Today contains a shocker. He gathers the disciples in and says, “You know what you’ve seen me doing? Now you do it. Go.” SAY WHAT? Me? Us? With what? How? You’re joking, right? Drive out demons? Heal people? We can’t do that. Who do you think we are? We’re just normal joes.” Jesus had the fullness of God in him, but how would that transfer to normal everyday humans? Here’s the first run at it.
“And don’t take anything with you.” More jokes. Nothing? Here’s a picture of utter dependence on God through people. God wasn’t going to feed them or house them, but people would, and that’s how God works. We can’t see Him, and we can’t tell it’s him, but by faith we know that’s how things work. God does almost nothing except through people, and that’s why it’s so hard to tell where he is. We have to know that this is how things work, and so we see through the eyes of faith. That’s why we live by faith, and not by sight.
“Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town.” Like triage: stay where you can make the most difference, where it is needed most, and where you can benefit most.
And they did it! It worked. It’s real. Do you believe it? That’s the question, isn’t it? All we have are the stories. Are they plausible, reliable, and true? I guess that’s where the weight of evidence comes in, and we just have to believe that it’s true, or believe that it isn’t. Either way, it’s faith. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that believing it takes faith, but believing it didn’t happen is something else. It’s all the same: it’s what you choose to believe.