ITS TRUST or, the terms of the commission. How grand, how honourable, how precious to the world — the world of ignorant, suffering, sinful men! The great mission has for its object the removal of the evils of human life. Its foulness, its suffering, its error, its subjugation to evil, are all to be combated.

III. ITS LIMITATION. Only to the Jews, at present. The children must first be filled.

IV. Its success.

(R. Green.)

I. Missionaries must not be, as a rule, solitary men. For counsel, defence, cheerfulness, "two are better than one."

II. Missionaries must be, as a rule, frugal men. No luxuries; bare necessaries. Like the soldier on the march, or the exploring traveller.

III. Missionaries must not be, as a rule, sedentary men. Sound the trumpet blast, and then on again.

IV. Missionaries must, as a rule, act directly upon the conscience of men. The missionary's work is to break up the fallow ground.

(E. Johnson, M. A.)

The solitary soul on a new enterprise is apt to lose heart, and not half perform his part. With no counsellor, sympathizer, helper, he goes uncertainly. Jesus would give His ambassadors all advantage of fraternal support, that in this "apprenticeship," as one terms it, they might not falter. The confirming word, too, is of might when the message is novel. The apostles afterward went thus in pairs. St. Paul's strongest expression of regret was that, on any part of his journey, he must be left alone. Livingstone, in the depths of the African continent, longed for the society and cheer of her who laid down her life on the way thither; and, as the end drew near, he leaned harder on the Lord, for no hand but God's could smooth the troubled brow on which the death-damps gathered, as the noble man, kneeling at his bedside in prayer, bade farewell to earth.

(De W. S. Clark.)

Armies most amply furnished with stores and comforts are most inefficient. The Zulu hordes, with but spear and shield, held long at bay the well-provisioned and disciplined troops of England. Baggage is well termed "impedimenta." It checks, by just so much, the quickness, and fosters, by hardness. The soul heavily freighted with the luxuries and appliances of this life is at a disadvantage for the sudden movements and missions on which the great Captain would send it.

(De W. S. Clark.)

Literally, no copper, for that is the metal that is got from the bowels of the earth. Brass is an artificial alloy, having in it a mixture of tin with the copper, and was unknown, as is supposed, to the Hebrews. The word is not used by the evangelist to denote any particular copper coin, but simply, though representatively, copper money in general. The underlying idea is money in general. Not even coppers would be needed, not to speak of silver and gold.

(J. Morison, D. D.)

Why did Jesus send the apostles forth "by two and two?" The answer is, in order that they might be helpmeets for each other. A father was walking one day in the fields with his two children. The wind was blowing over a fine field of ripe corn, and making the beautiful golden ears wave like the waves of the sea. "Is it not surprising," said one of the children, "that the wind does not break the slender stalks of the corn? My child," said the father, "see how flexible the stalks are! They bend before the wind and rise again when the wind has passed over them. See, too, how they help to support each other. A single stalk would be soon bent to the ground, but so many growing close together help to keep each other up. If we keep together when the troubles of life come upon us like a stormy wind, we shall keep each other up, when one trying to stand alone would fall."

Elias, Elijah, Herod, Herodias, James, Jesus, John, Joseph, Joses, Judas, Jude, Mary, Philip, SimonBethsaida, Galilee, Genneseret, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Sea of GalileeAuthority, Calleth, Calls, Evil, Forth, Foul, Giving, Orders, Pairs, Power, Proceeded, Spirits, Summoned, Summoning, Twelve, Twos, Unclean1. Jesus is a prophet without honor in his own country.
7. He gives the twelve power over unclean spirits.
14. Various opinions of Jesus.
16. John the Baptist is imprisoned, beheaded, and buried.
30. The apostles return from preaching.
34. The miracle of five loaves and two fishes.
45. Jesus walks on the sea;
53. and heals all who touch him.

Mark 6:7

     2012   Christ, authority
     4135   demons, Christ's authority over
     4165   exorcism
     5457   power, human
     7709   apostles, authority
     7726   evangelists, ministry

Mark 6:1-11

     7757   preaching, effects

Mark 6:1-56

     5357   journey

Mark 6:6-11

     7621   disciples, calling

Mark 6:7-11

     7740   missionaries, call
     7953   mission, of church

Mark 6:7-12

     7755   preaching, importance

Mark 6:7-13

     4512   staff
     7631   Twelve, calling of
     7708   apostles, function

January 6 Evening
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CHAPTER XXIX. THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 1. The New Testament, like the Old, is not an abstract system of doctrines and duties, but a record of facts involving doctrines and duties of the highest import. This record does not constitute an independent history, complete in itself, and to be explained in its own light. It is rather the necessary sequel to the record of the Old Testament. It interprets the Old Testament, and is itself interpreted by it. The two constitute together an organic whole, and can …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

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F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

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"And He went out from thence; and He cometh into His own country; and His disciples follow Him." MARK 6:1-6 (R.V.) WE have seen how St. Mark, to bring out more vividly the connection between four mighty signs, their ideal completeness as a whole, and that mastery over nature and the spiritual world which they reveal, grouped them resolutely together, excluding even significant incidents which would break in upon their sequence. Bearing this in mind, how profoundly instructive it is that our Evangelist …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

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