Untitled Sermon
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
The church is eo ipso a missionary community in the sense of proclamation by works, signs, and words.
Σκύλλω means “to torment,” “to oppress,” ῥίπτω “to throw on the ground,” passive “to be prostrate, depressed.” The “sheep who have no shepherd” is an Old Testament expression that occurs several times; it should not be restricted to the sense of an individual Old Testament text. However, it is clear from the Old Testament language that one is thinking of the people of Israel.8 The open formulation permits a variety of understandings of need. For Matthew obviously the entire nation is in need. The stories of the sick told in chaps. 8 and 9 are representative of all the people. The singular ποιμήν (“shepherd”) does not suggest a direct polemic against the Jewish leaders. On the basis of 2:6* the most natural assumption is that Matthew is thinking of Jesus himself as a shepherd. He thus begins his disciples discourse by calling attention to grace—Jesus’ mercy toward God’s people.
6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
Likewise, it is Jesus’ message (“gospel of the kingdom”; εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας!) that the disciples proclaim, his miracles that they continue, and his presence that defines them (10:40*, cf. 28:16–20*).
Having been granted the same authority as Jesus, the disciples have the same mission to heal and to proclaim as does their master. They correspond in their life to the εὐαγγέλιον τῆi βασιλείαi of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and will suffer the same fate as Jesus
In due time the followers of Jesus would preach to people of any nation, but there was a proper order; here they were told to start with the Jews (cf. Paul’s practice, Acts 13:46, and his theory, Rom. 1:16; 2:9–10).
We should not miss the christological claim that is implied. If the punishment of those who rejected Jesus’ followers who brought his message was greater than that of notorious sinners of old, then how great must we understand Jesus to be?
He knew that the time for the Gentiles would come later, as the gospel spread out from its Judaic centre (24:14; 28:19–20). There is a place for strategy in mission.
Disciples are called to see, to care, to pray, to receive, and to go. Those