The Bible Says
Luke 9:6 Meaning

The parallel Gospel accounts for Luke 9:6 are Matthew 10:1, 7-8 and Mark 6:12-13.

In Luke 9:6, the twelve went out from Jesus, traveling through the villages, preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere.

In the previous section (Luke 9:1-5), Jesus empowered His closest disciples (the twelve) with authority to cast out demons and heal diseases, and He commanded them to go “proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing” (Luke 9:2). Jesus also gave them instructions for their mission (Luke 9:3-5).

Matthew’s Gospel indicated that they were specifically sent to towns in Israel (Matthew 10:5-6), while Mark’s Gospel indicates that they were sent out in pairs (Mark 6:7).

The Gospel of Matthew provides an extensive account of Jesus’s instructions for this mission. But Luke and Mark’s Gospel accounts gave a summary of what the twelve were to do during their mission (Luke 9:3-5 and Mark 6:8-11).

The more detailed account of Jesus’s instructions can be found in Matthew 10:1, 5-42.

After Jesus directed His disciples as to what they were to do, He sent them out to accomplish their mission.

Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere (v 6).

The disciples obeyed Jesus. They began going throughout the villages and towns doing what He told them and equipped them to do—namely:

1. Preach the gospel (i.e. the good news that the Messiah had come and His kingdom was at hand);
   
   
2. And to perform miracles of healing which would validate their remarkable message.

Mark’s Gospel account is the most detailed about the disciples’ preaching and healing:

“They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.”
(Mark 6:12-13)

Luke says the disciples went everywhere.

Matthew’s Gospel provides context for what everywhere included. It was the Jewish towns in Israel (Matthew 10:6).

According to the Gospel of Matthew, as the disciples departed on this missionary journey, Jesus Himself also departed to teach and preach in their cities (Matthew 11:1).

The use of the word depart could suggest that Jesus was beginning a new teaching circuit.

Jesus had just entrusted and empowered the twelve disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God and perform healings in these villages (Luke 9:2), and He also departed to do the same, continuing His mission alongside theirs.

The Gospels do not explicitly provide details about the duration of this tour. It may have spanned a few days, weeks, or possibly even months.