Mark 6:6-7
Just
about every job requires some training from the employer. Some jobs, like the
military, take months of training before you can even begin to work. And then
you often work very closely with someone, someone with more experience. To
become one of the best soldiers take years of training. Even when you don’t
become one of the best, the military is constantly training because their skill
set is so perishable.
Every
job has some on the job training. It might be as simple as, “Here is the shovel.
Go dig.” But often you have to learn the company way of doing things. Many of
the branded companies spend a lot of time teaching new employees certain ways
of doing very common things.
When
you walk into a Moe’s restaurant, all the employees shout, “Welcome to Moe’s.”
When you enter an Apple store you are greeted by someone in a colored shirt. Orange is here to help you
find who you need to find. Royal Blue are the managers. Navy Blue are the
Geniuses to help with tech problems. Light Blue are the sales people and the
ones who ring you up when you want to pay. All this is learned during
orientation.
Jesus has His disciples in this kind of orientation program. He
has been letting them watch Him in action. They have seen Him do many
miraculous things. He has done all these things not wanting to draw attention
to Himself. He does them and tells those people He has touched to not tell
anyone else. Humility!
When
Jesus sends the disciples out He sends them in pairs. It would be interesting
to know who was paired with whom. Did Peter get one of the quieter disciples
paired with him? We don’t know. Were they paired to make the strongest pairs
overall? Or were there strong teams and weak teams?
When
He sends them out He gives them one tool: His authority. They are not out there
on their own. They aren’t allowed to do their own thing. They are there under
Jesus’ authority. They were there to do what Jesus told them to do.
And
Jesus gives them His trademark: they have authority over impure spirits. Those
pesky demonic spirits don’t stand a chance in Jesus’ presence. And now they don’t
stand a chance in the disciple’s presence. They have the authority to command them
to leave. This is a God kind of power. Remember, they didn’t have it on their
own. They only have it because Jesus gave it to them for this specific mission.
We
have some authority for the LORD as well. How are you using His authority in
your life?