LENT 2011 – Online Bible Study

On The Road With Jesus: A Study of Matthew 10-20 

The marvelous thing about the Gospels is that they bring us into contact with Jesus. Jesus’ earthly life is far in the past. But through the Gospels. we can join his disciples as they accompany him along the roads of first century Palestine, watching and listening to him. The Gospels are a meeting place where we can hear Jesus speaking to us and we can speak to him. In this bible study we are going to do just that – listen to Jesus so that we can speak to him. We’re going to hit the road with Jesus. The readings of the six sessions are all taken from the accounts of Jesus’ journeys with his disciples in the middle part of Matthew’s Gospel.

Week 1: Mt. 9:35-38 – 11:1

Travel Light, My Friends

35 Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. 36 At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; 38 so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

(9:35) Jesus Devotes Himself to Reaching People Everywhere.

              In the beginning of this section as Jesus is touring all the towns and villages, we see the 3-fold activity which is the essence of the life of Jesus: 1) Jesus was a proclaimer, also translated herald. A herald brings a certain and exact message from the king  – Jesus brought a certain and exact message from God. A herald does not proclaim his opinions but a message which can be believed and by which one is expected to live. In this age of uncertainty – we have ceased to be sure of anything – we can believe in the certainty of Jesus’ message because it comes straight from God. 2) Jesus was a teacher. It is not enough to proclaim the certainties of God and stop there – we must also be able to teach the significance of these certainties for life and for living. We teach Christianity not by talking about it but by living it – it’s not our duty to discuss Christianity with others but to show what it is to others, not to talk about Jesus but to show him. A saint is someone in whom Christ lives again. 3) Jesus was a healer. Jesus gospel did not stop at words, it was translated into deeds. Jesus spent more time healing, feeding, and comforting than he did talking about God. He turned the words of Christian truth into deeds of Christian love.

(9:36) Jesus’ Motivation Is Compassion. In the gospels Jesus is often “moved with compassion.” The word used for this is the strongest word for pity in the Greek language. It comes from a word for bowels. Jesus was moved to the deepest depths of his being by the world’s pain, the world’s sorrow, the world’s hunger, the world’s loneliness, the world’s bewilderment and dejection (words that translate to those who’s body and soul are so “mangled” by others that they are “laid prostrate” as if by a mortal wound – the Jewish leaders were so bewildering people with the subtleties about the Law that they felt weighed down and trapped under the weight).   

             Both Jesus’ proclamation and practical acts of compassion go beyond what many Christians call ministry today. Our communities are ravaged by demonic forces, violence, injustice and all kinds of human pain, while the church sometimes remains irrelevant except to the few who venture through our doors. To follow Jesus’ model of ministry, more Christians must stop simply going to church and learn rather to become the church among our communities in evangelism and ministry to social needs. (If we do not know where to begin on the latter, staff with local social services organizations may be more than happy to provide advice.)

              When lacking God-appointed leaders, God’s people in the Hebrew Bible often appear as “sheep without a shepherd” (Num 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; 2 Chron 18:16), inviting the compassionate Lord to shepherd his people himself (Ezek 34:11-16), including feeding them (Ezek 34:2-3; Mt 14:19-20), healing them (Ezek 34:4; Mt 9:35) and bringing the lost sheep back (Ezek 34:4-6; Mt 18:12-14). This implies that the religious leaders of Israel who purported to be their shepherds had failed to obey God’s commission (Ezek 34:2-10; Mt 23). The disciples will carry on Jesus’ mission to these sheep (10:6). (See the song: “Like a Shepherd”)

(9:37) We Need More Workers to Complete the Task

                Jewish teachers understood that each of them could handle only so many students. The term Jesus uses for workers here recurs in 10:10, indicating that the workers Jesus wished to send forth into the harvest were his own disciples. He trains us in our life with him so we can reach the world for him, making other disciples who in turn can carry on the work (28:19). The urgency of harvest was a potent image that sparked similar analogies among other Jewish teachers

                The only hope for taking Jesus’ message to all people is in Christians’ multiplying their labors by training disciples to continue and expand the work. If each one of us could win to Christ just one person a year and lead them to do the same, the results of that seed over two or three decades would be billions of people won to Christ. We each have different gifts and callings, but to the extent that we share our Lord’s values and commitment to his cause, we will devote our time, energy, wealth and other resources to the task of reaching this world with the message of the kingdom and practical demonstrations of its power.

(9:38) Jesus Summons His Laborers to Pray for More Laborers Not all Christians will cross major cultural boundaries or become full-time missionaries, but all of us must be mobilized to pray for the world vision he has summoned us to share with him. An excellent resource in this respect is Patrick Johnstone’s Operation World, which lists every nation of the world, aims to depict accurately the state of the church there, and provides important points for prayer; it ranks among those classic resources of which all missions-minded Christians should avail themselves. After praying through it, Christians may find themselves called to pray for specific peoples and parts of the world and perhaps may seek ways to minister to representatives of those peoples in our own land. And who knows, in the end God may call some of us who pray to actually go to a foreign land.

                It’s not enough to just pray for the harvest (although that is all some people will ever be able to do) or to just give our money (although that certainly is needed) we must all be active laborers for there is someone each of us can and must bring to God.

Chapter 10

1 Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; 4 Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

(10:1-4) The Messengers of the King.

                At this strategic point, we learn that Jesus’ mission is not his alone. This section, which introduces Jesus’ mission discourse in chapter 10, parallels Jesus with the disciples who must carry on his works

                As Jesus demonstrated the kingdom by compassionately healing, his disciples must do the same. Jesus’ mission is likewise the church’s mission.

                If a leader is about to embark on any great undertaking he first must choose his staff upon which the present effect and future success of his work depend. Jesus chose 12 men perhaps to signify the restoring of the people of Israel with their 12 tribes. Notice that when they are named that they are named in twos. When we are sent we are sent together – it’s teamwork that gets the job done.

                Why these twelve? 1) They were ordinary, chosen from the common people, with no special education, and no special advantages. Jesus chose these men not for who they were but because he knew what they were capable of becoming. Jesus takes what the ordinary person offers and makes it great under his influence and power. 2) They were an extraordinary mixture. Jesus put together a zealot and a tax-collector. – had Simon the Zealot (Canaanite) met Matthew the tax-collector anywhere else he would have killed him without hesitation for being in the employ of the enemy. As Jesus choice of followers demonstrates, when we love Christ we can learn to love each other.

                 Any of us who struggle with whether we are adequate to carry out God’s purposes in the world should recall that the first ambassadors Jesus called were wholly inadequate. God especially uses those who will recognize their own inadequacy. Those who suppose their own ability adequate for God’s call usually end up depending on it instead of on him.

                 When you put together the synoptic accounts of the calling of the twelve certain facts emerge: 1) Jesus chose them from among the disciples. There are many tasks in the Kingdom and Jesus is always searching the crowd for the best people for each of his tasks. God is always saying “Whom shall I send?” (Is 6:8)   2) Jesus called them. He doesn’t force anyone to do his work, he invites. We can accept the call or not.  3) He appointed them. In the Greek the word is used for appointing someone to some office. Jesus was like a King appointing his ministers or cabinet. Those chosen and called do not just drift into a role of service but are appointed to do it.  4) They were appointed from amongst the disciples. A disciple is a learner. Those whom Jesus calls are ready and willing to learn more every day to be a step closer to God.  5) They were chosen to be with him. If they were to go out to do Jesus’ work in the world they must first live in his presence. No work of the Church can ever be done without the worker having spent time with Jesus first – before spending time with his people.  6) They were called to be apostles. The meaning of the word is one who is sent, much like an ambassador. The Christian is Jesus’ ambassador to the world. 7) They were called to be heralds. The Christian is the herald of Christ. We do not bring our own opinions to the world but a message from Jesus, the King. That is why we must begin in the presence of the King, so that we may receive the right message.

5 Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.

(5-8a) The Commission of the King’s Messenger 

                Here we have the beginning of the King’s commission to he messengers. The word used by Jesus here was (in Greek) paragellein. It is a word that connotes a military commander giving orders to his soldiers or a king dispatching his  ambassadors. But in this command, why were they told here not to go to the Gentiles when Jesus himself preaches to Gentiles and later says they are to go out to all the nations? There are three good reasons: 1) the Jews had a very special place in God’s plan and had to be given first offer of the gospel. 2) The twelve were not equipped to preach to the Gentiles, having neither the background, the knowledge, nor the technique. Before the gospel could be brought to the Gentiles, someone with Paul’s life and background had to emerge. The message will not succeed if the messenger is ill-equipped to deliver it. A wise teacher realizes his limitations. 3) Any wise commander knows he must limit his objectives, he must direct his attack at one chosen point or risk dissipating his strength and failing. The smaller the forces, the more limited the front of attack. Jesus was a wise commander who chose to focus his attack on Galilee, a place most open to new ideas because of its geographic location as a major crossroads of Palestine. It was said that the world passed through Galilee and so the inhabitants were used to, and accepting of, new ideas.

                 “The disciples’ mission (vv. 7-8) replicates and extends the mission of Jesus in preaching the coming of God’s kingdom and in healing the sick. Matthew emphasizes the continuity between Jesus’ mission and that of the disciples precisely because the model of ministry God had exemplified in Jesus remains important for Jesus’ followers.

Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. 9 Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; 10 no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep.

(8b-10) The Equipment of the King’s Messenger. 

                 A rabbi was bound by law to give his teaching freely. What he received freely from God was to be freely given away

                 The apostles were to take nothing with them but rely completely on God for their needs. The Talmud says: “no one is to go to the temple mount with staff, shoes, girdle of money, or dusty feet.” The idea was that when a man entered the temple he had to leave behind everything that had to do with worldly affairs. What Jesus is saying to his apostles is to treat the whole world as the temple of God. (Jesus says take no bag because having a bag implied that one was going to accept money from the crowd after having preached.)

                 Although Christ does not send all Christians the same way he sent these disciples, their obedience to their calling challenges us to consider what we can sacrifice for the work of God’s kingdom. The message of this text summons us to radically value our mission above all possessions and to live as simply as necessary to devote our resources to evangelism. The disciples can travel light because they trust God to supply their needs where they minister. Who will believe the message of trusting in God if the messengers don’t?

                 Although the person of God must never be concerned with material things, the people of God must never fail in their duty to support the person of God. There is an obligation to both groups here.

11 Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter a house, wish it peace. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. 14 Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words–go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. 15 Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

(11-15) The Conduct of the King’s Messengers. 

                 When they came to a town they must look for a house that is worthy. It would only hinder the message if they were to stay somewhere with a bad reputation. They were to stay there no matter how humble a place and not look for something better – even if they had completed their work there and were looking for further converts.

                 Jewish people viewed their greetings as “wish-prayers”: Shalom (salom), “peace,” meant “May it be well with you.” Just as a curse undeserved will not take effect (Prov 26:2), Jesus declares that the disciples’ blessings will be efficacious only if they prove appropriate.

                 Those who received the agents of Christ ultimately received Christ himself, even if the only hospitality they had available to offer was a cup of water. But those who rejected Christ’s agents were to be treated like spiritual pagans. Just as Jewish people returning to the Holy Land might shake the dust of Gentile lands from their feet, so Jesus’ disciples were to treat those who rejected their message as unholy. God would treat these nations not merely like Gentiles in general, but worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, for they were rejecting a greater opportunity for repentance than Sodom had since Jesus is in their midst.

16 “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. 17 But beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. 20 For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

(16-22) It was Matthew’s custom to collect in one place all the material on any given subject, even if it was spoken by Jesus on different occasions. Here Matthew has a collection of sayings of Jesus on persecution from different times and occasions.

To our ears Jesus’ words about families killing each other may be harsh but the Jews knew what Jesus was referring to. In Jewish writings there were many references to the division of time into two ages: the present age which was wholly bad and the future age to come which was the golden age of God. In between these ages was the Day of the Lord which would be a terrible time of chaos, destruction, and judgment.  So when Jesus spoke about the tearing apart of the bonds of families and friends, he and his followers knew that he was saying, in effect, that the Day of the Lord had come, right now. And the golden age of God was beginning.

                In this passage also we see Jesus being deeply honest with his followers about what they can expect if they want to follow him. Most people who want to win someone over or to get someone to buy into something will entice them with the promise that it will be a bed of roses all the way. Jesus does the opposite. If you want to follow my way, he says, you will be persecuted and probably killed – do you still want to come? You have to be willing to be a hero to follow me. You must be able to withstand hatred and persecution from governments, religions, and your own families

23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

(23a) The Prudence of the King’s Messenger

                 It is not wise to court martyrdom. In other words do not needlessly invite persecution or throw away your life in a way that does not help the faith. Sometimes there is more heroism in fleeing danger than in stopping to meet it. In their teaching, the rabbis of Jesus time would cite this example: If a Roman soldier told you to eat pork simply so he could humiliate and laugh at you, then eat it. But if that same soldier told you to eat pork as a sign that you renounce Judaism and are ready to worship Jupiter and the emperor, then you must refuse even though it meant death.

(23b) This passage is a strange saying that probably did not come out of Jesus mouth as Matthew writes it. It seems to say that before the apostles had completed their preaching tour, Jesus day of glory and return to power would have taken place. This did not in fact happen so Jesus would not have said this. Because the early Church believed Jesus would return during their lifetime, they sometimes read into Jesus’ words meanings that weren’t actually there. Look at this passage in the three synoptics. In Mark 9:1 we read: “Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God come with power.” In Luke 9:27 we read: “But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” In Matthew 16:28 we read: “Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”   Mark’s is the earliest version and most likely to be accurate. Most of Jesus followers would still be around for a time after the Resurrection when the news of the Risen Christ and the coming of the Kingdom with power had swept over the civilized world all the way to Rome. Luke says the same thing. But Matthew, writing in a time of terrible persecution when Christians were clutching at everything which promised release from agony, took a saying foretelling the coming of the Kingdom and turned it into a saying foretelling the return of Christ within their lifetime. Who can blame him?

24 No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!

(24-25) The King’s Messenger and the King’s Sufferings. 

                 Jesus is warning his followers that whatever happens to him will likely happen to them. In this saying are two things to note. 1) The word used for “members of his household” is a Greek word meaning members of a government officials staff. If Jesus is to suffer, the members of his staff will suffer as well. Jesus calls us to not only share the victory of the battle but the agony of the warfare. 2) There is a statement of privilege. We have the privilege of being in the company of Christ walking with him through suffering into the power of his Resurrection.

26 “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. 27 What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. 30 Even all the hairs of your head are counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

(26-31) The King’s Messenger’s Freedom from Fear.

                 Three times in this passage Jesus tells his followers not to be afraid. 1) Don’t be afraid because truth will always come out in the end, it cannot stay hidden. Listen to Jesus speak to you before you speak to others. We cannot proclaim the truth unless we listen to the truth. Listen with reverence and speak with courage knowing that whether listening or speaking you are in the presence of God, the Truth. Since the housetops were flat it was easier and much more effective to shout out your message from up there than down in the streets. 2) Because God is the judge in the end, we should not fear even persecutors who threaten death. Mortals can destroy only one’s body, while God can resurrect the body for damnation and destroy the whole person with eternal torture. The choice is not between courage and fear but has to do with whom we will fear more. Jesus may here recall the Jewish martyr tradition, which exhorted its followers not to fear those who think they can kill, because eternal suffering awaits the soul that disobeys God’s command (4 Macc 13:14-15). 3) God cares! If God cares every time a sparrow “falls” (meaning: hops to the ground) “how much more” (a standard line of Jewish reasoning) will he care about us and everything we do. Ever since Old Testament times God has been keeping track of the hairs on our heads (1 Sam 14:45; 2 Sam 14:11; 1 Kings 1:52). All creation is continuously surrounded by God’s care. How then can we be afraid?

32 Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. 33 But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

(32-33) The Loyalty Of The King’s Messenger And Its Rewards.

                   If we are loyal to Jesus in this life he will be loyal to us in the next. If there had not been men and women in the early church who were loyal to Jesus even in the face of death, there would be no Christian church today. What are the ways we sometimes deny Jesus? 1) We may deny him with our words. We say to ourselves we are Christian but we don’t speak about it to others because we have no intention of being any different that anyone else. 2) We deny him by our silence. When we are called to show whose side we are on, we remain silent. 3) We deny him by our actions. We live a life that is far removed from the ideals of the gospel.

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. 35 For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’ 37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

(34-39) The Warfare of the King’s Messenger.

                   Here Jesus offers us four things we probably don’t really want to deal with:  1) Warfare. (Remember, Jesus often speaks as a military commander.) Warfare implies division. Whose side are we on? It may not be the same side the rest of our family is on. (see the Day of the Lord above). You must choose a side. There is no DMZ. 2)  A choice. Sometime we have to choose between our closest earthly ties and loyalty to God. Loyalty to God must always come first. 3) A cross. Galileans knew well what a cross was. It was the most agonizing death. A Christian may have to sacrifice ambitions, dreams, family, comfort, even his/her own will. He/she is called to “die to self” in order to do what Christ wants him/her to do. Christianity is the religion of the cross. 4) Adventure on a voyage of discovery. There is no policy of safety first in the Christian life. We were not sent to this earth to make ourselves safe and comfortable. We were sent to spend our lives loving and serving God and each other. Jesus came to disturb the comfortable so that we might comfort the disturbed. That is the adventure we are sent on. And how we discover who we really are.

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple–amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

(40-42) The Reward of Those Who Welcome the King’s Messenger.

                  The Jews believed that to pay respect to an ambassador was to pay respect to the king who sent him. Here are the four links in the chain of salvation: 1)God, out of whose love the whole process began; 2) Jesus, who brought the message to human beings; 3) the human messenger, who speaks the Word they have received to others; and 4) the believer, who welcomes the messenger and the message and thus finds life for his soul.

                  To this point Jesus has been speaking to his disciples as though all of them will be wandering missionaries needing hospitality as they speak the Word. Now, however, he speaks as though some will be householders who will be welcoming and giving hospitality to the wandering messengers.

                   In this passage there is a reward for everyone, no matter how great or small, who seeks to follow Jesus. Whether we are a great prophet or we simply offer hospitality to our prophets, we will be rewarded the same. The Church will always need great saints whose names are household words, but it also needs those whose hearts and homes, where all can find God’s love, are always open and ready to welcome even  the  least in the Kingdom. We are all members of the same community and Jesus is present in all of us. Even the smallest service to anyone who is identified with Jesus is a service to him.

References: The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1and 2 by William Barclay; On the Road With Jesus by Kevin Parotta; www.biblegateway.com