Feb 6 - Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Read Matthew 10:1-10

Context: Continuation from yesterday

Text:
1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil[a] spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[b]drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep. (NIV)
Footnotes:
Matthew 10:1 Greek unclean
Matthew 10:8 The Greek word was used for various diseases affecting the skin—not necessarily leprosy.
taken from www.biblegateway.com

When our oldest daughter, Alicia, was born 21 years ago, I remember clearly being wheeled out of the hospital to go home. I was holding this tiny thing in my arms when the nurse reminded me that I should take her to the pediatrician in 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS???? Didn't she have any idea all the things that could happen in six weeks? I was thinking that maybe I should be checking in with the doctor at least once per day. I had no idea what I was doing as a new parent, wasn't that obvious?

I imagine the apostles might have had a similar feeling as Jesus sent them off. What? No food, no extra clothes, no money? How am I supposed to live? How can I preach the good news when I'm dirty, smelly, and my stomach is growling so loudly that no one can hear me over the ruckus?

Yet Jesus knew that his twelve key followers were fully capable, and that God would be watching over them. He wasn't sending them so far out of their comfort zone that they were prone to failure; he made it clear that they were only to preach to those whom were most like them -- other Jews. Today, he still does the same thing. God knows how much we can handle, and he's promised never to give us more than we can bear. His omniscient knowledge is far more accurate than our sense of our own capabilities. Sometimes we just have to trust him and step out.

Oh, by the way, Alicia made it just fine through those first few weeks!