Matthew 10:1-15--Jesus Selects and Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

​Matthew 10:1-15 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.10.1-Matt.10.15
The Twelve Apostles
10:1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “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 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 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. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

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At this point in His early ministry, Jesus selects 12 men from the group of disciples that had been following Him to be the apostles who would go everywhere He would go and learn everything that He had to teach them.  The word apostle means, "one sent out on a mission," specifically, "one of an authoritative New Testament group sent out to preach the gospel and made up especially of Christ's 12 original disciples and Paul." (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apostle).  This means that these men were not just simply "followers" anymore.

Some of the names here are easy to recognize because the New Testament is full of stories about them and some were even authors of some of the books and letters that we have in the New Testament.  Others we have little or no information on other than their name in this list and what we gather from the tradition of Church history.  Suffice that to say all of them were chosen by Jesus and all of the received power and performed miracles and were given authority over demons, but most of us know the end of the story and know that Judas Iscariot was never really saved and was chosen for a reason--to be the "insider" who would betray Jesus.  This is such a key point for us to know going forward that Matthew even makes note of it here.  Even though Judas seems to have received those same gifts, it appears that he was never really saved.  We'll see this when we talk about Jesus' "High Priestly Prayer" when we get to the gospel of John.

Jesus sent the apostles out first to the covenant people of God...the ones that had been given the prophets and should be expecting the coming Messiah.  It was not yet time in God's plan for God to draw all men (including the Gentiles) unto Himself until Jesus died on the cross and even then Jesus told His disciples as part of the Great Commission that they were to go to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria first before going to the "uttermost ends of the earth" (to the Gentile nations).  Paul would even say in Romans that the gospel was "to the Jew first and also to the Gentile."  This is the doctrine of election that some of us find so difficult, but it's no more difficult than Jesus choosing these 12 men from among the crowd of disciples to give them special power.  What made these 12 men special?  The short answer is nothing.  They were given these powers for the very reason that they had nothing to offer, and they were equipped once they were called and it was all done to give glory to God because people would know that this power did not come from within these men.

They were not just sent out with power and authority, but they were sent out with a message...the same message as John the Baptist and Jesus had been preaching--"The kingdom of heaven is at hand."  They were to preach this message without accepting pay from anyone so that their words could not be influenced and it would be clear that their message was of God and not of man.  They were also to take nothing with them in the way of provisions because they would not be staying long at each place and it was to be clear that they depended on God to provide all of their needs.

As they would do this they would be given power to perform healings and cast out demons as signs to authenticate their message, but not everyone would accept their message.  Some people would readily accept them and their message, and they were to give a blessing of peace to them, but other would not listen and refuse to show them hospitality or even try to run them out of town.  When this happened the disciples were not to argue with them but instead shake the dust off of them as they left the person's house or the village or town they were being run out of as a sign they were taking nothing...not even the dust of the house or town....with them as they moved on to the next place that they had been called to go to, and the disciples were to leave the judgement of these people and towns up to the one who will be Judge over all (Jesus).  He will see and know all and promised that it would be better for Sodom and Gomorrah in the coming judgement.  Sodom and Gomorrah were very wicked cities in the Old Testament who were destroyed by God with fire and brimstone to show what the coming judgment would be like for the wicked, and the implication here is that those who rejected the messengers and the message would most likely end up in a place of eternal judgment because they had not just rejected these men, but had rejected God and His plan for them.  You cannot expect to live in the kingdom if you live in rebellion to the King, and you cannot rebel against the king's ambassadors and governors (those He has delegated authority to and put on mission for Himself) without facing His wrath, because rejecting those on mission from Him is the same as rejecting Him and His mission.

All of us are called to not just be disciples, but to be those who have been called out and sent out on mission with the authority and the equipping to complete the mission that the King has sent us on.  We speak not for ourselves but for the King and the Kingdom.  When people reject us, they reject the King and the Kingdom and we move on in obedience, but we should not expect a warm welcome from everyone and we should be careful to heed the warnings given here to protect the integrity of the message we are preaching and to preach only the words we have been given.  Guard against the temptation to do it for money or influence that would possibly corrupt the message and the messenger.  Trust for God to provide your every need and to give you every gift and talent that you need to be successful in your mission, but remember to always pray for His leading and equipping as you go forward to represent the King and the Kingdom.