Matthew 9:35-10:42 --- Mark 6:7-13 --- Luke 9:1-6

Matthew 9:35-10:42

The Harvest Is Great, the Laborers Few (Lk 10.2—3)

Matthew 9:35 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)

Matthew 10:1 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, ( It says to go nowhere among the Gentiles. I have read plenty of commentaries on that phrase and none of them comfort me. Some say this is not an authentic quote of Jesus, in fact, one group claims most of the quotes in the NT are not from Jesus. Wonderful. I prefer to accept it as from Jesus, but it does make me wonder, as I always have, about Paul. It seems that more people are willing to accept Paul then Jesus. Doesn’t that make you wonder? I do. Have you ever looked at different religions and noted that most were started by one person who claims to have had a divine encounter with God? So claims Paul. I accept all the Bible, but I confess, the words of Jesus convict and encourage me more than any other part of the Bible. That is why I started formatting them in red. ) 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. 21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

Whom to Fear (Lk 12.2—7)

26 “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

32 “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

Not Peace, but a Sword (Lk 12.51—53; 14.26—27)

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35 For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Rewards (Mk 9.41)

40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

Mark 6:7-13

The Mission of the Twelve (Mt 10.5—15; Lk 9.1—6)

Mark 6:7 Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Luke 9:1-6

The Mission of the Twelve (Mt 10.5—15)

Luke 9:1 Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. 5 Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Devotionals, Videos and more ...

American Minute
by Bill Federer

March 2, 1836, the people of Texas signed a Declaration of Independence, stating: “The government [of] General Santa Ana… now offers… the cruel alternative, either abandon our homes… or submit to the most intolerable… tyranny…. It denies us the right of worshiping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience… It has demanded us to deliver up our arms… It has… incited the… savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our… frontiers.” The Texas Declaration concluded: “Conscious of… our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit… to… the Supreme Arbiter of the Destinies of Nations.”

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

Proverbs
by D.H. Stern

Proverbs 20:1-4

Wine is a mocker, strong liquor a rowdy;
anyone led astray by it is unwise.

The dread of a king is like when a lion roars;
he who makes him angry
commits a life-threatening sin.

Avoiding quarrels brings a person honor;
for any fool can explode in anger.

A lazy person won’t plow in winter;
so at harvest-time, when he looks,
there is nothing.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

My Utmost For The Highest
by Oswald Chambers

Have you felt the hurt of the Lord?

Jesus said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? --- John 21:17..

Have you felt the hurt of the Lord to the uncovered quick, the place where the real sensitiveness of your life is lodged? The devil never hurts there, neither sin nor human affection hurts there, nothing goes through to that place but the word of God. “Peter was grieved, because Jesus said unto him the third time.…” He was awakening to the fact that in the real true centre of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus, and he began to see what the patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest strand of delusion left in Peter’s mind, he never could be deluded again. There was no room for passionate utterance, no room for exhilaration or sentiment. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he said—“Lord, Thou knowest all things.” Peter began to see how much he did love Jesus; but he did not say—‘Look at this or that to confirm it.’ Peter was beginning to discover to himself how much he did love the Lord, that there was no one in heaven above or upon earth beneath beside Jesus Christ; but he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord came. The Lord’s questions always reveal me to myself.

The patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the right time. Rarely, but probably once, He will get us into a corner where He will hurt us with His undeviating questions, and we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than any profession can ever show.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

St Julien and the Leper
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas

St Julien and the Leper

Though all ran from him, he did not
Run, but awaited
Him with his arms
Out, his ears stopped
To his bell, his alarmed
Crying. He lay down
With him there, sharing his sores'
Stench, the quarantinr
Of his soul; contaminating
imself with a kiss,
With the love that
Our science has disinfected.

R.S. Thomas Not that He Brought Flowers (Poetry) .

Swimming in the sea of the Talmud:
6 Orders and Encampments by the Water

     You have come to the heart of this book, the individual chapter entries. In arranging these selections, we have followed the organizing principle of the Talmud, setting the texts in the order that they are found in the traditional division known as the “Six Orders.” You may recall the next to the last song in the Passover Haggadah, “Eḥad Mi Yode’a,” or “Who Knows One?” Halfway through the riddle-song, the question is asked, “Who knows [the significance of the number] six?” The answer is: “Six are the Orders of the Mishnah!” This refers to the fact that Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi divided the Mishnah into six major “Orders,” each section (seder in Hebrew) dealing with a specific topic:

     Zeraim (“Seeds”)—agricultural laws;
     Moed (“Holiday”)—Shabbat and festivals;
     Nashim (“Women”)—marriage and divorce;
     Nezikin (“Damages”)—civil & criminal law;
     Kodashim (“Holy Things”)—sacrifices;
     Teharot (“Clean Things”)—ritual purity.

     While the Mishnah is arranged according to these six broad topics, the Gemara does not restrict or limit itself at all to these particular subjects. By its very nature, the Talmud is organic; its commentaries move from topic to tangent, encompassing every conceivable issue. The reader of this book will quickly discover that our texts and D’rashot (plural of D’rash), while arranged in the order of the tractates of the Mishnah, are as wide-ranging as is the Gemara.

     At the beginning of each Order, we will give a brief introduction to that section of the Mishnah and to the tractates that it contains. The individual entries, found in that Order, will then follow. At the conclusion of each section, we bring a short piece called “Rest Stop.” The study of the Talmud is like a journey (at times, a very difficult one). Just as one needs to stop and rest along the way on a journey, so, too, one needs to pause and reflect after studying challenging texts. We offer some brief stories—talmudic, hasidic, and modern—that enable the reader to stop and think, and to put the learning into the broader perspective. We hope these tales serve to refresh you, so that you may continue the journey, stronger and wiser. To highlight the rest stops, we have placed them in the context of the journeys of the Israelites: From Egypt (slavery) to Sinai (and the receiving of the Torah) to Israel (the ultimate destination, and the Promised Land). Significantly, these rest stops, or encampments, were at places near bodies of water. The Rabbis saw water as a metaphor for Torah and learning; it is for the very same reason that the Talmud was often called a sea.

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving . Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

Take Heart
by Diana Wallis

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. --- Psalm 103:13

     Look at the text, believing in its meaning and not saying, “That is in a human way.” For there is no other manner in which we can speak and no other manner in which God himself can speak if he means us to understand.

     Hear it first for your encouragement, and hear it next for your imitation. Hear it, that you may be encouraged; God is not unfeelingly afflicting you, but he feels compassion for you. Hear it that you may go into the world with a like compassionate eye. If you ever have to say a rough word in fidelity or are required to utter a rebuke, do it in the way your heavenly Father does, having compassion even if you have to blame and gently delivering the expostulation that it grieves you to have to deliver at all.

     Observe that the pity of the Lord extends to all those who fear him. There are none who are not fit objects of his compassion—the very best and brightest of his saints, the brave heroes, the well-instructed fathers, the diligent workers; God has compassion for you. Take that home to yourselves, because there is a beautiful lesson of humility in so accounting ourselves as pitiable creatures in the eyes of the Lord, even when we are at our best estate. I have seen some brothers and sisters who really did not seem at all fit for pity, because they imagined that the very roots of sin had been eradicated out of their hearts. Their characters and their conduct were akin to perfection in their own estimation. They had lived many weeks without a sin, except some wandering thought, but they could hardly refer to that as a fault. I pity people who talk so; if they are God’s children, all that God does with them is he has compassion for them, and well he may; for he says to himself, “Poor dear creatures; how little they know of themselves, and how different their estimate of perfection is from mine.” He still feels compassion for them.

     The biggest children he has, the children who are most like their Father and have learned most of Jesus, may come to this text and see themselves depicted in it—“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”      --- C. H. Spurgeon

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers (27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

Teacher's Commentary by L.O. Richards
Commentary / Sacrifice: Leviticus 1–7

     The Book of Leviticus is a book of detailed regulations. It may seem dull to many. But imbedded in the instructions of this book are many principles which have relevance to us today.

     The Bible Knowledge Commentary makes these points about the role of sacrifice in the Old Testament system. First, under the Law sacrifice was given as the only sufficient means for Israelites to remain in fellowship with the Lord. But second, with one possible exception, the sacrifices were limited in scope, dealing only with certain kinds of personal sins. They were “mainly concerned with sins of ignorance, accident, carelessness, and omission” and included sins of ritual and social nature. There was no individual sacrifice provided for willful violation of God’s commands. Such sins could be forgiven—as David’s experience and psalms testify (cf. Pss. 32; 51)—on the basis of a grace response to faith and repentance. But the sacrificial system was not in itself a way of salvation. Yet, sacrifice in the Old Testament has continually been associated with forgiveness and with fellowship with God.

     A historic overview. In other cultures, sacrifice was viewed usually as food for the gods, and the priests often used the entrails of sacrificial beasts for occult divination. In Israel the sacrifice was not divine food (cf. Ex. 29:38–41; Ps. 50:8–15). And in Israel it was the blood of the sacrificed animal that was significant. In fact, the blood was crucial, for God said, “I have given it [the life-blood of the sacrificial animal] to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev. 17:11). The worshiper was taught that sin calls for the surrender of life, and that God will accept a substitute.

     The practice of sacrifice precedes the Mosaic Law. Some see God’s killing of an animal to cover Adam and Eve with skins as the first sacrifice. The story of Cain and Abel certainly suggests that the first family was taught this way to approach God. Cain “brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord” (Gen. 4:3), while Abel “brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” (v. 4). God rebuked Cain. “If you do what is right,” God said (v. 7), implying clearly that Cain’s offering was in willful violation of God’s known will.

     Animal sacrifices continued to be the norm. They were offered by Noah (Gen 8:20–21). Job, who may have been a contemporary of Abraham, offered sacrifices for sins (Job 1:5; 42:7–9). Genesis shows that the patriarchs built altars when they called on the name of the Lord (Gen. 12:8; 13:4; 26:25). The Passover lamb was a family sacrifice, rich in powerful imagery.

     Now, before Sinai, God gave Israel in His Law a carefully designed, detailed system of offerings and sacrifices.

     As noted earlier, however, these sacrifices were for personal sins of a limited nature. They were to be offered for unintentional sins (cf. Lev. 4:13, 22, 27; 5:14; etc.). In such cases a common ritual was followed. The one who sinned unintentionally was guilty. The guilty sinner brought an animal to the priests, who offered it in sacrifice. “In this way the priest will make atonement for the man’s sin, and he will be forgiven” (Lev 4:26).

     But forgiveness was not really won through the ritual itself. That is, the ritual was not sufficient in itself. The later prophets made more clear the implications of forgiveness offered for the unintentional sins. The individual who chose to dishonor God by refusing to live the just and merciful life the Lord commanded had no real recourse to sacrifice, even though generations of Israelites failed to grasp this reality. Thus Isaiah thundered against the sinful of his days who enjoyed both sin and “worship”:

     Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to Me.… Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts My soul hates. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of My sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

     Isaiah 1:13–17 (See also Jer. 7:20–23; Amos 5:21–27; Micah 6:6–8.)

     The message of sacrifice was never that one could sin impudently, and then come to God for an easy remedy. Sacrifice was for those whose hearts were already turned to the Lord.

Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The Teacher's Commentary (323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.