Cost of Discipleshiip
To be his disciple means taking up the cross daily and following in Christ’s footsteps, even when doing so means death - Mark 6:7-30.
To walk in Christ’s footsteps, one must first
count the cost to have any hope of seeing the journey through to the end.
Discipleship does not come without personal cost.
TWELVE SENT
Jesus sent the disciples out to proclaim the
arrival of the “kingdom,” to cast out demons, and to pray for the sick,
and he gave them his authority to do so. Just as he was the representative of
the Father, so the Twelve became his envoys - (Mark 6:7-13).
“He
summoned the twelve and began to send them out two by two.” This was
in accord with the Mosaic Law that requires a man’s testimony to be
corroborated by two or more witnesses, for the twelve would do more than simply
teach religious principles. Effectively, they became witnesses for how the
Jewish people responded to their Messiah - (Deuteronomy 19:15).
Jesus “began to send
them forth.” The verb rendered “began” indicates he sent them to
preach on more than one occasion. The Greek verb apostellō or
“send forth” is related to the noun apostolos from
which the noun “apostle” is
derived.
“Put on sandals…do not put on two tunics.”
This description refers to the inner garment worn by the men of that day beneath
their outer cloaks. The items the twelve were to carry - staff, belt, sandals, tunic
- correspond to the instructions given to Israel by Moses on the night of Passover
in Egypt - “In this manner, you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals
on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in
haste. It is Yahweh's Passover” - (Exodus 12:11).
The disciples were to announce something of far more import than the original exodus from Egypt. Like the ancient Israelites, they were not to be encumbered with anything that might impede their journey. Just as there was urgency in Israel’s flight from Egypt, so there was urgency in their mission to proclaim the kingdom to the villages of Galilee.
“And
shake off the dust under your feet for a witness.” It was the
common practice for Jews traveling through Gentile lands to shake the dust off their
feet when they arrived home so that no “unclean” pagan soil would pollute the
land of Israel. When the disciples did this it was tantamount to declaring the
offending Jewish village Gentile territory and ritually
unclean. But with the coming of the Messiah, there could be no
presumption of salvation based on geography, nationality, or ethnicity.
HEROD AND JOHN
The
gospel of Mark inserts the story of John’s execution
between the sending of the twelve and their return to Jesus. The unjust death
of the Baptist provides an example of the cost of becoming his disciple (Mark
6:14-29).
Herod
Antipas was one of the sons of Herod
the Great and the tetrarch of Galilee
and Peræa, and he ruled
as the faithful vassal of Rome. “Tetrarch” means the “ruler of a
fourth.” Following his death, the domain of Herod the Great was divided between
four of his sons. And as the ruler appointed by Rome, Herod Antipas had the
authority to execute a prisoner convicted of a capital crime in his realm.
Herodias had divorced the half-brother of
Herod Antipas to marry him, a violation of the Mosaic regulations regarding incest.
And though a wife could divorce her husband under the laws of Rome, the Mosaic
Law did not allow a wife to initiate divorce - (Leviticus 18:16, 20:21).
In the eyes of John, Herodias was still
married to the half-brother of Antipas, making her an adulteress. In his turn,
Herod Antipas divorced his previous wife so he could marry Herodias. In the
passage, her daughter is unnamed, but the Jewish historian Josephus identified
her as ‘Salome,’ the daughter of Herodias and her first husband.
CHRIST’S COMING DEATH
John’s execution foreshadowed the death of
Jesus. Like John, he was executed by the representative of Rome. Like Herod,
Pontius Pilate hesitated to kill a prisoner that he knew to be righteous but did
so anyway. And like the Temple authorities that demanded the death of Jesus and
manipulated the crowds to demand it, Herodias got her way through her machinations
behind the scenes.
And the disciples of John came for his body
and buried him, just as Joseph of Arimathea requested the body of Jesus from
Pilate, prepared it carefully, and buried it.
- (Mark 6:30) – “And the apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus. And they told him all things, whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught.”
By embedding the death of John in this story,
Mark links the gospel mission of the disciples with the opposition from the
religious and political authorities of Judea. The story highlights the hard
truth that to become a disciple one must be willing to follow in his footsteps
even when doing so leads to inevitable and foreseeable death.
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