Matthew 10:1-4, part 1

Matthew Chapter 9:36-10:42 – Jesus Prepares and Commissions the Twelve Apostles Part 1 – Matthew 9:36-10:2 – Purpose of and Introduction to the Apostles Introduction: Matthew 1-9 – I love what Jeremy Thomas states about Matthew. “Matthew is making an argument. He is not just writing a history.” Matthew is written in such a manner to make a specific argument to a particular group of people. Every section of Matthew 1-9 is written to demonstrate to the Jews in Israel that Jesus is the Messiah. This argument continues throughout the book, but the bulk of the evidence is contained in these first 9 chapters. He has the birthright to be the Messiah King, the Son of David. His birth and early life fulfill prophecy. Even Gentiles (the magi) recognized that Jesus is the King of the Jews. John the Baptizer, a recognized prophet to all of Israel, pointed to Jesus as the promised One and testified that Jesus was announced as the Son by the Father in the presence of many disciples of John. Jesus taught as one having authority and clarified the Law. Jesus announced the kingdom and offered it freely to Israel if they would repent, that is believe and keep the covenant of God for Israel. Jesus performed many miracles, demonstrating His authority over sickness, disease, demons, nature, the Sabbath, and sin. Jesus, in His humanity, was given authority to forgive sins by the Father and is the judge over who gets into the kingdom of heaven. All of this was to prove that Jesus is the King and that the Kingdom was near. The setting is complete when you consider the pericope from Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 9:35. After all this demonstration and teaching all over Israel, the people were prepared. Now Jesus looks over the crowds and tells His disciples (not just the Twelve) that we need more workers. Matthew 9:36-38 – Jesus looks at the crowds and felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Distressed is “σκύλλω skullō,” which means to skin or to flay, to be troubled. Why were the people distressed? Dispirited is “ῥίπτω rhiptō” and means to be thrown down, to be thrust to the ground. Again, why? Numbers 27:15-17; 2 Samuel 5:1-3 This is concerning the leadership of Israel. They were supposed to be good shepherds of the people, but instead, they harassed, beat down, and flayed them monetarily and spiritually until they had basically given up. As Matthew progresses, the rebuke of the Pharisees and scribes becomes more open, and Jesus will begin to rebuke them outright as evil, selfish, scripture-twisting hypocrites that are not worthy of their position, and they will not escape damnation. Fortunately, Jesus had been training shepherds to be their replacements. The apostles and other disciples are called to be gentle, merciful peacemakers; they are salt and light and are being trained by Jesus not only Book of Matthew – 037 Beth Haven Church 2022 1 Matthew Chapter 9:36-10:42 – Jesus Prepares and Commissions the Twelve Apostles Part 1 – Matthew 9:36-10:2 – Purpose of and Introduction to the Apostles in the message of the kingdom but will also receive power to do the same actions as Jesus to validate that message. After the resurrection, this commission is repeated (John 21:15-17), and Peter and the apostles commission other shepherd-lings (1 Peter 5:1-4). Matthew 10:1-4 Jesus identifies from among the disciples, who probably number in the hundreds, twelve leaders. Of those twelve, three are part of His inner circle. It is important to remember that Matthew is not chronological. The Twelve are not chosen after these demonstrations, but they all knew they were being trained as apostles before the message of the kingdom and before the demonstrations of power. Luke 6:12-20 – Jesus chooses the Twelve prior to the Sermon on the Mount. Then after following Jesus around for some time, the Twelve are sent out in Luke 9, and then 70 are sent out in Luke 10. It is not the easiest chronology to set, but this was probably well into His second year of ministry. The bulk of the content in the Gospels is most likely the last half of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus, in coordination with the Holy Spirit and the Father, chooses twelve of the disciples to become His apostles. Some of them we know well; some of them we know very little. The point of Matthew 10 is to demonstrate that Jesus gave the Twelve the authority just as He had to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and the ability to demonstrate that authority by performing miracles in the same manner He did. Peter I. Call of Peter – In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, the calling of Peter is simply “follow Me.” In Matthew, Peter is called “the first.” This is not in order of calling but in primacy. He was the leader of the apostles and the pillar (Galatians 2:9), along with John and James, the half-brother of Jesus. In the Gospel of John, we see that Peter’s brother, Andrew, was a disciple of John the Baptizer. Andrew was one of two that was introduced to Jesus by John the Baptizer. Andrew then told his brother that they had found the Christ (John 1:35-42). When Peter met Him, Jesus told him that his name is Simon and that he would be known as Cephas (Peter). In Luke 5:1-11, we see that Peter was in his boat when Jesus came and spoke to the people and told Peter to cast his net and they caught a large catch that Peter made a very astute observation, “depart from me for I am a sinful man.” II. Peter’s confession – In Matthew 16:13-18 (Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-22; John 6:66-69), we once again see that Peter is the most doctrinally aware of the apostles. Peter states that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. III. Get Behind Me, Satan – In the same chapter (Matthew 16:21-23), Jesus told them that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and be crucified and rise again. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him and told Him that this will never happen. Jesus then says to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” So, what happened to the man that made such profound statements? Book of Matthew – 037 Beth Haven Church 2022 2 Matthew Chapter 9:36-10:42 – Jesus Prepares and Commissions the Twelve Apostles Part 1 – Matthew 9:36-10:2 – Purpose of and Introduction to the Apostles IV. Transfiguration – (Matthew 17:1-11; Mark 9:1-8; Luke 9:28-36) – Jesus wanted to show His true nature to just three persons. Peter, James, and John went to a mountain top and Jesus was transfigured. Then Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus. Peter has another foot-in-mouth moment where he says something foolish. Then Peter is rebuked by the Father, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him!” V. Passion Week a. Peter’s bravery? – Matthew 26:31-35 – Peter professes that he would die before falling away. Jesus rebukes Peter and informs him of the type of falling away he would experience. Peter does not consider the words spoken by Jesus, rather he once again denied the truth Jesus presented. He doesn’t question his own resolve but rather the perfect understanding that Jesus has. b. In the garden – Matthew 26:36-56 (John 18:10-11) – Peter, in the garden, begins with tired eyes. Regardless of their willingness to be with the Son of God, their eyes were heavy. Jesus comes back three times to find them sleeping. Once Jesus wakes them up to tell them that He is about to be taken, Peter, the excellent swordsman that he is, cuts off the ear of a servant. c. Denial of Christ – Matthew 26:69-75 (Luke 22:54-62) – Peter follows the cohort, and while staying within the eyesight of Jesus, fear overcomes him. And just as Christ told him, Peter denies that he was with or even knows Jesus. VI. Peter and the Resurrection – John 20:1-20 (Luke 24:1-35) – After the crucifixion of the Son of Man, Peter’s location is not mentioned. We know that Peter was not waiting outside the tomb waiting for the resurrection. The Jewish authorities were anticipating the disciples coming and stealing the body of Jesus. They knew what Jesus predicted; we must assume that the disciples had a better understanding than the Jewish authorities. But the only ones prepared were His enemies, not His friends. Peter had to be told by Mary Magdalene that Jesus was not in the tomb. Peter and John run to the tomb; Peter, being slower but brasher, bursts into the empty tomb where John was carefully investigating the scene. After seeing the scene, Peter went away perplexed and marveling for he did not understand the Scriptures. Then he went home. VII. Peter after the Resurrection a. Locked in fear – John 20:21-31– Peter and John were back at the house, and while the two from the Emmaus road were telling the disciples of their experience, Jesus did a pop-in. Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Eight days later, the disciples were back in the house behind locked doors. Jesus does another pop-in and encourages the disciples. b. Let’s go fishing – John 21:1-17 – After seeing the risen Lord, Peter does the next natural action…he goes fishing. Jesus once again appears to the disciples and challenges Peter to shepherd the flock of God. Book of Matthew – 037 Beth Haven Church 2022 3 Matthew Chapter 9:36-10:42 – Jesus Prepares and Commissions the Twelve Apostles Part 1 – Matthew 9:36-10:2 – Purpose of and Introduction to the Apostles VIII. Peter at the ascension - gazing into the clouds – Acts 1:6-11 – This portion is what is possibly a lookback-and-laugh moment. Peter and the disciples are caught staring into nothing and God must send angels to snap them out of it. IX. Peter is the one that initiates the replacement of Judas in Acts 1:12-26. In the end, Matthias is selected to take the place of Judas and be counted with the Twelve. X. Peter the powerful – Acts 2-5, 9-12 – After Pentecost, Peter takes his place and performs powerful feats. The promise of the Holy Spirit states that He will teach you what to say and will bring to remembrance the doctrines that Jesus taught. Peter did perform the miracles as God gave him the ability to show the people that he is a representative, but the bigger miracle is that Peter spoke with authority and without fear. This doesn’t sound like the man we just learned about. XI. Peter among the Gentiles – Acts 10:9-18 – First, God had to instruct Peter three times to not discriminate in giving the gospel. Then Peter shares the good news of the grace of God. When the Gentiles believed, they received the Holy Spirit as well, showing that a new administration was ensuing. This was reported to Jerusalem, and all glorified God (11:18). But when a portion of Jewish believers was scattered, they gave the Word to Jews only (11:19). XII. Peter and Paul – Acts 13 changes focus from Peter to Paul. Peter makes a guest appearance in chapter 15 where he defends Paul not instructing Gentiles to conform to Judaism. This situation has a pretext, a lesson that Peter had to learn himself. Paul confronts Peter, Peter acted hypocritically by treating Gentiles differently when Jews were around (Gal 2:11-21). Peter learns this lesson so well that he virtually says the same thing to the council in Act 15. Peter also comments on Paul’s message in 2 Peter 3:14-18. XIII. Peter is the apostle to the Jews as he travels throughout the Diaspora, including Babylon. He writes his first letter to the chosen aliens in the Diaspora. This is not a spiritual designation but one that is physical. The account of Jesus’ life is compiled by Peter’s scribe known as Mark. XIV. Beyond the New Testament, several extrabiblical writings mention Peter. For instance, First Clement recounts Peter’s martyrdom in Rome (see Bauckham, “The Martyrdom of Peter,” 549–95). First Clement was written to the Corinthians around the end of the first century AD by Clement, the bishop in Rome. Clement states that Peter endured hardship and died the glorious death of a martyr (5:4). The early church historian Eusebius confirms Clement’s statement, adding the detail that Peter was crucified upside-down. XV. Conclusion – Peter is the everyday man. Left to his nature, he was capable of recognizing doctrine and reacted to truth in a sincere way. But when pressure was applied, his weakness was exposed. When I look at Peter, I see me. We look at some of his actions that are recorded and chuckle a little; others are saddening. But I think if we were to be honest, we would all say that we see a lot of ourselves in the life of Peter. Book of Matthew – 037 Beth Haven Church 2022 4