25  A Profile of a Christian Messenger  (Luke 9:1–9)

And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see Him. (9:1–9)

This passage marks a significant transition for the Lord Jesus Christ. Approximately half of His three-year ministry is over, and His death on the cross is about eighteen months away Up to this point, Jesus hadministered by Himself. He alone performed miracles, preached the gospel, answered questions, and handled conflicts with those who opposed Him. His ministry was isolated to wherever He was, since He was the only preacher, teacher, and healer. As a result, the crowds that followed Him all over Galilee grew larger and larger. In addition, the Lord’s Galilean ministry was rapidly drawing to a close. As Luke 9:51 indicates, He was about to leave Galilee for Judea, adding time pressure to that from the increasing crowds.

Obviously, the one who created the universe in six days could have continued to minister effectively on His own. Instead, Jesus chose to multiply His ministry by using the twelve men whom He had called to be apostles (6:12–16). In an internship that would prepare them to minister later on their own without Him, the Lord sent the Twelve throughout Galilee to preach His kingdom. Up to this point they had been hearers and learners; now they needed to begin the transition to becoming preachers and messengers. The apostles needed to be trained to carry on Jesus’ ministry after His death. They were ordinary, common men (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26), with no human credentials to qualify them for the most monumental task in human history; Even after three years of following Jesus and eighteen months of intensive training by Him, they all abandoned Him in His hour of need (Matt. 26:56) and cowered in hiding from the Jewish authorities after His death (John 20:19). It was not until the Holy Spirit filled them on the Day of Pentecost, empowering them for service (Acts 1:8) and bringing to mind all they had learned from Jesus (John 14:26), that they became the men who turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

Here as he occasionally did, Luke omitted events recorded elsewhere in the Gospels. He ended chapter 8 with the account of two miracles: the healing of a woman with an issue of blood, and the raising of Jairus’s daughter. But in between those healings and the sending of the Twelve, Jesus made the second and final recorded trip to His hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:1–6). Sadly the people there rejected Him again, as they had the first time He ministered there (Luke 4:16–30).Though they could not deny His miraculous power over demons, disease, death, and the natural world, being consumed with self-righteous pride, they indignantly rejected His diagnosis of them as spiritually poor, prisoners, blind, and oppressed (4:18).

After leaving Nazareth, Jesus continued to travel around Galilee teaching in the villages (Mark 6:6) until He commissioned the Twelve. It is at that point that Luke picks up the narrative. Although they had already been named apostles, the Twelve had not yet been set apart from the larger group of Christ’s followers and disciples. The Lord now called the twelve together to send them out, in keeping with His pledge to make them fishers of men (Matt. 4:19).

This was the penultimate stage in the Lord’s calling of the apostles. The first phase was when He called them to saving faith (cf. 5:27–28; John 1:35–51). The second phase was their call to permanent, full-time discipleship (5:1–11). The third phase was their call to apostleship, as noted above. The short-term mission assignment described in this passage was the fourth phase. The final phase was the Great Commission when Jesus, just before His ascension, commanded them to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt.28:19–20).

In a further act of grace and mercy, Jesus later sent seventy of His other disciples throughout Galilee on another preaching tour (10:1–20). They, however, were not apostles. Their ministry, though powerful (cf.vv.9, 17), was temporary, a special one-time expansive mission to preach the gospel yet again to the hard-hearted Galileans. The apostles’ ministry, on the other hand, was permanent. They were the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20). Their teaching was authoritative (Acts 2:42) and they and their close associates were the human authors of the New Testament.

The reason the Lord chose twelve men to be His apostles instead of some other number was that twelve was symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel. The number twelve’s importance was reinforced by the addition of Matthias to take Judas’s place (Acts 1:23–26), thus ensuring that the apostles would continue to be a twelve-man unit. Jesus’ choice of these twelve men, none of them members of any part of the religious establishment, was an act of judgment, emphasizing the reality that Israel and its spiritual leadership were apostate.

One of the earliest official acts of Christ’s ministry was His first cleansing of the temple (John 2:13–22), which highlighted the corruption, apostasy, and spiritual bankruptcy of the Jewish religious leaders and all who followed them. Their hostility toward Him had intensified over the intervening eighteen months. When the time came to choose His apostles, the Lord ignored the religious establishment. Instead, He chose twelve common, ordinary men to be the leaders of the new, true Israel of God—the redeemed, believing remnant. Jesus made that connection clear in Luke 22:29–30 when he told the Twelve that they would reign over Israel in the millennial kingdom: “Just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”Their names will also be emblazoned on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem for all eternity (Rev. 21:14).

From Luke’s inspired account of our Lord’s commissioning of the Twelve, a profile of a messenger of Jesus Christ emerges. A Christianmessenger proclaims salvation, manifests compassion, maintains trust, demonstrates contentment, and exercises discernment.

A CHRISTIAN MESSENGER PROCLAIMS SALVATION

And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God (9:26)

The Twelve’s mission had a single purpose: they were to proclaim the kingdom of God. Kērussō (proclaim) refers to a herald’s formal, authoritative, public announcement of important truth. In an era before mass media, that was how important messages were communicated to the public, just as town criers would do in later times. In town after town, the apostles publicly proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand because the Lord, Savior, and King had arrived. They also announced that entrance to the kingdom was through repentance (Mark 6:12), with confession of sin, and faith in the Messiah (John 1:12–13).

The preaching of the Twelve followed the pattern set by Jesus. In Luke 4:43 He announced, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” One of the proofs of His messiahship that He offered to the messengers from John the Baptist was that the “poor have the gospel preached to them” (7:22). At the beginning of chapter 8, Luke recorded that “He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God” (8:1). As Luke noted in that same verse, “the twelve were with Him,” learning from His example. When He sent them out, the Twelve preached the same message that Jesus did. The church today has that same responsibility to preach exactly what Jesus did without altering it. The church’s message is not a social, political, philanthropic, or moral one. It is a message of sin, salvation, and forgiveness, which without being changed has been explained and enriched in the New Testament epistles.

The Lord narrowed the scope of the apostles’ first preaching assignment by commanding them, “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:5–6; cf. Rom. 1:16).The Jewish people, heirs of God’s covenants, law, and promises (Rom. 9:4), were to have the gospel preached to them before it was widely proclaimed to the Gentiles and Samaritans. It would also be helpful for the Twelve if their first preaching assignment was to people of their own culture and not to the pagan Gentiles and half-breed Samaritans. But eventually, the gospel would be preached to the entire world (Matt. 28:19–20). Israel was never intended to be a cul-de-sac for the message of salvation, but rather a conduit through which it would flow to the world. Chosen to be God’switness nation, Israel’s stubborn unbelief caused it to be temporarily set aside. The Lord chose a new people, the church, composed of believers from every people and nation. God has not permanently rejected Israel (Rom. 11:1–2, 25–26), and in the future the believing remnant will once again be His witnesses (Rev. 7:1–8).

A CHRISTIAN MESSENGER MANIFESTS COMPASSION

and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases … and to perform healing. (9:1b, 2b)

The Twelve were granted power and authority the likes of which only Jesus (and briefly the seventy) ever possessed. If their message was to be validated and believed, there needed to be a way to attest its divine origin. Since the completion of the New Testament, a preacher’s message can be measured against its inspired, infallible, inerrant standard. The Twelve’s authenticity was verified by their God-granted ability to perform the same kind of miraculous signs that Jesus performed (cf. 4:36, 40–41; 6:17–18; 8:1–2).

Specifically, the Lord delegated to the apostles His power and authority over all the demons, giving them complete dominance over the supernatural realm of evil, fallen angels. They also received power to perform healing, and even to raise the dead (Matt. 10:8).The divine power they manifested proved that the apostles were preaching divine truth (cf. Rom. 15:18–19; 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb.2:3–4).Such miraculous confirmation was no longer needed after the completion of the New Testament. Even by the end of the book of Acts, miracles were fading from the scene as the apostles disappeared. Paul healed people early in his ministry (cf. Acts 14:9–10; 19:11–12; 28:8), but toward the end of his life, he did not heal Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20) and advised Timothy not to find a healer, but to treat his recurring stomach ailment with wine (1 Tim. 5:23).

But of the many ways the Lord could have shown His power through His messengers, He chose to have them, as He Himself did (cf. the discussion of 8:42 in the previous chapter of this volume), perform healing miracles that relieved human suffering. Those miracles reflect God’s compassionate care for the needy and afflicted (Job 36:5–6; Pss. 9:18; 12:5; 35:10; 69:33; 140:12; Isa. 41:17), demonstrating that He is by nature a savior and deliverer, even on a temporal, physical level (cf. 1 Tim. 4:10).

In contrast to the compassionate, true servants of God, false teachers are portrayed in Scripture as merciless, abusive, and quick totake advantage of people (Isa. 56:10–12; Jer. 23:1–2; 50:6; Lam. 4:13; Ezek. 22:25; Mic. 3:5, 11; Matt. 7:15; 23:2–4; Mark 12:38–40; John 10:8, 10; Acts 20:29; 2 Cor. 2:17; Rev. 2:20). They lack the mercy compassion, and kindness that marks a true messenger of Jesus Christ. They know nothing of Paul’s passionate concern for the lost, which he expressed so eloquently in Romans 9:1–5:

That compelling concern drove Paul to literally beg sinners to be reconciled to Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:20).

A CHRISTIAN MESSENGER MAINTAINS TRUST

And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece. (9:3)

Since the Twelve had been granted power to alleviate virtually all suffering, there was the potential to abuse that power for personal gain. Desperate people would have paid anything to have them heal diseases, cast out demons, and raise the dead—just as they do today to unscrupulous, fake healers, who cannot heal anyone.

The apostles, however, were not to enrich themselves at the expense of suffering people. Matthew records that Jesus commanded them, “Freely you received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). Instead, they were to operate on faith and trust God to meet their needs. They were to take nothing for their journey other than the clothes on their backs; they were not to encumber themselves with extra baggage.

Specifically, the apostles were not to take a staff or a walking stick. Such staffs were helpful in negotiating the dirt roads of Israel, and could also be used in self-defense against robbers. Mark 6:8 records that the Lord “instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff.” Taken together, the two passages indicate that the Lord was forbidding them to take an extra staff. Nor were they to take a bag (perhaps a reference to a bag carried by beggars and itinerantteachers to hold the money they collected), since they were not to accumulate material things. There was no need for them to take bread or money, and they were not to “acquire gold, or silver, or copper for [their] money belts” (Matt. 10:9). Just as they were not to take an extra walking stick, they were not even to have two tunics apiece or an extra pair of sandals (Matt. 10:10). They were to trust dependently on the Lord’s provision for their needs (cf.Matt. 6:25–32; Phil. 4:19).

That this austerity was temporary, for the purpose of the Twelve’s training and not the norm, is clear from the Lord’s reference to this event in the upper room. Reminding the apostles of His charge to them in this passage Jesus “said to them, ‘When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?’ They said, ‘No, nothing’” (Luke 22:35). Then, establishing the pattern for their future ministry, the Lord “said to them, ‘But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one’” (v36).The stringent rules the Lord enforced during this first training mission taught the apostles to trust and see the Lord provide.

A CHRISTIAN MESSENGER DEMONSTRATES CONTENTMENT

Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. (9:4)

In that day travelers stayed in people’s homes. Hotels did not exist, and inns were dangerous and often little more than brothels. Wherever they traveled, whatever house they happened to be invited to stay in, the apostles were to stay there until they left that city. That would distinguish them from traveling false teachers, who moved from house to house collecting money from everyone they could. The apostles, and by extension all Christians, are to be content with their circumstances (cf. 1 Tim. 6:6–10).As the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians,

A CHRISTIAN MESSENGER EXERCISES DISCERNMENT

And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see Him. (9:5–9)

The Lord’s last word of instruction covered the very important issue of how the Twelve should deal with those who would not receive them. In keeping with Jewish custom, Jesus told them that as they went out from the rejecting city, they were to shake the dust off their feet as a testimony against them. Underscoring the apostles’ importance as His messengers, Jesus solemnly warned that “it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment” than for those who rejected them and their message (Matt. 10:15). The Lord’s command reflects the serious consequences of rejecting the gospel (cf. 1 Cor. 16:22;2Thess. 1:6–9).

To shake the dust off one’s feet was a traditional Jewish gesture. When a Jew returned from traveling in a Gentile country, he would shake the dirt from that land off his clothes and sandals as a symbolic gesture of shaking off the pagan influences that could contaminate the Jewish people’s lives and land. That act became an expression of disdain and rejection (cf.Acts 13:50–51; 18:6).The apostles were to treat the Jews who rejected their message as if they were no better than pagan, unclean Gentiles.

Turning away from hard-hearted rejecters was not only an issue of judgment, but also a question of priority. There is only so much time and opportunity available to evangelize, and that time is too precious to waste on those who have hardened themselves against the truth.

Jesus affirmed that principle in a shocking statement to His followers: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matt. 7:6).“Dogs” in first-century Palestine were usually not domesticated pets but wild, dirty, and potentially dangerous scavengers. The thought of giving “what is holy” that is, a sacrifice offered to God, to a dog was shocking and unimaginable to the Jewish people. Throwing meat offered on the altar at the temple to dogs would have been an unspeakably blasphemous act of desecration. Throwing valuable pearls to pigs—the epitome of unclean animals—was equally unthinkable. Both would also be acts of supreme folly, since dogs have no appreciation of what is holy and pigs have no appreciation for what is precious.

In Christ’s analogy, the dogs and swine represent those who permanently reject the gospel and treat it with utter disdain. What must have been even more surprising to the Twelve was the identity of the dogs and swine of whom the Lord warned them. Since, as noted above, the apostles were sent on this mission to the Jewish people, the dogs and swine were not unclean pagan Gentiles, but ultra-religious Jews. When faced with hard-hearted rejection of the truth, the apostles were to give them a warning of the judgment they faced and move on.

In obedience to all those instructions, the Twelve began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. The details of their mission are not recorded, but the response they received highlighted their need for discernment. Galilee’s response to their mission was symbolized by the reaction of its ruler, Herod the tetrarch. The Herod referred to here is Herod Antipas, a son of the notorious Herod the Great. Antipas ruled Galilee from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39, so his rule encompassed Jesus’ entire ministry. Tetrarch refers to a ruler of a fourth of a region. After Herod’s death in 4 B.C., his domain was divided among three of his sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip, and a man named Lysanias (Luke 3:1), of whom little is known. Antipas was made ruler over the region of Galilee and nearby Perea and is the Herod referred to in the Gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ ministry It was Antipas who imprisoned (Luke 3:20) and executed (9:9) John the Baptist.

When Herod heard of all that was happening in connection with the preaching ministry of the Twelve, he was greatly perplexed. The Twelve were giving all glory and credit for their powerful preaching and miracles to Jesus (cf. Acts 3:11–12). But who was Jesus? That it was said by some that He was John the Baptist risen from the dead was particularly troubling to Herod (see the discussion of v. 9 below). Adding to the confusion, it was being said by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again (cf. v. 19; Matt. 16:14; 17:10).Yet Herod, haunted by his wrongful execution of John, whom even he acknowledged to have been “a righteous and holy man” (Mark 6:20), said, “I myself had John beheaded.” According to Mark’s account, Herod, plagued by his guilty conscience, “kept saying, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has risen!’” (Mark 6:16). (For an account of Herod’s execution of John, see the exposition of 7:18–23 in chapter 15 of this volume and the exposition of 3:19 in Luke 1–5, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2009], 231–32). Uneasily, Herod wondered, “Who is this man about whom I hear such things?”

That question of the identity of Jesus is the most important one ever asked and answered. The response each person gives to it will determine his or her eternal destiny, in hell or heaven. Because of its significance, Luke repeatedly recorded instances of people asking that question(cf.v. 18; 5:21; 7:20, 49;8:25; 22:67, 70; 23:3).Tragically, most people then as now gave the wrong answer. But Peter, speaking for the disciples (Matt. 16:16), a Roman centurion at the cross (Mark 15:39), and doubting Thomas (John 20:28), among others, gave the correct answer: Jesus is God the Son, the Messiah, Savior, and Lord.

Driven by curiosity and fear, Herod kept trying to see Jesus. He was notan honest seeker, however. In Luke 13:31 some Pharisees warned Jesus, “Go away leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.” If Jesus was indeed John the Baptist risen from the dead as Herod feared, he intended to kill Him again. But Herod would not see Jesus until the Lord was sent to Him from Pilate as a prisoner (Luke 23:7). Even then Herod would not get the satisfaction of an answer from Jesus; “he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing” (v. 9).The aftermath, which saw Herod and his soldiers mocking Jesus (v. 11), offered further evidence of Herod’s insincerity.

The principles contained in Lord’s charge to the Twelve are applicable to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. All Christ-honoring ministry consists of teaching the truth, demonstrating compassion, maintaining trust, being content with one’s circumstances, and exercising discernment.