5th April 2010

Mark 6: 6-13

• Jesus sends out the twelve.
• There is a conflict in the Bible here. Mark says take a staff whilst Luke and Matthew tell us Jesus told them not to take a staff. The same problem with sandals. There are a few possible reasons for this but basically it comes down to the fact that the gospel writers were transmitting to early church missionaries the need to travel light. The traditional story they passed on differed probably because it was not the exact words of Jesus but as in many cases to gist of what Jesus said. Its possible He sent His twelve out on different occasions with slightly different instructions each time… who knows.
• Reminds me that there are things in the Bible that don’t add up. When they are as obvious as this it kind of encourages me that there were not a bunch of early church writers getting together to make sure they were all on the same page and bending their recollections to fit each other. The Gospels are inspired by God but the Gospel writers are human. They were getting across what they believed God was wanting them to pass on.
• “Jesus normally speaks in the hyperbole of a wisdom teacher not the legal precision of a teacher” – p424 HSOTB.
• Challenges me: do I want easy answers or to wrestle with the scriptures?
• The whole passage again points to Jesus’ method of mission – Spread, Spot, Stay, Send. I need to keep faithfully teach this and also to model it!
• Essentially Jesus is telling them to travel light. Most books say this was so they had to trust in God. I think that’s kind of true but misses the point. Specifically they had to trust in the people God sent them to.
• It’s harder to trust in people than God.
• So in some ways that was a bigger challenge.
• For me to be effective; I must learn to trust in God’s people. Its the only way I can show I trust Jesus.
• Praying for that today!