He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick

 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.  And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."  So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was 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 old prophets had risen again.  Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?"  So he sought to see Him.

And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.  But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.  When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."  And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."  For there were about five thousand men.  Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty."  And they did so, and made them all sit down.  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

- Luke 9:1-17

Yesterday we read that when Jesus and the disciples returned from the other side of the Sea of Galilee, the multitude welcomed Him back in Capernaum, for they were all waiting for Him.  And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.  And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.  Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment.  And immediately her flow of blood stopped.  And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?"  When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"  But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me."  Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.  And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.  Go in peace." While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead.  Do not trouble the Teacher."  But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well."  When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl.  Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, "Do not weep, she is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.  But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise."  Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.  And He commanded that she be given something to eat.  And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.  And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."  So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.   It is the point in Jesus' ministry where He sends the disciples out on their first mission; hence, they become apostles (disciple means "learner" and apostle means "one who is sent out").  Their mission is like Christ's:  they are to preach and to heal.  They are to take nothing for the journey:  not staffs, nor bag nor bread nor money, nor extra clothing.  Their dependence is to be fully on God, and their mission also depends on them not being accused of greed.  To stay and depart from one house only means they will not "trade up" for better accommodations or to stay with more wealthy folk as they are welcomed.  Everything depends upon the reception they get; the first house to welcome them will be the place they remain and stay.  But in towns where they are not received, they are to shake off the very dust from their feet as their testimony against them.  So, like the word of Christ, everything depends on those to whom they go hear and receive the good news -- or not.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was 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 old prophets had risen again.  Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?"  So he sought to see Him.  Herod the tetrarch is also known as Herod Antipas, to whom Pilate will send Jesus during His trial (23:7).  He's the ruler of Galilee, and the son of Herod the Great, who had slain the innocents in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16).  We learn of the things that people are saying about Jesus, how perhaps it is John who's risen from the dead, or that the prophesy of Elijah's reappearance has been fulfilled (Malachi 4:5-6).  Throughout the Gospels this Herod is seen as a figure who has a strange curiosity about the holy.  He was intrigued to listen to John the Baptist before he beheaded him and knew and feared that John was a holy man.  He will be disappointed and contemptuous that Christ performs no miraculous sign for him nor responds to the charges against Him (Luke 23:9-11).

And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.  But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.  When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."  And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people."  For there were about five thousand men.  Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty."  And they did so, and made them all sit down.  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.  My study bible tells us that this first feeding miracle is seen as a parallel to the liturgy by Theophylact.   Christ first healed and spoke of the gospel, and then He fed the multitude with the miraculous bread by the hands of His disciples. In the Church, a person is first healed through baptism; then at the Liturgy, the gospel is preached and the bread of life and the cup are received from the hands of the ordained clergy.    In such a parallel, we can see a clear indication that after the first apostolic mission, this is a clear beginning of the Church.  We note that there are twelve baskets of leftover fragments, one for each apostle, the bread of life to be taken to all the world.

In today's reading we see the early seeds of the Church: the disciples are now ready for their first mission, and to be sent out.  Jesus teaches them that they are to rely on God for this mission, and that the word of God will somehow direct them.  Everything depends on how that word is received, the good news of the kingdom of God, and the healing they bring.  And the state power, in the person of Herod Antipas, gets news of Christ.  For the state, everything material to its rule is a concern, and Christ becomes an object of interest and curiosity, and even perhaps of fear as He may be John the Baptist risen from the dead.  We know how Herod's father responded to news of the birth of the child Christ, but Herod does not realize who Jesus is in that respect.  And finally there is the return of the Twelve and the feeding of the five thousand in the wilderness.  Theophylact gives us the liturgical parallel, and we are to understand that we are reading about the birth process of the Church.  Of course it is also a stupendous parallel on par with Moses and the feeding of Israel with the bread from heaven, but this bread will never be exhausted and will be continually consumed by those with faith in Christ, even as we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," with its eucharistic significance in the Greek.  "Daily" is translated from epiousion, a word that more literally means "supersubstantial" -- the bread of the eternal day of the Kingdom.  It is this "day" of the Kingdom that we are watching unfold in real time, so to speak, as the Gospel unfolds the story of Jesus' ministry and His life.  Everything intersects, and in the miraculous signs present in the Gospels, eternity makes itself known within our own system of time.  So it is with the feeding of the five thousand; it is as if time is suspended, and so eternal multiplication is possible without awaiting the time for natural processes to take place.  And this, too, must be what we understand as "daily" or "supersubstantial" bread, this food with which we're fed as Christ is the bread of life (John 6:35).  This is really how we must view our faith, as that of the eternal intersecting with the world, just as Christ is God incarnate as human being.  When we pray, we should understand that it is this reality in which we participate, in which all dimensions of being may play a role even at just a moment in our lives.  We are here as faithful to intersect with this Kingdom, even as the apostles were sent out to preach just such a word to those who would receive it.