Luke 9: 1-17
As always, this is going to make no sense unless you’ve read the passage.
If you haven’t had a chance yet, here it is: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%209%3A1-17&version=NLT
So basically, the Twelve, were apprentices. They had spent a lot of time watching Jesus and hearing him teach. So it’s time to practise. Luke appears to randomly tell us this bit about how Herod was trying to figure out who Jesus was and was looking for a chance to meet him. But this is Luke. He’s not a guy to throw out useless information. So there’s a reason he wanted Theophilus to know that Herod was hearing rumours and that people had a lot of wild theories. Maybe one of the reasons Jesus picked this moment to send his disciples out was because Herod was looking for him. I really don’t know, but if you’ve read this story before, you know that Herod and Jesus will meet. Maybe it’s just a bit of foreshadowing?
Anyways, Jesus sends his disciples on a field trip of sorts. There is stuff he wants them to have: authority to drive out all demons and cure all diseases, and stuff he doesn’t want them to have: provisions, money or an extra coat. They’ve been given a job: preach the kingdom and heal the sick, and a few clarifying instructions: find a place to stay in each village and don’t move around. If no one welcomes you, shake the dust off your feet on the way out.
I’m sitting here wondering what was behind all these instructions. I’ll be honest, I’m not clear on what all Jesus was thinking. Let’s be real, I’m never clear on ALL Jesus was thinking. But sometimes it seems more obvious and this isn’t necessarily one of those times. He wants them to have spiritual authority but no physical provisions. That seems like an exercise in trust. I feel like I have had a few of those assignments from Jesus. Off you go Hope. You have my authority and mandate, but you’re going to have to trust that I can take care of you along the way.
I was invited to co-lead a mission trip to Ghana, by a woman I hardly knew, at a time when my family was barely getting by. There was no money to get me there. God provided through my church and my friends, but I never had more than just enough. I remember talking to a little boy there who had so many physical needs. I felt so frustrated because I had nothing to give him. But I felt like God was telling me to pray for him, so I did. I didn’t even have a clear idea of what to pray about. I just prayed God would bless him and provide for him.
It felt weak and frustrating, but God really confronted me on that as I thought about it afterward. It was like he was saying, “Do you really think clothes or food or money would be more beneficial to him than asking me to bless him?” I spent the rest of the trip touching one precious little head after another and praying that God would bless and provide for them. It was humbling and enlightening. The kids seemed genuinely so grateful to be prayed for. It was a learning curve for me, and I’m not sure I ever grasped all God was trying to show me there. I did learn that, as long as I have Jesus in me, I have something to give.
So I don’t know. Maybe it was something like that he was hoping to teach them.
Then there’s the stay in one house per village thing. I have no idea what Jesus’ plan was there. Maybe he just wanted them to keep moving and not get hung up by being invited to increasingly showy banquets where people were trying to impress one another rather than hear about the kingdom. Shaking the dust off their feet? I know that other disciples would follow this example later as the message spread, but I can’t find a place where it was mentioned in the old testament so I’m just guessing about this. It seems kind of public, deliberate. When they were rejected, Jesus didn’t want his team to steal away to the next town quietly. They were to shake the dust off their feet as they left. You rejected us. You rejected our message. Duly noted. We aren’t going to fight and beg you to listen. But in response, you are being rejected. We are shaking the dust of your town off our feet. We are taking no part of you. In a way I guess it’s a sad metaphor for how Jesus responds to those who reject him. He respects their decision. He doesn’t force himself on them. “You don’t welcome me? That’s your call, but you have no part in me.”
Whatever his motivation was, the disciples went out preaching and healing as instructed.
It sounds like, by the end of the trip, they had lots of cool stuff to report. So Jesus took them with him to Bethsaida to hear all their stories. I’d have liked to have heard them myself, but of course, people spotted him and their quiet getaway turned into another massive gathering with about 5,000 men in attendance. Some people assume it was 5,000 humans, some think it was 5,000 men plus a bunch of women and kids. Regardless, it was a crowd. They had gathered well outside of town, and it was starting to get late. I’m not sure if the disciples were truly concerned for the welfare of the crowd or if they were just hoping for a nap, but they used their concern as a reason to suggest Jesus send the people away to find dinner and a place to stay. If their concern was a bluff, Jesus called it. “You’re right. It’s getting late. They must be hungry. Give them some dinner before they head out.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Give them something to eat.”
“Ya. Remember the part where you didn’t let us take food or money on our little mission trip?”
“What have you got?”
The disciples ask around quickly and somebody nearby produces some bread and a couple sardines. “Five loaves and two fish.”
“Have them sit down in groups of about fifty people.”
Credit where credit is due. The disciples don’t appear to ask questions. They do what they are told. Jesus takes the bread and fish, thanks God for it and starts breaking them into pieces for the disciples to hand out to the people. More than 5,000 people go home with full bellies and there are twelve baskets full of leftovers.
How exactly did that all play out? I have no clue. But I know this. When Jesus sends you off to do a job you have no resources to do, you have more than enough. Jesus won’t ask you to do something he hasn’t already provided for. If he gives you a job to do, just get going. He has already figured out how to get the resources you need. Maybe the reason he is sending you with nothing in your hand is because he doesn’t want you weighed down on the trip.
