Daily Bible Reading 27th July 2026 // Luke 9:1-9
1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. 9 Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him.
Let us consider this idea of Christ's sending the disciples out to assist Him in the spreading of His message. This is where the context can help us. According to Mark, the sending out of the Twelve follows immediately upon the verses which record the unbelief of Nazareth and Galilee. In Mark 6:6, we read that Jesus marvelled because of their unbelief; and His reaction to this was to go round the villages teaching. Then He sent forth His disciples, two by two, to do the same. It was firstly, then, because of the unresponsiveness of the people, and the unbelief of the district, that He sent forth the disciples. The unbelief was a challenge, and this is how the challenge was met: the patient teaching of the Word of God - under that influence there is always the possibility of a change, and that the light might break through to men. In Matthew's version, we see that the sending forth is grounded in the compassion of Christ (9:36-38; 10:1ff). He saw the people as sheep without a shepherd, and this drew His compassion (seeing them, as He did, as a harvest to be reaped for God) and prompted Him to send the disciples out to do the reaping. The implication of all this? Since the disciples were sent forth because of Christ's compassion, they were therefore being commissioned to be channels of that compassion, and the way they were to be channels was through the preaching of the kingdom of God. They were channels of Christ's compassion and power - in face of the lostness of the people and of their unresponsiveness and unbelief. This is the light in which we need to understand the specific instructions which our Lord gave to them.