Matthew 9:35-10:20

Matthew 9:35-10:20 (NRSV)

The Harvest Is Great, the Laborers Few

(Lk 10.2—3)

³⁵ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

The Twelve Apostles

(Mk 3.13—19a; Lk 6.12—16)

 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

The Mission of the Twelve

(Mk 6.6b—13; Lk 9.1—6)

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. ⁹ Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, ¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. ¹¹ Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. ¹² As you enter the house, greet it. ¹³ If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Coming Persecutions

(Mk 13.9—13; Lk 21.12—17)

¹⁶ “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸ and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹ When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; ²⁰ for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

 

Matthew 9:35-10:20 (Year A June 12-18) offers a summary of the preaching mission of Jesus and the summons by Jesus of the Twelve to continue his mission to Israel.

The preaching mission of Jesus reveals that compassion for a suffering, "shepherdless" world drives the urgent, Spirit-empowered mission of his disciples to proclaim and embody God's approaching rule, despite inevitable opposition and the world's brutality, demanding radical trust and strategic wisdom from those called to labor in this spiritual harvest.

Verses 35-38 (Luke 10:2; Matt 4:23) are a transitional summary passage on the healing mission of Jesus, while opening a new line of discussion in the mission and message of Jesus that must continue to spread throughout the land. Those who followed Jesus came from a large area around Galilee. He taught in the synagogues of the Pharisees, Jesus directly challenging his opponents. Typical of such services would be an exposition of a passage from the Hebrew Bible. The synagogue became the natural locus for his proclamation of the rule of God. He united teaching (διδάσκων) and proclamation (κηρύσσων 11:1 as well) of the good news (εὐαγγέλιον or gospel) of the rule of God. Such a formulation represents the central theme of the proclamation of Jesus from the frequency of the occurrence of the kingdom in the synoptic says of Jesus, which forms a striking contrast to the sparse number of examples in contemporary Judaism and the rest of the New Testament. It denotes the rule of God in action that opposes earthly monarchy, as God is realizing the ideal of kingly righteousness, constantly longed for but never fulfilled by human rulers. This rule of God is eschatological, denoting the time of salvation, the consummation of the world, the restoration of the disrupted communion between God and humanity. In announcing the nearness of the rule of God, Jesus is announcing that God is near, God is coming, standing at the door, and is already there.[1] His word combined with his actions of bringing healing from disease and sickness. He did so as he saw the crowds and had compassion upon them. The gospels commonly use the expression to describe Jesus’ attitude toward groups of people (Matt 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; Mark 8:2). Occasionally, the gospels use the expression for small groups of people or individuals for whom Jesus has compassion (e.g., Mark 1:41, a leper; Matt 20:34, two blind men; Luke 7:13, a widow), and the word appears in some of Jesus’ parables (Matt 18:27, translated “pity,” and Luke 15:20, the father of the prodigal). He internalized their suffering by seeing what truly harassed them. He provides a model for his followers in showing that one opens one mind to the situation of others, allowing their situation to affect him. Their situation entered his heart. He made their situation his own. He identified with them. Solidarity with the world means the genuinely pious approach the children of this world in this way. Those who are genuinely righteous sit down with unrighteous friends. Those genuinely wise are willing to be fools among fools. They are not too good to go into hell for a heavenly cause. ^[2] In this case, they had no good shepherd or leader. This concern motivated the appointment of Joshua to succeed Moses, so that the congregation would not be like sheep without a shepherd (Num 27:17). Micaiah has a vision in which he saw the people scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd (I Kings 22:17). Judith deceives Holofernes by saying that he will have a victory over Jerusalem, whose people will scatter like sheep without a shepherd (Judith 11:19). The people of Judah were scattered because they were sheep who had no shepherd (Ezekiel 34:5). The crowds are damaged goods. They have broken lives. In verse 37,  The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. It is time to harvest them for the rule of God. Yet, he invites his disciples to pray for laborers. The Father will send them into the field. It is a call to repentance and preparation for the coming judgment. The image carries with it an occasion for joy. Scattered Israel will be gathered from the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt (Isa 27:12-13). Israel was the first fruits of the harvest of the Lord (Jer 2:3). Joel 3:13 say the harvest is ripe. Paul wants to go to Rome to reap a harvest among them as he has among the Gentiles (Rom 1:13). Jesus observes that a common saying involves knowing how many months until the harvest, but the fields are ripe for harvesting now, the reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together (John 4:34-38). However, it can also be employed for the coming judgment. The harvest is ripe, because their wickedness is great, so judgment is coming (Joel 3:13). Here, however, the harvest is plentiful, a good sign and a positive image of the response to what Jesus has been proclaiming, teaching, healing, and exorcism that are signs of the approaching rule of God. They will gladly hear the good news and were ripe for gathering into a new community. The sending and gathering are both under the guidance of the Lord of the harvest. Yet, Jesus also observes that the laborers are few, opening the door for selecting and commissioning more disciples, who will expose more persons to the message of the approaching rule of God. They are to pray for additional laborers to deal with the harvest of the blessing of the coming rule of God. Missionaries are to call people to repentance and prepare them for the final judgment. Praying for more laborers will mean that more people will receive the blessing of the approaching rule of God. The call of Jesus to “fish for people” finds its fulfillment in the disciples becoming laborers within a field ripe for harvesting.

Jesus did not live in a compassionate world. The Temple was a bloody place with its sacrificial animals. The conquering Romans were brutal. To read the last part of Daniel and the books of the Maccabees in the apocrypha is to read of the barbarity of the Hellenistic empire against the Jewish people. Raiders from the east would occasionally try to invade the Roman empire. Many religions in the world still offered the brutality of human sacrifice to the gods. Hundreds of years later, Muslim armies strode across north Africa and into Spain and parts of France and east Europe before being turned back. Their approach was often to convert or perish. The Viking raids of the British Isles and Europe were done in the name of their gods, which required human sacrifice. Their vision of Valhalla, the palace of Oden, was to fight and kill during the day and feast with the enemy at night. Such was their version of heaven. It was a cult of death, as they bravely, courageously, and without fear marched toward it. I wish I could say that our modern world, with its democracy, scientific advances, and value for individuality, had somehow become more compassionate. The 1600s saw the years war between Catholic and Protestant. The 1700s saw wars for independence. The 1900s saw massive deaths fighting colonialism (WWI), fascism (WWII), and Communism (Korea, Vietnam, Cold War). Stalin would kill millions of his own people to maintain power. The Communist Party of China becomes increasingly ready to use its economic power in an aggressive way and its military power to nations close to it. The bloody borders of Islam are known well, as those of Islamic belief keep pushing their religion through violence. Terrorism funded by the wealth of Islamic nations remains a serious threat to the freedoms so many of us come to enjoy.

It will not be easy to become compassionate in a world so brutal. Our tendency is to meet brutality with force. Indeed, it may well be a certain type of compassion that strongly resists brutality. It will not be easy to look upon the crowds, the masses, with compassion. The intense conflict of political ideologies in the democracies often leads to looking upon the Other as an enemy to be opposed rather than a mass of people for whom one has compassion. Those who view themselves as righteous often look upon its sin, drunkenness, violence, drug abuse, hatred, and war with judgment. Behind so much of the behavior that one might find objectionable is the result of confusion in dealing with the complexity of life.

Sociologist Peter Berger has described Christians as a “cognitive minority.” Christian modes of thought deviate from the officially sanctioned, socially enforced systems of knowledge. The “plausibility structures” by which the world knows what is possible and permissible, tell the world that the Christian faith is implausible. “It is, of course, possible to go against the social consensus that surrounds us, but there are powerful pressures (which manifest themselves as psychological pressures within our own consciousness) to conform to the views and beliefs of our” fellow citizens. A subtle yet powerful policing keeps us from uttering and affirming certain Christian convictions within conventional society. Churches that seek to be faithful to the apostolic witness represented in scripture disrupt the culture by rescuing some people from its value system and inculcating people into a new culture called the church. Followers of Jesus need to stay focused on what they believe and value. Practice compassion, because people will be hurting, as they choose paths that lead to lack of meaning, emptiness, and guilt.

In Matthew 10:1-15 are community rules for disciples on the road. Throughout this discourse, the prayer of Jesus for more laborers (9:38) is answered with the sending of the Twelve. It expands upon the call of Jesus to the first disciples to fish for people (4:19). Jesus authorizes the inner circle to do what he has been doing. They announce the dawn of the time of salvation and to make incursion into the realm of Satan by driving out the demons. They make the same announcement as does Jesus, and they do it the way Jesus did, in word and deed.[3] They are to rely on the Jewish virtue of hospitality to strangers. This missionary change suggests urgency and confrontation with hostility to the mission. The sayings are striking in what they prohibit: no food, no money, no extra clothes, and no luggage. They are to wear no sandals or have a staff. They are to exhibit the attitude of complete trust and reliance on the provisions of providence. They reflect the simple lifestyle Jesus advocated and lived. The first traveling missionaries of the community adopted a similar lifestyle. Jesus first calls them to himself, the only one who can equip these laborers. He will give them the authority he has shown in his ministry over unclean spirits and bring healing of disease and sickness. The list of the Twelve gives priority to Peter. The number would also have the theological significance of connection to the twelve tribes of Israel. Far from limiting the message to Israel, the number is symbolic of the announcement of the formulation of the eschatological people of God to which Jesus expected that Gentiles would attach themselves. Jesus summons people to him who are not naturally friendly toward each other.[4] Jesus summons people to him who are not naturally friendly toward each other. If anything, it would be a challenge to form a team out of such a diverse group. The naming of the disciples precedes the second of the five discourses Matthew provides, suggesting Jesus is the new Moses or instructor of the rule of God. Here is the only time Matthew uses the term “apostle,” emphasizing the missionary context of this discourse. The disciples exist for the sake of the mission Jesus gives them and they continue the mission of Jesus. 

First, Simon, who is called Peter, 

Andrew his brother; 

James the son of Zeb'edee, and John his brother; 

Philip 

Bartholomew; 

Thomas 

Matthew the tax collector; 

James the son of Alphaeus, 

Thaddaeus; 

Simon the Cananaean, 

Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

 

Verses 5-16 form the missionary charge, although it may reflect the understanding of the early Jewish-Christian community of the missionary charge given it by the risen Lord.[5] In verses 5-6 (unique to Matthew) Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. At this point, Jesus sends them to the lost sheep of Israel, rather than Gentiles or Samaritans. Jesus did not view himself as setting up a people of God separate from Israel. He does not expect a mission to the gentiles.[6] In verse 7 (Luke 9:2) And proclaim (κηρύσσετε) as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ The proclamation of good news of the rule of God also connects the message of the disciples with Jesus and John the Baptist. Such a formulation of the mission of the disciples represents the central theme of the proclamation of Jesus.[7] It implies the irruption of the reign of God into history is imminent. It means the eschatological hour of God, the victory of God, the consummation of the world, is near.[8] In verse 8 (unique to Matt) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. The ministry of Jesus vanquishes Satan, with whom he is doing battle and over whom he exercises authority, an authority he gives to his disciples.[9] They are to announce the dawn of salvation and make incursions into the realm of Satan, doing so in word and action like that of Jesus.[10] You received without paying; give without pay. We find this saying reflected in II Cor 11:7 and I Cor 9:3-18. Paul will point out that he refused payment from Corinth. The Didache states that anyone who asks for payment is a phony. In verses 9-10 (Mark 6:9, Luke 10:4) Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. They would depend upon the hospitality of the people to whom they offered their service. Similarities with the Cynic pattern here is one of similar social manners, not just rhetoric. Let us consider their prohibition of the use of money.  Diogenes Laeterius: "Diocles relates how Diogenes persuaded Crates to give up his property to sheep-pasture, and throw into the sea any money he had." Similarly, Monimus, after deciding to follow Diogenes: "straight off pretended to be mad and easy flinging away the small change and all the money on the banker's table, until his master dismissed him; and he immediately devoted himself to Diogenes." Julian described Diogenes as "Cityless, homeless, a man without a country, owning not an obol, not a drachma, not even a household slave." Other statements: "if all the gold, all the silver, all the copper should give but, I would not be injured in the least." "... are you not afraid of the money? ... For by no means does money always profit those who have gotten it; but people have suffered many more injuries and more evils from money than from poverty, particularly when they lacked sense." Cynic teachers could also prohibit the use of the beggars’ bag under certain circumstances, even though usually, it was part of their property. Those most directly affected by Jesus' ministry would be most likely to preserve and spread the account of that ministry. Within just a few generations, Paul still had an itinerant ministry among resident communities and resident leaders. He testifies in I Cor 9:14 based upon this passage: the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel (εὐαγγέλιον καταγγέλλουσιν) should get their living by the gospel. We also find recognition that some will not offer basic hospitality, in which case they are to move on to the next community. They are to offer blessing to all but allow the blessing to return to them if not received. They are to leave judgment to God.

Verses 11-13 (Mark 6:10, Luke 10:7) focus on what these traveling missionaries are to expect in the reception or rejection. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. They can fully expect to face challenges and suffering. A worthy home is receptive to the gospel. They are to be content with the deserving house. The blessing promised to those who believe in the preaching of the disciples is a very real quantity: in the disciples’ words God visits people, comes to them, or departs from them. The content of their message is summarized in the word “peace.” 

Verses 14-15 (Mark 6:11, Luke 9:5) continues to focus on what they are to expect from their efforts and the response of the apostles to the welcome or rejection they will receive as they fulfill the mission Jesus gave them. They can expect to face challenge and suffering. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Yet, if that message is rejected, they are to offer a humorous response based upon a prophetic gesture by publicly wiping the dust from their feet in protest. They receive specific instructions for dealing with those who reject the messengers and their message.  The rabbis suggested such a response to the heathen, for even their dust was polluting. Such a concern for ritual purity is far from the mind of Jesus, but he could have in mind provoking thought in those Jews who reject the message of the nearness of the rule of God. Such a ritual act signifies severance of relations as they leave that town. The symbolic gesture depicted here responds negatively to an entire community's unwillingness to receive the missionaries. Jesus does not promise success or enthusiastic reception. 

Truly, I say to you, (the sole ground of his authority for the demand of God expressed through him[11]) it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Sodom and Gomorrah become an allusion to an eschatological threat directed against those towns that rejected the gospel. Such an abbreviated expressions means that they are to shake the dust that their feet have stirred up from their cloaks, doing this in public view. This action was a symbolic expression of breaking off all community (Neh 5:13, Acts 13:51, 18:6), where nothing of such a town or locality is to cling to the messengers, even the dust from its streets. The place is delivered to the divine judgment.[12] They are to use the ritual act of shaking the dust off their feet as the leave the home or town to signify severing relations with one who does not welcome them. Defeat and failure are part of life. Such a sacrament of failure frees one to continue the mission in the face of failure. Given that Jesus objected to the purity laws of his time, the act of shaking off dust did not relate to the rabbinic notion of the dust of the heathen polluting a person. While Christian tradition values the virtue of perseverance, there is a faithfulness to the mission in letting go and moving on as well. Such a rejection is under the threat of an eschatological threat like that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus, these apostles can expect to receive a reception like that which Jesus received. 

In verses 16-20, are sayings on the coming persecution. Jesus wants them to see the situation into which he is sending them. Why was it important to have this vision of being sent?  Dio Chrysostom says he hoped it would gain him a hearing.  To say one was sent responded to concerns about authority and authorization.  It answered the implied question: And what gives you the right to say that?  How is it that you can do this? The early Christian community in Israel viewed itself as messenger-scouts, heralds of a better path to happiness. In verse 16 (Luke 10:3), Behold, imagining Jesus, with a twinkle in his eye, saying to them in paradoxical fashion and in the form of a secular proverb of his prophetic self-consciousness that was at home within the Jewish-Christian community and its reflection on the Gentile mission:[13] I (the risen Lord)[14] am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, and he then offers an exhortation in the form of a double stranded Jewish proverb,[15] so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Juda b. Simon: “God says of the Israelites, To me they are upright as doves, but to the nations they are wise as serpents” (Midrash in Cant. 2:14, 101a). The band of disciples is not a haven from the threats in the world. Verses 17-20 read like they are from a period after the death of Jesus. Beware of people, stressing the official nature of the opposition, in verse 17 (Mark 13:9, Luke 11) for they will deliver you over to courts (συνέδρια, local Jewish councils to which followers of Jesus will be subject to scourging and assumes continuing subjection to Jewish authority[16]) and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. In verse 19-22 (Mark 13:11-13, Luke 12:12, 21:12-19) When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you at the appropriate time. The disciples of Jesus will receive hatred because of their faithfulness to Jesus.

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[1] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 96-108.

[2] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)IV.3.2., p. 774.)

[3] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 237.

[4] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 235.

[5] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 145.

[6] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 134.

[7] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 96-7.

[8] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 102.

[9] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 94-5. 

[10] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 237.

[11] (Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology, 1965), 105.

[12] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 238.

[13] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958) 158.

[14] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 158, this commission given to the Jewish-Christian communities forming in the first decade of their existence.

[15] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 81.

[16] Lohse, TDNT, VII, 867.