Luke 9 - Jesus' Training Program

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

9 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.
Click Here to Read the Rest of Luke 9
As Jesus begins to set his face toward Jerusalem, he gives the disciples power and authority to start to do what he was doing, namely proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing the sick.  Notice the two-fold focus.  Proclaim, or other translations say "announce", the kingdom and heal the sick and cast out demons. Verse 6 says they went from village to village proclaiming the "good news" and healing people everywhere. 
Note the words: "kingdom of God" and "good news" seem to be synonymous here.  The good news was that God's kingdom was available right now and had come in the person of Jesus.   
Jesus took the authority he had been given and gave it to his disciples.  He also gave them the same power he used to cast out demons and heal sicknesses.  Though they still had a lot of learning to do, he did not wait until they had understood everything before he sent them out to do what he was doing. He also told them to take nothing with them, but to rely on people who welcomed them from village to village.  
Can you imagine what it must have been like to be the disciples?  Wait a minute Jesus. Do what you have been doing? Us?   You talk about a "hands on" learning experience.  And on top of that, he tells them to rely on the people they meet to provide for them in every way.  I.e. A change of clothes, food, shelter, money.  
One thing is for sure they learned quickly what it was like to walk in faith and rely on God's power and provision.  Apparently they did pretty well as it says, "they proclaimed the good news and healed everyone".  It is in this context that Jesus begins to tell them who He really is and what will happen to him when he goes to Jerusalem. 
I compare Jesus' training with the disciples to my own training to become a pastor. I spent five years in seminary.  This included lots of classes, papers, internships, and spending time in community with other students and professors. Of course, I had a great experience, but I wonder if we need to train more like Jesus did. Maybe we need to train more like Jesus did.  
Jesus had a three year program.  The disciples left their homes and jobs to follow him.  They followed him and learned from watching him.  He showed them how to proclaim the kingdom of God, and then apply kingdom principles in different contexts. I.e. healing lepers, giving prostitutes a second chance, feeding the 5,000 and casting out demons,   Finally, he sent them out to do the things he did.  They probably didn't do it perfectly but it seems to have worked, as the passage says they healed people everywhere.  Maybe we might want to think about using Jesus' training program, after all it worked. 


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