In chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew, we have been studying Jesus’
activities following His ‘Sermon on the Mount.’
We saw that Jesus was demonstrating His authority to speak about and
clarify the Hebrew scriptures. It was
the only Bible that they had in those days.
It came in two versions: copies
of the original Hebrew and Aramaic writings and the Greek translation called
the Septuagint. Their Bible was not yet
combined into a single volume like we have but consisted of individual scrolls
some of which combined related books like First and Second Samuel, etc. but
they were considered the authoritative Word of God. Scholars tell us that most of the population
were not able to read, so they depended on scribes (sometimes called lawyers)
and rabbis (meaning teachers) who would read and interpret them.
Jesus presented Himself as a Rabbi, a Teacher, with real
authority to proclaim and interpret God’s Word as demonstrated in His ‘sermon
on the mount.’ His miraculous deeds that
followed demonstrated that He also had the authority to forgive sins. John the Baptist who was commonly held to be in
the line of the Old Testament prophets had already proclaimed Jesus to be the “Lamb
of God which takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).” And the deeds that Jesus did also
demonstrated His credentials as the Messiah just as predicted in their
Bible. When the Messiah came the blind
would see, the lepers would be cleansed, the dumb would speak, and the deaf
would hear (Isaiah 35). And so, to
demonstrate that the new Messianic age was upon them, Jesus needed to flood the
land with this wave of healing and compassion.
But He had come as a Man, a Spirit-empowered Man to be sure, but still
he had deliberately limited His abilities while in human form (Phil 2) so there
was more work to do than He could accomplish alone.
The Credentials of the Messiah: Proclamation and
Demonstration
Matthew 9:35-38
is where we need to look first. These
verses give us an overview of all of His work to this point: proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom,
teaching, and healing. They also give
His driving concern in those days. When He
saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and were
like sheep without a shepherd. So, He
turns to His disciples—His followers—and He says, “The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers into His harvest.”
A harvest indicates readiness for gathering. Laborers are those who help gather the
harvest. Those who are ready to change
their mind about whatever is preventing them from entering the kingdom of
heaven are the harvest.
Remember, He has been calling people to repent (because the
Kingdom of God is at hand) and to follow Him.
So what were they to repent
of? What changes needed to be made?
1)
That their trust needed to be in God’s standards
not man’s.
2)
That it is not just outward behavior but the
heart that God is looking at.
3)
That they needed to re-order their priorities—first
God, then others, and finally themselves. (In other words, the great
commandment and the golden rule).
Those who made this profession of repentance under the
ministry of John the Baptist and under the ministry of Jesus and His followers
were publicly baptized. This did not
mean that they were finished sinning.
Even Peter later denied the Lord for example. This did not mean that all who were baptized
necessarily repented. Presumably Judas
along with the other disciples was baptized.
Thus, there was a continual need for repentance as their minds and
hearts were exposed to the teaching of the Word of God. Repentance is never intended to be a one-time
event. It is the ongoing work of God in
our hearts until the day we die. In our
own Christian experience, our first step of faith will include changing our
mind about whatever is preventing us from believing in Jesus. In the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry in
Israel, initial repentance similarly involved changing their mind about those
things which prevented them from believing in Jesus as their Messiah. And then exposure to the proclamation of the
Word of God would cause further repentance as their thinking and behavior was
exposed to the Light.
Those who believed in this way are compared to a great
harvest. But they need laborers who can
help them to see more clearly what it all means. Trust in Jesus alone brings them into the
harvest. Then exposure and obedience to
His words brings about changes in behavior and thinking.
I would like to point out that the Messiah was also going to
make right the great problem that Ezekiel complained about in chapter 34. He saw the people there as sheep who had been
abandoned by their shepherds.
The Laborers of the Messiah: Proclamation and Demonstration
So now Jesus takes up the challenge in Matthew 10 and he calls his twelve disciples. He has many other disciples or followers but
these twelve in particular he has called to follow Him and to be with Him. Not because of their great intellect, or
advanced education, or superior social skills, or even their spiritual
maturity—these were mostly fishermen, two would later deny Him, and all but one
would abandon Him in death. They all
continually jockeyed for higher positions in the kingdom to come. They frequently demonstrated unbelief and a
lack of faith. They still had a lot of
growing to do! Yet Jesus had called them and now He called them into a huddle
and gave them special authority! They
had authority over unclean spirits and healing power over every affliction and
disease.
Was this authority given to every follower? Matthew records only the specific twelve
names that are listed (including Judas!) with specific details so we could know
exactly who was meant. Notice that they
are pairs of names. In Mark 6, they were
said to have been sent out two by two. So this may tell us how they were paired
up.
Now in the remainder of the chapter, your Bible probably has
this broken up into five paragraphs.
These are NOT separate pericopes
because they are not different events.
These paragraphs are convenient outline headings for Jesus’ personal
instructions to the twelve before sending them out. Since God is totally consistent in His nature
and character, we can learn a lot by listening in to what Jesus told the
twelve. They are not necessarily direct
instructions to us, but they do help us to understand God’s desire for us
also. We’ll try to point out some of the
differences as we go along. Our
specific marching orders were given after jesus resurrection just before
he ascended into heaven. This is called
the ‘Great Commission.’ What we have
here is NOT the ‘Great Commission’ but what I am calling the ‘Israel
Commission.’
Look what He told them in the first section of His
instructions: Don’t go to either
the Gentiles or the Samaritans. Just go
to the “Lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
Remember in the last section of Chapter 9, jesus saw the people He was
ministering to as sheep without a shepherd who were harassed and helpless—the
same thing God had seen in Ezekiel 34.
Actually, the same theme is repeated often in the Old Testament. Psalm 23 celebrates the Good Shepherd who takes
care of His flock, etc. So now the
Twelve are sent out to Israel—not the rest of the world like in the Great Commission—but
to the Jews—although notice further down that things will grow out of this that
will be a witness to the rest of the world eventually. By the way, being “sent out” is a translation
of the Greek, apostellw (apostello), which is
where we get the word “apostle.”
Now what are they supposed to do? They are to proclaim, ‘the kingdom of heaven
is at hand’ and cast out demons, heal the sick, cleanse lepers, and most
versions add, ‘raise the dead.’ Notice
that these miracles are not part of the great commission although they did
occur at some times and places as the gospel was taken around the world later
on. But here, they were to be
normative. Also, notice that when
taking the gospel around the world later on, the disciples did not mention the
kingdom of heaven being at hand. Instead
they sometimes talked about how the Jews had betrayed their own Messiah King
and crucified Him on a cross—doing just the opposite of repenting and getting
ready for the kingdom! They did
sometimes mention repentance in proclaiming the gospel because we are all in
rebellion and resist God and this must be repented of to believe in Jesus.
What sort of logistics did they set up? Well, they weren’t supposed to even need a
salary and they weren’t supposed to take any money with them. No food for the journey or extra
clothes—because they were going to be provided for by the ones they ministered
to! Their housing would be provided for
by those who accepted their message.
But some people would not accept their message and
woe to them when the day of judgment comes.
Next time we will look at the obstacles and the
rewards the twelve could expect as they traveled about Israel with the gospel
of the kingdom.
So what do we learn
about God’s concern for people? How does
God choose to limit Himself in reaching out to people? There are two ways people generally approach
God’s accomplishing His will among people:
Some regard God as just making everything work out without regard for
what people may choose. Others regard
God as allowing people to do whatever they want, within human power, and,
knowing the outcome of these choices, He makes them work out according to His
will. Without really debating these
ideas here notice that God does choose to do things that sometimes seem to be a
position of weakness. He does call us to
make some moral choices and says He will hold us responsible for them. He even makes us responsible to reach out to
‘our brother.’ We really are regarded as
‘our brother’s keeper!’ All of these ideas
are quite naturally found in this Jewish Commission just as much in the Great
Commission.
And notice that God
also provides for us as we reach out to others.
In the Great Commission the earlier followers of Jesus were instructed
to support those who spread the message. While in the Israel Commission the
apostles were supposed to depend on those who just now believed to support
them. No prior arrangements were made!
Hey, how are you
supporting the spread of God’s message now that you believe?
© 2018 Eric Thimell
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