Workers Sent Out

81 – Workers Sent Out; Matthew 11:1, Mark 6:12-13, Luke 9:6 

Matthew 11:1 When Jesus had finished [a]giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and [b]preach in their cities. 

Mark 6:12 They went out and [a]preached that men should repent. 13 And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. 

Luke 9:6 Departing, they began going [a]throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. 

Footnotes (Matthew) 

a. Matthew 11:1 Or commanding

b. Matthew 11:1 Or proclaim 

Footnotes (Mark) 

a. Mark 6:12 Or proclaimed as a herald 

Footnotes (Luke) 

a. Luke 9:6 Or from village to village 

Commentary 

This study covers very short passages, but, as they represent distinct action, separate from the verses that follow in each of the accounts, I wanted to focus on them before moving on.  

The variance between the account in Matthew 11:1 and the other two gospels demonstrates that the entire group dispersed after Jesus’s instructions, to carry out their responsibilities (including Jesus, who went on preaching in the surrounding area while the disciples were testing their wings teaching and healing in various villages and towns). Ellicott’s Commentary confirms that they were separated, when it discusses the place where John the Baptist’s disciples found Jesus in Matthew 11:2. “Matthew 9:36 makes it probable that [Jesus’s teaching] was not in Capernaum nor any other city, but from some spot in the open country where He had rested with them. Their return is narrated, or at least implied, in Matthew 11:25, and hence we must infer that the messengers of the Baptist arrived while He was carrying on His work without them” (https://biblehub.com/matthew/11-1.htm). Their return from being apart is also indicated in Mark 6:30; “Meanwhile, the apostles gathered around Jesus and brought Him news of all they had done and taught.” 

Mark’s account gives us some specific insight into what the disciples were teaching. The disciples told people to repent, which the Pictorial Encyclopedia defines as turning about, with a connotation of regret. The work of the disciples here is an interesting continuation of the work of John the Baptist and Jesus, especially on the cusp of John’s question to Jesus about whether He is the Messiah (Matt 11:2-6). “the same message had been preached by John the Baptist and by our Lord himself, and now it was preached by the apostles. The message was confirmed by genuine miracles” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1245). “Indeed, repentance became the main theme of John the Baptist and in his preaching the emphasis changed from national repentance, which Ezra and Daniel called upon the people to render, to individual repentance. He insisted that repentance be accompanied by the fruits of repentance in a changed life” (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol 5 pg. 63). The disciples, while they carried on with the message of the nearness of the kingdom of God, the need for repentance, and the outward display of baptism, they did not yet begin to proclaim the Messiahship of Jesus, as the head of the kingdom. Again, at this time, they were following the examples of John the Baptist and Jesus, who made limited references to Jesus as the Christ, but primarily taught repentance as a means to entry in the coming kingdom. 

The disciples also anointed the sick with oil, and The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible refers to Mark 6:13 as one example of the fact that oil was used as a remedy for wounds. The Pulpit Commentary has some further explanation. Paraphrased, it states that James 5:14 contains a reference to using oil when healing the sick (see the reference verses below), and the significance of the oil is both due to its supposed healing properties (Josephus recorded that Herod experienced improvement in a particular ailment when he immersed himself in a bath of oil) and the symbolism that it carried from Old Testament writings (“the oil of gladness”). The use of oil in healing was/is referred to as unction, but “neither this passage nor that in St. James can properly be adduced to support the ceremony of “extreme unction;” for in both these cases the result was that the sick were restored to health. The so-called sacrament of” extreme unction “is administered immediately before death, when the sick person is in articulo morris” (https://biblehub.com/mark/6-13.htm). 

The point is that their power to heal the sick did not come from the oil itself. If they chose to use oil, it had more to do with cultural traditions than the oil’s healing properties. Their prayer and communion with God were the Key factors that separated them from others and made their healing effective. Also, healing wasn’t the main point of their work. The ability to heal proved that they were doing God’s work, and the people therefore opened their ears to the messages of the gospel and repentance. They were always careful to get back to the real business at hand. Saving souls is much more important than saving bodies. 

References 

Matthew 11:1 

Matthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, 

Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. 

Luke 23:5 But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people all over Judea with His teaching. He began in Galilee and has come all the way here.” 

Mark 6:13 

Matthew 4:24 News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering acute pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed–and He healed them. 

James 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 

Luke 9:6 

Luke 8:1 Soon afterward, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him, 

Commentary 

Matthew 11:2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” 

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants.”