This week, we are reading Chapter 10 of the Gospel of Matthew.
In this chapter, Jesus informs his disciples that they have the power and authority to heal all diseases, and to cast out demons and other “unclean spirits.”
He gave them these specific instructions:
Don’t take the road leading to other nations, and don’t enter any Samaritan town.
Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, announce this: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, drive out demons. You have received free of charge; give free of charge.
Don’t take along gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts. Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a walking stick, for the worker is worthy of his food.
When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave. Greet a household when you enter it,and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it. But if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you.
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town.
Jesus then predicted persecution, specifically (in part):
Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.Because people will hand you over to sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues, beware of them.
You will even be brought before governors and kings because of Me, to bear witness to them and to the nations.But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you should speak.
And the last section, He gives a parable.
For you will be given what to say at that hour,because you are not speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.
The rest of the chapter is full of advice he gave them, who to fear and who not to, and what people will have to do about Jesus if we want to claim Him.
And then He says something that shocked me the first time I read it. In verses 34 through 39, He said:
Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be
the members of his household.
The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.
And in the last part of this chapter, He talks about those the disciples were about to go out and talk to.
Possible talking points:
- Do you think that Jesus was talking just about the disciples when he predicted the persecutions?
- Did anything strike you as different from how people usually talk about Jesus and His teachings?
- What do you think He meant when he said, “It will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”?
- What did He mean by this: “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”?
- Verses 37 through 39 are somewhat cryptic. What do you think He meant there?
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