Biblion Bible Commentary
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Sent Out, and Herod's Question
Luke 9:1-9
1 He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. · WEB
The twelve are sent with nothing, and a guilty tetrarch starts asking who this is.
He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases Luke 9:1.
The mission is told in the earliest account Mark 6:1–29. What they are given is delegated — he gave — and it is the same pair of things he has been doing himself for five chapters. They are not sent to describe the work; they are sent to do it.
"Take nothing for your journey: no staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money. Don't have two coats apiece" Luke 9:3. The list is designed to remove every fallback. A traveler without a bag or a spare coat is dependent on hospitality by the end of the first day, which is the arrangement rather than an oversight — the reception they get becomes part of the message.
"As many as don't receive you, when you depart from that city, shake off even the dust from your feet" Luke 9:5. The gesture is a formal disclaimer rather than an insult. It says the matter is closed and the responsibility has transferred.
Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him; and he was very perplexed Luke 9:7.
The account cuts to the palace, and this Gospel's version is distinctive: it gives Herod's state of mind rather than the execution of John, which it has already reported out of sequence Luke 3:19–20.
Because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead Luke 9:7. The rumors run through the same three options the disciples will report a few verses later — John, Elijah, one of the old prophets Luke 9:19. The public has three categories and he does not fit any of them.
Herod said, "I beheaded John, but who is this about whom I hear such things?" He sought to see him Luke 9:9.
The sentence is a confession dressed as a question. He names what he did in the first clause and asks his question in the second, and the two are connected in his own mind whether or not he admits it.
He sought to see him is the line to keep. This Gospel is the one that records the meeting when it finally comes — and when Herod at last has him in a room, he wants a miracle and gets silence Luke 23:8–9.
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