He began to send them.
After Jesus failed to preach in the synagogue, where he was greeted only by skepticism, and even Jesus himself wondered at their unbelief, Jesus joined the twelve to his activity. The twelve disciples represent the new Israel, which consisted of exactly twelve tribes.
“Jesus began to send them”, writes Mark, “two by two”, because they are a community, they do not present themselves as leaders or bearers of the message, but they are supposed to be a community that experiences this message. And “he gave them power over unclean spirits”. Spirit means energy and power; when this power comes from God, then it is Holy, not only as its quality but as an activity that separates man from the sphere of evil and sin and draws him to the realm of good. But when these energies come from somewhere other than God, or even contradict him, then they are impure because they hold back and maintain a person in the sphere of impurity, that is, the impossibility of communication with God – according to the culture of the time.
“And he commanded” – this is the only time he commands something in this Gospel, so it must be something important that we should take seriously. What does Jesus command? Jesus commands “not to take anything for the journey except a stick: neither bread, nor a pocket, nor money in your belt”. And why? Because the life of the disciples is to prove the authenticity of the message. It is impossible to announce the good news of Jesus, which is the news that a person fully trusts God and fully trusts others, the message of renouncing ambitions if he then contradicts it with his behavior, his clothes, and his style of life. So the life of the messenger of the message is to prove the truth.
And so Jesus, who is usually very sparing in the description, here describes in great detail even how the disciples are to be dressed; he says to “put on sandals” – because they will have to walk a lot – and not to “put on two dresses”, having two dresses is a luxury for the rich. Therefore, the disciples should not contradict the message of this universal love of God who puts himself at the service of others. Jesus then invites these disciples to be free from economic worries, and to entrust themselves fully; he says that they should also be free internally, and adds “Whenever you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you go on from there”. Why such a provision? Because Jews, when they were on the road, often sought hospitality only from other Jews, they did not go to the houses of Gentiles. Why? Because the Gentile’s house was unclean. Just as they did not go into the houses of the Jews, whom they did not know whether they fully observed the rules of cleanliness and impurity about food.
But Jesus asks that they be free; into the house you enter, whether they observe the rules or not no, stay there. It is necessary to be free to set free. “But,” warns Jesus, “if in any place you are not received or heard, leave there and shake the dust off your feet.” This was a symbolic gesture performed by the Jews after returning from a pagan land; before they entered Israel, they shook the dust from their sandals so that they did not bring even a crumb of heathen, impure earth into the holy land. So the evangelist indicates that those who do not accept these messengers of the message must be treated as heathens. So a heathen is not one who does not believe, or believes in another religion, but who does not accept, who does not offer help. Who does not reflect in his behavior the universal love of God, is a heathen. So Jesus sends his disciples to announce this message of good news, and those who do not accept him must be treated as heathens; therefore, “being a heathen” does not depend on God, in which you believe, but on an attitude of acceptance and hospitality.
“They went” – and here comes the question: did they do what Jesus told them to do or not? Because Jesus did not send the disciples to preach repentance or eventual conversion for the kingdom of heaven, he did not send them to cast out evil spirits, he gave them power over evil spirits and that is something entirely different, nor to anoint the sick with oil, etc. The disciples did not do what Jesus told them to do. In the continuation of this Gospel, we will see that Jesus calls them aside and forbids them to proclaim a message that he did not authorize them to do.
