One significant difference between the setting in Luke 9 and today is hospitality. In biblical culture, hospitality was a requirement! The widow in Zarephath took her last food and gave it to the prophet Elijah. She had no idea God would use her obedience to sustain her and her son, yet she showed hospitality. If you read the Scriptures carefully, you’ll repeatedly see this display of costly, self-sacrificing hospitality. It was this kind of hospitality the disciples were to rely on.
Even today, hospitality in the eastern part of the world is given much more readily than in the West. In the Southeast Asian countries I’ve visited, I’ve experienced this kind of hospitality. People have so little compared to what most of us in the West enjoy, yet they gladly sacrifice their best to entertain a stranger! It’s a humbling experience.
A widow who hosted us killed one of her laying hens to provide a meal for us Bible teachers. She lived next door to the venue of the classes, and I saw her catch the chicken around noon. Later that evening, she served that chicken to us as part of the meal in her home. We gathered in a bedroom, sat on the beds, and had wonderful fellowship together around that meal. Killing that chicken was a sacrifice for her; it meant no more eggs from that one.
Another part of this command was where they were to stay as they proclaimed the Gospel. Jesus told them to go to one house and, once they were received there, to stay as long as they were in that town. How would you like that kind of visitor?
So, if Jesus does not expect you and me to follow this delineated simplicity literally, should we ignore it and move on? That is not why the Holy Spirit moved Mark to record this teaching. Once again, there are broader principles here.
Did you ever think about how much more quickly the Gospel could be spread if we all learned to live with less? Some of you think I left off preaching and have gone to meddling! But Jesus does not ask His disciples, then or now, to do things He was unwilling to do. Jesus stated in His teaching that food and clothing are the two necessities of our human existence. We often add a third one – I think, legitimately – shelter. But my possessions go way beyond those necessities, and I assume yours do, too.
It’s not hard to see how our failure to live simply affects our ability to proclaim the Gospel, whether we serve in our local community or halfway around the world.
Most people who feel called to missions need training to prepare for the field. They take time to be mentored or discipled by those with mission experience. Sometimes, that training saddles them with financial debts. (I don’t think that’s God’s plan, but it happens.) So, they must work for a few years to pay off that debt. Then, once that’s done, they need to raise support to go to the field of their calling. Some of them will spend many months raising finances to afford a standard of living similar to what they enjoyed at home. When they get to the field, that difference in their living standard creates barriers to the Gospel.
There are, however, a growing number of people who are pursuing a different path. They understand the need for training in missions, and they are getting that training. But once the training is finished, they head for their particular field of service, trusting God to provide for their needs. Family, friends, and even local church congregations support them, but they do not ask for funds. When they have needs, they pray and ask God to...
