This is another "sandwich"or chiastic section in design (cf. 8:40-56). This structural device usually gives unity to the whole section and focuses attention on the central part of it. First, Jesus sent the Twelve on an evangelistic mission throughout Galilee. Luke filled in the period of their mission proper with information about how Herod Antipas and the people perceived Jesus. Third, the writer recorded the return of the Twelve to their Master. The whole mission prefigured the later mission of these and other disciples to the ends of the earth that Acts records. The lessons that Jesus taught about dependence on God and rejection by men apply to the church's mission in the present dispensation. Jesus' instructions to His missionaries, rather than the activities of the missionaries, are the core of this pericope. However the reader must carefully distinguish the basic principles that Jesus taught from the specific directions that He meant for this particular mission and no other.
9:1-2 Luke alone recorded that Jesus gave the Twelve both power (Gr. dynamis, spiritual ability) and authority (Gr. exousia, the right to exercise power). The parallel Gospel accounts refer only to authority. In both his Gospel and in Acts, Luke stressed the validation of Jesus' gospel preaching with signs and wonders. Other false teachers could do powerful miracles presumably by Satan's power (cf. Acts 13:6-10; 19:13). Consequently it was necessary that Jesus' disciples could validate their preaching with powerful miracles as Jesus did. The Twelve received authority over all demons. None would prove too powerful for them. The disciples' primary duty was to preach the kingdom of God, and their way of showing the Jews that God was behind their preaching was by performing miracles. Thus they followed Jesus' precedent (cf. 8:26-56; 9:11).
9:3 The Twelve were to trust God to provide their food, protection, and shelter daily. They were not to take a walking staff (Gr. hrabdos) used on a long journey by foot (cf. Matt. 9:10). Mark wrote that Jesus commanded the Twelve to take a staff (Gr. hrabdos, Mark 6:8). The solution to this apparent contradiction may be that Jesus originally either permitted or prohibited the taking of a staff and later did the opposite. The prohibition suggests a mission of short duration and the permission a concession for comfort.
Jesus also forbade taking a bag (Gr. pera) for their necessities (i.e., a suitcase), food, money, or an extra undergarment (Gr. chiton). In view of these restrictions it appears that Jesus anticipated a brief mission for the Twelve (v. 10). They could live like this temporarily but not permanently. Furthermore their simple lifestyle suggested the imminency of the messianic kingdom that they announced.
9:4 The disciples were to accept the hospitality that others would offer them, but they were not to move from house to house unnecessarily. Moving from house to house would probably imply that they were seeking better accommodations, and this would insult their hosts. People who entertained the Twelve would be demonstrating support for Jesus since His disciples were representing Him (cf. 3 John 5-7).
9:5 Jewish travelers often shook the dust off their feet when they returned from a journey in Gentile territory to reject symbolically the Gentile's uncleanness.248When the Twelve did this, it represented rejection of the unbelievers who had not received their message and them (cf. Acts 13:51; 18:6). Evidently Jesus meant this as a sign of individual, but primarily citywide, rejection (cf. Matt. 9:14-15).
9:6 Luke summarized the mission of the Twelve briefly. "Everywhere"means everywhere in that region of Galilee (cf. Matt. 10:5-6). Luke probably left the word undefined so his Christian readers would see the parallel with the Great Commission.
Thus Jesus' disciples made a tour of Galilee two by two (Mark 6:7) as Jesus had made a tour of Galilee with them. They did as He had done preaching and healing (cf. Acts).
