“THE POWER MOVE”
Contextually, our overview of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew must begin at the beginning, that is, at the end of chapter 9: “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, … But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:35-36).
Matthew 10 begins with Jesus’ commission of the Twelve. But before any commission there must be a mission. There was Kingdom of God missional work at hand. And the mission of the Twelve—the mission of Jesus, the mission of the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom through the demonstration of its power—began with compassion: Jesus’ compassion on the sick, the lost, the vulnerable. Then as now, there were always the sick, the lost, the vulnerable; and then as now, there were always a lot of them. The mission of God’s Kingdom is to go to such people, to heal them of their sicknesses, to relieve them of their demons, and to proclaim to them the good news that misery of their condition has been overruled by the mercy of God.
In chapter 10 Jesus contracted the laborers of the Kingdom’s harvest by name (vv. 2-4), then stipulated the terms and conditions of the contract: where to go, and to whom (vv. 5-6); what to say (v. 7); what to do and how to do it (v. 8). They were to hit the road, to get around and not hang around (v. 23). They were to travel light, leaving home without their Capital One Express Credit Card and were not even allowed one carry-on (vv. 9-10). Without an expense account for hotel accommodations and transportation, they were to go from town to town, hand-to-mouth, couch-surfing (v. 11). Theirs was an occupation fraught with occupational hazards; the harassment, slander, assaults, and arrests were not what might happen but what would happen (vv. 17-18; 24-25), not a question of if but when (vv. 19-20).
Tough going, this discipleship business.
But as that old-school Billy Ocean song goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Jesus gave his disciples marching orders to go from city to city (v. 23) and from house to house (vv. 12-14) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (v. 6). But before they went anywhere, Jesus gave them something else—that amazing grace, that thing that would cause them to prevail over the many dangers, toils, and snares of their mission. He gave them power—power against unclean spirits (v. 1), power to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils (v. 8), power to speak truth to power (vv. 19-20). And they were to do so assured in his promise that if they didn’t give in, didn’t give out, and didn’t give up, they should prevail (v. 22).
For always greater than the misery and treachery of man is the power of God.