Event 68 — Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Rejected at home, Jesus does not pull back — He multiplies. He calls the Twelve, hands them His own authority over unclean spirits, and sends them out two by two to carry the mission into every village. Travel light. Trust hospitality. And where they will not listen, shake the dust from your feet and move on.
The mission of Jesus, extended through His followers
Up to this point the disciples have watched. They have seen Jesus teach with authority, still a storm, cast out demons, cleanse a leper, and raise the dead. Now He turns to them and says, in effect, your turn. He calls the Twelve, sends them out “two by two,” and — this is the astonishing part — gives them His own authority over the unclean spirits. The very power the people of Nazareth refused to believe in, Jesus now distributes to a dozen ordinary men. His instructions are deliberately stripped-down: take a staff and the sandals on your feet, but no bread, no traveler’s bag, no money in your belt, not even a spare tunic. They are to go out radically dependent — on God and on the hospitality of whoever will open a door. When a house welcomes them, they stay there; when a town will not receive them or hear them, they shake the dust off their feet as they leave, a solemn warning that the people have chosen for themselves. So the Twelve go. They preach that people should repent, they cast out many demons, and they anoint the sick with oil and heal them. For the first time, the kingdom is moving on more than one set of feet. Jesus has not just gathered followers; He has made them senders of the same good news, carrying His authority into places He has not yet been. The mission was never meant to stay with Him alone.
The text
Underlined words (like two by two) link down to their original-language card in Word secrets below.
6And He was going around the villages teaching. 7And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; 8and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff — no bread, no bag, no money in their belt — 9but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.”
10And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” 12They went out and preached that men should repent. 13And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.
Mark 6:6–13 (NASB95); parallels Luke 9:1–6; Matthew 9:35–10:42📖 Why does Mark let them take a staff and sandals when Matthew seems to forbid it?
In Matthew 10:9–10 and Luke 9:3 the lists differ slightly — no staff, no sandals there; a staff and sandals here. This is not a contradiction but a difference of emphasis. The single shared point is unmistakable: do not stop to equip yourselves; go now, light and dependent. Matthew stresses “acquire nothing extra for the road” (don’t go shopping first); Mark allows the bare basics a traveler already has on him (the staff in his hand, the sandals on his feet) but forbids carrying provisions, money, or a spare tunic. Both Gospels land in exactly the same place: the messengers go out trusting God and the hospitality of others, not their own supplies.
👀 Read it like a detective — observe before you interpret
Before asking what it means, notice what the text actually says:
- A chain of action verbs about Jesus: He summoned… began to send… gave… instructed… said. The whole mission starts with His initiative, not theirs.
- A list of what NOT to take: no bread, no bag, no money, no second tunic — the negatives pile up to make one point about dependence.
- The detail “two by two”: they are not sent alone. Notice the deliberate pairing.
- A conditional: “any place that does not receive you… shake the dust off” — the response of the town determines the response of the messenger.
- The closing summary mirrors Jesus’ own ministry: they preach repentance, cast out demons, heal the sick — the same three things He has been doing.
- Bracketed by Jesus’ own travels: verse 6b has Jesus “going around the villages teaching” right before He multiplies that work through the Twelve.
What the original words mean
Six details behind the first sending of the Twelve.
Mark uses a vivid doubled phrase, “two two,” for sending them in pairs. This was practical and biblical at once: a journey was safer with a companion, and Jewish law required “two witnesses” to establish a matter (Deuteronomy 19:15). Their message would carry the weight of confirmed testimony, and no one would go it alone.
↑ Back to the passageExousia is delegated right and power — not power they generate, but power lent to them. The same word marks Jesus’ own ministry: He taught and acted with exousia. Now He hands a share of that authority to the Twelve. They do not become little messiahs; they become authorized representatives, carrying His power on His errand.
↑ Back to the passageThe pēra was a leather bag a traveler — or a begging philosopher — slung over the shoulder for food and supplies. To forbid it (and bread and coins) was to forbid the normal traveler’s safety net entirely. The messengers go out with empty hands on purpose, so that everyone can see the kingdom is carried by trust, not by a full pack.
↑ Back to the passageTo “receive” a messenger was to receive the one who sent him — in the ancient world an envoy stood in for his master. So welcoming these plain travelers meant welcoming Jesus, and through Him, God. The flip side is sobering: to refuse them is to refuse Him. The stakes of simple hospitality are far higher than they look.
↑ Back to the passageDevout Jews returning from Gentile territory would shake off its dust so as not to carry it into the holy land. For the Twelve to do this to a Jewish town that rejected the gospel was a stinging acted-out warning: “you have treated yourselves as outsiders to God’s kingdom.” It is not spiteful; it is a solemn testimony, leaving the verdict in their own hands.
↑ Back to the passageMetanoeō means far more than feeling sorry — it is a turn of the whole mind and life, a change of direction. It echoes the very first word of Jesus’ own preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (and John the Baptist’s before Him). The Twelve carry the identical message: the King is near; turn and come home.
↑ Back to the passageCalled, equipped, sent, multiplied
Reading the Gospel well — the key question: “What is this episode telling us about Jesus?” It shows a Jesus whose mission is bigger than His own two feet. He is the kind of King who shares His authority — not hoarding power but distributing it to ordinary men so the good news can reach places He has not yet walked. Mark’s placement is deliberate: the sending of the Twelve sits right after the rejection at Nazareth (Event 67) and right before the death of John the Baptist (Event 69). Squeezed between a town’s unbelief and a prophet’s martyrdom, the mission goes out anyway. The instruction to “shake the dust off” rejection is no abstraction — Jesus has just been rejected at home, and John is about to lose his head. Following this King means carrying His message into a world that may not receive it, and trusting Him with the results.
🏺 Hospitality, traveling teachers, and the empty pack
In the ancient Near East, hospitality to a traveler was a sacred duty, not optional kindness — to take in a stranger, feed him, and send him on was woven into the honor code. Jesus builds His whole plan on this. By forbidding bread, bag, money, and a spare tunic, He makes the Twelve completely dependent on the welcome of each town. There was a sharp contrast in their world: wandering Cynic philosophers carried a beggar’s bag (the pēra) and a staff and went around asking for money. Jesus’ messengers carry no bag and ask for nothing — they are not beggars peddling a message but envoys offering a gift. Staying in one house (v.10) rather than upgrading to a better host also guards against the messenger looking for personal advantage. Everything about the packing list is designed to keep the message pure and the messenger humble.
📜 “The Twelve” and the pattern of being sent
The number twelve is not random — it matches the twelve tribes of Israel and signals that Jesus is gathering and renewing God’s people around Himself. The Greek word that lies behind “apostle” (apostolos) simply means “one who is sent.” This event is the moment the name starts to fit: the Twelve become, for the first time, sent ones. The pattern they follow — the Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Twelve, the risen Jesus later sends the whole church (“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you,” John 20:21) — runs all the way down to us. Every Christian mission, from this dusty Galilean tour to the global church, traces its shape back to this short paragraph. Note too that the authority is real but borrowed: when the Twelve later face a demon they cannot cast out (Mark 9:18–29), they learn the power was never theirs to command at will — it came, and stayed, by dependence on Jesus.
The Interpretive Journey
Good study doesn’t stop at “what it meant back then” or jump straight to “what it means to me.” It travels the distance carefully — from the original audience, across the differences, to the timeless principle, and only then home to us.
What it meant to the first hearers
What did the text mean to the biblical audience?For the Twelve, this was a real, specific mission to the towns of Galilee: go now, two by two, with nothing in your pack, and announce that the kingdom of God has drawn near. The packing list made vivid sense in their world of sacred hospitality, where a town’s welcome or refusal of a guest carried huge weight. The authority over unclean spirits was a stunning trust — the disciples were being handed the very power they had only watched Jesus use. And “shake the dust off” spoke their language: it was the gesture a Jew used toward unclean Gentile soil, now aimed solemnly at Jewish towns that would not hear God’s own message.
Measure the differences between them and us
What separates the biblical situation from ours?The river here is wider than it first looks. This was a one-time, specific commission to twelve named men, in a particular region, before the cross and resurrection. We are not handed a literal command to leave home with no wallet, and the dramatic gift of casting out demons was tied to authenticating Jesus’ arrival. We should not flatten this into “quit your job and own nothing.” But the underlying realities — being sent, traveling in dependence on God, facing both welcome and refusal — carry across, especially once the risen Jesus widens the sending to the whole church.
The timeless theological principle
What truth crosses over from then to now?Jesus extends His mission through ordinary followers, sending them out with His own delegated authority, calling them to depend on God rather than their own resources, and freeing them to leave the results — welcome or rejection — in His hands.
How it fits the rest of Scripture
Does this principle hold across the whole Bible?It holds and grows. Jesus sends seventy more in Luke 10:1–12 with nearly identical instructions. After the resurrection the sending goes global: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19), “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21), “you shall be My witnesses… to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Paul even quotes the principle behind “the laborer is worthy of his wages” to defend gospel workers being supported (1 Corinthians 9:14). The whole canon runs from “the Father sends the Son” to “the Son sends His people.”
How we live it out today
How should we apply it now?If you belong to Jesus, you are a sent one too — not necessarily to leave home, but to carry His message wherever He has placed you. Three concrete takeaways. First, go in dependence: plan and work, yes, but root your confidence in God, not in a full pack. Second, go together — the “two by two” pattern is a quiet rebuke to lone-ranger faith; find a partner for the work. Third, when you are rejected, “shake the dust off” — do your part faithfully, then release the outcome to God instead of carrying the offense or forcing the result. This week, name the “town” God has actually sent you to (a workplace, a family, a street), and take one humble step to bring His good news there.
Consult the biblical map
| Passage | Connection |
|---|---|
| Luke 10:1–12 | Jesus later sends out seventy more with almost the same instructions — the mission keeps widening. |
| Matthew 28:18–20 | The Great Commission — the sending goes from Galilean villages to “all the nations.” |
| John 20:21 | “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” — the pattern of being sent runs down to the church. |
| Acts 13:50–51 | Paul and Barnabas “shook the dust off their feet” against a town that rejected them — the gesture in action. |
Resources to explore
Play the video here, then dig into the text with study tools and trusted reference works.
🎬 Watch & listen
- Video: BibleProject — Luke 1–9Overview with study notes and downloads.
- Podcast: An Overview of LukeHow Luke frames the spreading mission of Jesus.
📖 Study tools (free)
- STEP Bible — Mark 6:6–13Free interlinear, Greek words, and concordance (Tyndale House).
- NET Bible — Mark 6 with translators’ notesSee the translation decisions behind each verse.
- Mark 6:7 interlinear + Strong’s“He gave them authority” in the Greek.
📚 Reference shelf
- Craig Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary: New TestamentHospitality, traveling teachers, and the “dust off the feet” gesture.
- Green, McKnight & Marshall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (IVP)Articles on “apostle,” “mission,” and “the Twelve.”
- Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (NICNT)Strong on the sending narratives and Luke’s missionary theme.
Discussion questions
- Put yourself in their world: a town’s welcome of a traveler was sacred duty. Why would Jesus deliberately send the Twelve out with no bread, bag, or money, completely dependent on that hospitality?
- Jesus gave the Twelve His authority over unclean spirits. What does it mean that the power they carried was borrowed, not their own — and why does that distinction matter?
- Why “two by two”? What is gained when the mission is shared rather than carried alone, and what is lost when we try to go it solo?
- Walk the Interpretive Journey: this was a specific commission to twelve men before the cross. What crosses the “river” to us, and what does not?
- Only after all that does the question reach us: every follower of Jesus is, in some sense, “sent.” What is the “town” God has placed you in — and what would it look like to bring His good news there this week?