Words Of Encouragement
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
MATTHEW 10:24-42
Jesus’ claims cut clean across our personal aims, desires and even family ties.
Some further sayings of Jesus for the encouragement of his disciples are appended. The persecutions in store for them are no greater than what he himself must endure (cf. John 13:16; 15:20; 16:2; also Luke 6:40). There may be two plays on words in 10:25 if Jesus spoke in Aramaic: “it is enough for the disciple” would be shewi le-shewilya (if “disciple” be understood in the sense of “apprentice”), and the name Beelzebul itself may mean “master of the house” (Jesus is referring back to the taunt of 9:34). But if the servants share their Master’s sufferings, they will also share his vindication: he himself will be their advocate with God, as he will be the prosecutor of the faithless (cf. Mark 8:38; Luke 12:8f.). They are to be his heralds, proclaiming the “secrets of the kingdom” (cf. 13:11) without fear or favor (10:26f.); if only they fear God, they need fear no one else (10:28). With the comparison of men and sparrows in 10:31 cf. 6:26.
The warning that his mission would divide families (10:34f.; cf. 10:21) echoes Micah 7:5f.; such domestic dissension was to be one of the woes of the end-time. The lack of sympathy which Jesus found in his own family circle may have taught him by experience how “a man’s foes” could be “those of his own household” (10:36; cf. Mark 3:21; John 7:5). That the claims of the kingdom of heaven take precedence over all family ties (10:37) is repeatedly emphasized in the Gospels (cf. 8:22; 12:46-50; 19:29). To take up one’s cross (10:38) was in the circumstances of those days no easy metaphor for the endurance of this or that vexatious burden: it meant that Jesus’ followers must be prepared to be crucified, as he was (cf. 16:24). The repeated “is not worthy of me” may reflect the same Aramaic phrase as the parallel “cannot be my disciple” in Luke 14:26f. But life lost in his service would be life gained; life gained at the expense of loyalty to him would be life lost (10:39; cf. 16:25-27).
The final paragraph in this section (10:40-42) was as applicable to the immediate mission of the Twelve as to all time following: the treatment meted out to his followers is accepted by their Lord as meted out to himself (cf. 25:40-45; Mark 9:41; Luke 10:16; John 13:20). With 10:41 cf. 1 Kings 17:8ff.; 2 Kings 4:8ff. The reference to “little ones” in 10:42 anticipates the teaching of 18:5-14.
Thought There is nothing in this section which does not apply to us. See how it was worked out in Acts. Are we prepared to take this teaching seriously today?
Consider actual examples of the way in which the claims of the kingdom of heaven may still cut across family loyalties.