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

 

 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, 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 they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately to 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 returned from healing a man from a Legion of demons across the Sea of Galilee, the multitude welcomed Him back to 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. At this stage in Christ's ministry Jesus calls the twelve disciples together and sends them out as apostles on their first missionary journey.  Disciples and "apostles" are frequently used interchangeably for the twelve as a result.  In Greek the word for "disciple" means "learner"; "apostle" means "one sent out."  We note that Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  These things Jesus did Himself by His own power; but He gave power to the disciples.  Note how they are to comport themself, in all humility and in dependency upon God.  They take nothing for the journey, they do not dress ostentatiously.  In whatever home they are offered refuge first they are to stay, and not trade up for better place.  Finally, note that they are given power and authority over all demons, and yet should they be rejected their only retort is to shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against those who refuse to receive them.

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.  My study Bible comments that this is the same Herod (known also as Herod Antipas) to whom Pilate will send Jesus during His trial (Luke 23:6-7).  He is the son of Herod (known as Herod the Great) who slew the innocent infants in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16).  The beheading of John can be found in Mark 6:14-28.

And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all they had done.  Then He took them and went aside privately to 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 cites Theophylact as seeing a liturgical parallel with the feeding of the five thousand.   Christ first healed and then spoke of the gospel, and then He fed the multitude with miraculous bread by the hands of His disciples, who've just returned from their first apostolic mission.  In the Church, he comments, 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.  It's noted also that Jesus tells the disciples, "You give them something to eat."  This is a commission that is a type and preparation for the apostolic ministry the disciples will perform after Christ's Resurrection.  My study Bible says that they will feed the world with the word of God and with the Eucharist.  Of the five loaves and two fish, there is a commentary by St. John Chrysostom:  Christ is the same Creator "of both the earth and the sea, who in the beginning brought fruit from the earth and life out of the water."  Again, Chrysostom comments that Christ looked up to heaven "not as receiving power from elsewhere, but as honoring the Father who begot Him."  That Christ blessed and broke the bread teaches us "not to touch any meal until we have given thanks to Him who gives us food."  My study Bible adds that this blessing also presents a clear eucharistic image, and directs us to pursue spiritual food greater than that which is earthly (see John 6:26-27).  

In today's reading, we can observe a growing ministry of Christ which now begins to reach out past those of His immediate vicinity and home base.  His apostles are now sent out on their first apostolic mission, going to towns and cities announcing the gospel of the Kingdom, using the power and authority that has been shared with them by Christ over all demons, and to cure diseases.  This is a very important announcement of a kingdom:  note Christ shares His power and authority as a king or emperor would do.  But the nature of this kingdom is obviously quite different from an earthly kingdom.  Its power is not in armies or cavalry or chariots of military weapons, and its authority is not found in worldly structures but is given through Jesus, who holds no official institutional office.  This is the kingdom of God which is entirely dependent upon God.  The disciples are to practice no ostentation, no fancy clothes, not a lot of money, and not to court people who can offer them luxurious places to stay.  The appeal of this kingdom is to the faithful wherever they are found, and that is the key to Christ.  They are not to take vengeance upon those who don't receive them, but rather to leave testimony against them by shaking the dust of the place from their feet.  And at the same time, a worldly kingdom has begun to take note of Christ.  Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, has heard of Him.  Herod has beheaded John the Baptist, and wonders who Christ is when He hears of the miraculous signs which accompany His ministry.  Elsewhere we're told that Herod fears that Jesus is John returned from the dead, and that this is the explanation for the powers He displays in His ministry (Mark 6:16, Matthew 14:2).  We should make careful note that Christ's authority is about a Kingdom making its way into this world; in the next chapter of Luke, Jesus will send out the seventy, teaching them to preach as they go, "The kingdom of God has come near to you" (Luke 10:1-24).  Perhaps most significantly in today's reading, we're given the story of the feeding of the five thousand men (and more women and children).  This becomes a story about feeding the world, a prefiguring of the Eucharist, because now, having returned from their first apostolic mission, the disciples are taught to feed the multitude who comes to find Christ and will not leave.  The twelve baskets of leftover fragments tell us about the Twelve who will go out to the world and feed the world with the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  The fulfillment of the twelve tribes of Israel, this will expand God's kingdom out to the four corners of the world and bless the world as it does.  Jesus has come to claim the world for the kingdom of God, to share His authority and power in a conflict with the demonic already planted in the world.  We note how in the demonic encounters we've read recently, the demons fear Christ; they know who He is, they know His power, and they know their time is necessarily limited.  But He has come to claim a whole world, including us; that is, the multitudes, and the hearts and minds in which He will find the faith that enables the establishment of that Kingdom and the working of its power to heal in us.  This Kingdom does not work by coercion; it relies on God's timing and God's power (hence the disciples merely shake the dust off their feet in testimony to those who will not receive it).  But it is still at work -- the bread sent out with the Twelve across the land and seas of the world reminds us of Ecclesiastes 11:  "Cast your bread upon the waters."  It is worth reading the rest of that chapter in Ecclesiastes and consider how much of it we can find in the teachings of Jesus about reaping and sowing, and even about the harvest of judgment that will come.  The world remains a place where the seed of the Sower must continually go out, where we may choose to join in the work of the harvest, where we may rejoice to hear His word and play our part in His kingdom.  For the four corners of the world still need His blessings through the holy bread of the Eucharist, and His Kingdom must continually go out with its own authority and power -- even into a world of coercion, greed, and so much faith in material power.