So they went out and preached that people should repent

The Synaxis of the holy and the most praiseworthy Twelve Apostles. Byzantine icon,  beginning of the 14th century

 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.  And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue.  And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things?  And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!  Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?  And are not His sisters here with us?"  So they were offended at Him.  But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."  Now He could do not mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He marveled because of their unbelief.  Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.  He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts -- but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.  Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.  And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.  Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!"  So they went out and preached that people should repent.  And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them. 

- Mark 6:1-13

Yesterday we read that when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side (returning to Capernaum from healing the demoniac), a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea.  And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name.  And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death.  Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live."  So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.  Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians.  She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.  For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."  Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.  And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?"  But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"  And he looked around to see her who had done this thing.  But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.  And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."  While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who sad, "Your daughter is dead.  Why trouble the Teacher any further?"  As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe."  And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.   Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.  When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep?  The child is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.  Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."  Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age.  And they were overcome with great amazement.  But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.

 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.  And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue.  And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things?  And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!  Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?  And are not His sisters here with us?"  So they were offended at Him.   My study bible remarks on the double response of being both astonished and offended, which frequently occurs with those who encounter Christ (Luke 11:14-16; John 9:16).  Jesus' rejection in His own country of Nazareth in Galilee is a foreshadowing of His rejection by the entire nation at the trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15). 

But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."  Now He could do not mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He marveled because of their unbelief.  Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.  This saying is reported in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57, Luke 4:24, John 4:44), therefore its significance is highly noteworthy.  My study bible says that Jesus could do no mighty work there, not because He lacked power, but because of the unbelief of all but a few in Nazareth.  It notes that grace is always offered to all, but only those who receive it in faith obtain its benefits.  Let us note carefully that this rejection does not stop Jesus, but He continues to do what He is sent to do (1:38).

And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.  He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts -- but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.  Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.  And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.  Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!"  So they went out and preached that people should repent.  And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.  At this stage in Christ's ministry, He sends out the disciples ("learners"), and they become apostles -- apostolos/ἀπόστολος in Greek means "one sent out" (on a mission), a messenger.  Mark tells us they were sent out two by two on this first "missionary journey" (see Matthew 10:1-4 where the names of the twelve are given in pairs, suggesting who may have traveled together).   In contrast to the power Jesus displays that is His own (which His disbelieving townspeople reject), the apostles have the power which Jesus gave them.  We note how overall Christ commands humility:  they are to take little with them, indicating no ostentation.  They are to stay in whatever house they are first received, and not "trade up" for better accommodations.  But their message nevertheless carries a powerful judgment with it, despite their lack of worldly power and authority; they are to shake off the dust under their feet as a testimony against the place where they are rejected.  My study bible explains that anointing the sick with oil has not only medicinal value but also sacramental value as well.  It notes that as God's healing power is bestowed through creation (5:27; Numbers 21:8-9; 2 Kings 13:21; John 9:6-7; Acts 5:15, 19:11-12), so oil is also a vehicle of God's mercy and healing in the Church (James 5:14). 

 When we consider the difficulties of these first apostles, we really have to wonder and marvel at their faith.  Jesus has just been rejected in His hometown of Nazareth in Galilee.  The ones who have known Him all of His life, who know His extended family (called "brothers" even today in Middle and Near Eastern usage), cannot reconcile the Jesus they know, and coming from that particular family, with the One whose ministry and fame are spreading everywhere, whose authority is evident in His teaching and wisdom, and whose healing work is now known all across Galilee.  We see how the heart of faith works, and how it doesn't work as well.  Whatever stands in the way, including ridicule (see yesterday's reading, above), makes the working of faith impossible.  Here those who deny that this Jesus they know could possibly amount to such a striking individual, with qualities and power that comes only from God, suffer from a resulting lack of faith that renders any great work Jesus might have done impossible.  This is such a striking outcome that Jesus Himself marveled because of their unbelief.   The fact that Jesus marveled tells us something about the human heart:  that we are so ultimately free that the choices of our hearts may surprise even angels and Christ Himself.   It would suggest that Jesus finds their "unbelief" and their stubborn snobbery (for lack of a better word for it) surprising.  But such is the human heart, revealing what kind of creatures we are.  When we close our minds through habit, assumption, or convenient untruths which assure us of our desired places in the world, not even God will force our hand -- nor our eyes to truly see.  We are God-like in this sense, that our choice is free, and we are endowed with minds that may choose one way, although all rational, reasonable, and particularly spiritual wisdom would lead another.  We are capable of great spiritual blindness.  And into this world with its potential blindness the disciples are sent out, two by two.  Neither are sent with mitigating signs of authority or worldly power so that they may possibly be better received.  On the contrary, their mission is to be extremely humble in all of its aspects.  Jesus directs them only to "shine" through their work and their preaching, and not worldly ostentation of any kind whatsoever.  It is, in effect, an enforcement of the humility which Christ's hometown villagers simply cannot overcome in their estimation of Jesus.  So we have a great key to our faith in these contrasting examples, one shown by Christ and taught to His disciples, and the other shown by His rejecting hometown neighbors.  Faith can only exist where we are capable of stripping away the surface:  our prejudices, our worldly rules, and our doubts about unlimited possibilities of God.  It only exists where we are, indeed, free enough to respond to God's work in the world as it is and wherever it is found.  Our goal, then, is to get to the place where we are capable of seeing through so many of our own conditioned worldly understandings and finding that place where we ourselves are humble enough to recognize God.  We must be capable -- and do all the things we can to render ourselves capable -- of seeing God's light shine through whatever vessels carry that light and shine it into the world.  Jesus' neighbors refuse to recognize His "right" to His understanding and wisdom and power.  Whoever is going to receive and believe what the apostles offer must be those capable of seeing through all worldly expectations of the grand and the great, and recognize what these humble men and their humble mission bears into the world.  And there we start with the lesson we take for today from the reading.  Lent is a period in which we get down to basics and seek to find this ultimate humility that is conducive to our truly seeing and knowing and understanding.  For without that humility, we fare poorly when it comes down to what really matters.  In this time of a viral epidemic, we can think perhaps more clearly about what really matters.  We should ask ourselves what we really need and desire, thinking about the true things that matter when all comes down to the wire.  If we left the world today, what business have we left undone?  Are there things we need to forgive, and prayers we need to pray?  Are there people we perhaps might pray for, despite our differences with them?  Where does our peace come from?  And maybe most importantly, what kind of light do we choose to shine in the world?  Are we going to bring strife or help?  Are we users or givers?  What do we contribute?  And in the midst, are there people of whom we need to let go, who do not serve but hinder our journey to our faith?  (Therein comes forgiveness, "letting go" in the Greek of the Gospels, as well.)   What is most important?  Do we put on a positive face within this humble place before God, or create merely an image by going with the crowds, what seems expedient, or worse, morally fashionable?  All of the questions the Gospels raise to us now become more urgent, and it is time for positive spiritual growth if we but heed this call to go within, get quiet, and consider what is needful.  Most of all, let us consider the preaching of the apostles -- that people should repent.   We need to understand what repentance is and means.  In the Greek, it merely means "change of mind."  So, let's ask ourselves, what do we need to change?  Is there something we need to change our minds about, a way of living or behaving we need to reconsider?  Lent is a traditional time to heed the call of repentance, but let us think of that in the positive way it means for us.  What can we change so that our lives are better, and so that we are better, going in the positive and good direction for full and true health (including spiritual) that we desire?   The icon above is for the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles, as noted in its title.  In the front, we see the four Evangelists, evident by the Gospel books and scrolls they carry.  The eldest, John, is second from the right.  Perhaps it is Matthew, second from left, who carries a scroll and receives another, whose Gospel is written for a Jewish audience.  In the back with a scroll is St. Paul, who not only seems to be giving a scroll to Matthew, but who carries one of his own, for his Epistles.  And in the center back, with his white hair, is St. Peter, his hand extended in a blessing to all, from all.