Jesus’ Ministry to the Jews (Mt 10:1-10)

Jesus’ calling was remarkably consistent during His ministry.

Head knowledge is found in books but true knowledge is found in living it out

I might be tempted to think that since He is the living embodiment of God, He would be super complex, but that’s not what we see. I didn’t mention Matthew’s overview of Jesus ministry in Mt 9 Pt 1 or in Part 2, but Mt 9:35 sums up His whole 3 year ministry prior to the cross. In this chapter, He begins to involve His disciples in His work and again His message is simple and direct. Today we’ll talk about these three primary instructions that He gives His disciples before sending them out to represent Him to the people.

It’s interesting to note that Matthew shows us in the end of Ch.9, Jesus doing these things and here in in Ch.10, Jesus is sending off the disciples to do what He had shown them and what He was teaching them to do. We’ve spoken before about knowing vs. doing. The western Church has a very broken model of discipleship where the Body comes to church on Sunday (or maybe twice a week) and listens to someone else talk about the spiritual life. This is an intellectual exercise that does not usually empower the congregants to live the Gospel. Jesus taught His disciples by first showing them (doing), and then pushing them out into the world to be what they had seen Him be (do). This was not head knowledge He was teaching, but knowledge through action

Jesus was sent to the Jews. This might surprise most people…Gentile (all Non-Jews) and Jew alike, but He was the promised Messiah to God’s chosen people. He was the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets that they had been studying and following for centuries.

“Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Mt 10:5-6)