Mark 6:12-13

Mark 6:12-13

[12] And  they went out,  and preached  that  men should repent.  [13] And  they cast out  many  devils,  and  anointed  with oil  many  that were sick,  and  healed 

What does Mark 6:12-13 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The Twelve were to do the same three things that Jesus did in His ministry (cf. Mark 1:4; Mark 1:14-15; Mark 1:32-34; Mark 1:39; Mark 3:10). Their mission was an extension of His mission (cf. Mark 16:15-20). Mark did not mention that Jesus sent them only to the Jews. Perhaps he wanted his readers to view themselves as carrying on Jesus" ministry as the Twelve did then (cf. Matthew 10:5-6). The Twelve learned that Jesus" power extended beyond His personal presence and that God would work through them as He did through Jesus.
"Their coming to a village brought healing and salvation in the most comprehensive terms because they were his representatives. Jesus had commissioned them and they came in his name. What Jesus did in his own power as commissioned by God, the disciples did in his power." [1]
Mark alone mentioned the Twelve anointing people with oil. People commonly applied oil for medicinal purposes in Jesus" day (cf. Luke 10:34; James 5:14). [2] This ritual also symbolized God coming on the anointed person enabling that one to serve Him and setting the anointed person apart for God"s use. This, too, would have special significance for reader disciples who had experienced God"s anointing with the Holy Spirit at conversion and who had a similar ministry in their (our) day.
This pericope shows Jesus continuing to train His disciples for the ministry that lay before them and continuing to extend His own ministry of service through them. In their duties, the manner of their service, and their responses to the reactions to their ministry, they were to conduct themselves as the servants of the Servant.
"This participation of the Twelve in Jesus" ministry and its apparent success contributes greatly to the irony in Mark"s portrait of the Twelve in this segment of the Gospel ( Mark 6:7 to Mark 8:26). On the one hand, it opens with this special mission whose success reported in Mark 6:30 apparently reached to Herod"s court ( Mark 6:14) and led to a relentless response by the crowds ( Mark 6:31-33). On the other hand, the very Twelve who experienced a special calling and relationship with Jesus and now participate fully in this ministry are seen to lack understanding ( Mark 6:52; Mark 7:18; Mark 8:14-21) and even reflect a "hardened heart" ( Mark 6:52; Mark 8:17-18). This growing irony between the Twelve"s special privilege and lack of understanding has its seed in the previous section (e.g, Mark 4:11; cf. Mark 4:13; Mark 4:33-34; cf. Mark 4:41)." [3]