Luke 9:1,2

1 st. Luke 9:1-2. The Mission.

There is something greater than preaching this is to make preachers; there is something greater than performing miracles this is to impart the power to perform them. It is this new stage which the work of Jesus here reaches. He labours to raise His apostles up to His own level. The expression συγκαλεσάμενος, having called together, indicates a solemn meeting; it expresses more than the term προσκαλεῖσθαι, to call to Him, used in Mark and Matthew. What would Baur have said if the first expression had been found in Matthew and the second in Luke, when throughout Luke's narrative as it is he sees an intention to depreciate this scene in comparison with that which follows, Luke 10:1 et seq.?

In Jewish estimation, the most divine form of power is that of working miracles. It is with this, therefore, that Jesus begins: δύναμις, the power of execution; ἐξουσία, the authority which is the foundation of it; the demons will therefore owe them obedience, and will not fail, in fact, to render it. These two terms are opposed to the anxious and laboured practices of the exorcists. Πάντα : all the different maladies coming under this head melancholy, violence, mania, etc.... Θεραπεύειν, to heal, depends neither on δύναμις nor ἐξουσία, but on ἔδωκεν, He gave them; there is no ἐξουσία in regard to diseases.

Such will be their power, their weapon. But these cures are not the end; they are only the means designed to lend support to their message. The end is indicated in Luke 9:2. This is to proclaim throughout Galilee the coming of the kingdom of God, and at the same time to make the people feel the grave importance of the present time. It is a return to the ministry of John the Baptist, and of our Lord's at its commencement (Mark 1:15). This undertaking was within the power of the Twelve. “ To preach and to heal ” means “ to preach while healing. ” Only imagine the messengers of the Lord at the present day traversing our country with the announcement of His second coming being at hand, and confirming their message by miracles. What a sensation such a mission would produce!

According to Mark, the Lord sent them two and two, which recalls their distribution into pairs, Luke 6:13-15; Matthew 10:2-4.