What is the context?
Jesus now sends the Twelve out in pairs and gives them authority over unclean spirits. Their earlier appointment in Mark 3:13–19 included being with Him and being sent. They now carry out the mission for which He has been preparing them.
The instructions require traveling light and receiving hospitality. Mark permits a staff and sandals, but no bread, bag, money, or spare tunic. They are to remain in the house that receives them until they leave the area. If people will neither welcome nor listen to them, they are to leave and shake off the dust as a testimony against that place.
They preach repentance, cast out demons, and heal sick people while anointing them with oil. Repent comes from μετανοέω, metanoeō (meh-tah-noh-EH-oh). Thayer's lexicon includes a changed mind joined with turning from past sins, and specifically lists Mark 6:12. Their message calls for a changed response to God, beyond admiring a new teacher.
Matthew 10:5–15 and Luke 9:1–6 give related instructions, with differences about travel equipment. Mark's wording should remain visible as we consider those accounts. The central picture is a mission carried out under Jesus' authority, with dependence on provision and readiness for both welcome and rejection.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christian readings commonly understand the journey as Jesus preparing His chosen messengers to preach and serve under His authority. They differ in explaining some details. Wesley on Mark 6:8–9 understands the staff allowance as taking what they already have rather than acquiring new equipment. The US Catholic bishops' note on 6:8–9 suggests that the instructions were adjusted for different settings in which the message was being preached. These are explanatory readings, not uniform church rulings about the wording.
The oil anointing also has different church applications. The Catholic Church identifies this passage as pointing toward the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick (Catechism 1511). Reformed teaching in the Westminster Confession, 27.4, recognizes baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two sacraments and does not count this anointing among them.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
The mission answers a need Jesus Himself identifies. In Matthew 9:35–38, His compassion for people like sheep without a shepherd leads to a call for prayer that the Lord of the harvest send workers. The next chapter describes His sending the Twelve. God meets people's need through messengers He calls and equips.
The early journey also prepares them for later service. In Luke 22:35, Jesus asks whether they lacked anything when He sent them without provisions; they answer that they lacked nothing. The following instructions change as their circumstances change. Dependence on Him continues through different circumstances.
After the resurrection, the mission reaches all nations under His authority (Matthew 28:18–20). Acts 13:48–52 shows Paul and Barnabas meeting both welcome and rejection, shaking off dust, and continuing their work. This first sending belongs to the larger movement of God's good news through His people.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.