A Curious Start to Global Domination (Pt. 2)

Mt. 10

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Read Part 1 here.

In Part 1, we saw that Jesus seemed to be forming his political and military cabinet for the upcoming uprising. Now, in order to interpret the rest of Matthew 10, we need to take a brief detour into apocalyptic literature.

In summary, apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophecy that was popularly circulating roughly 100 years on either end of Jesus’ ministry, and it purports to foretell cataclysmic events to take place at some point in the future, and usually at the direction of God. Christians will recognize the Book of Revelation in the New Testament as fitting nicely into this category. But there were many such books (for example, the Books of Enoch, the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Testament of Judah, The Testament of Levi, The Apocalypse of Moses, and others) at the time of Jesus.

In general, these books were concerned with the triumph of God over his enemies and the vindication of Israel who had suffered at their hands. A sub-theme was also the vindication of those martyrs who had suffered and died in the struggle. As part of this vindication of the faithful, the idea of a bodily resurrection makes generally only vague appearances in the Old Testament (with one or two exceptions), but when Jesus makes explicit reference to it in the New Testament, he is referring to an idea that was somewhat common currency in apocalyptic literature. In fact, it is from this extra-canonical apocalyptic literature and not so much the Old Testament, that the idea of an emerging messiah leading Israel to victory over her enemies became so normalized in the minds of first century Jews.

The Book of Daniel is one such apocalyptic book that actually made its way into the canon of scripture as we know it today, and Jesus makes explicit reference to this book, as we will see below. The Books of Maccabees also, while technically historical literature, have apocalyptic sections as well, and these books were preserved in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian canon of scripture.

As we proceed now through the 10th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, we would do well to keep these themes of apocalyptic literature in mind.

As mentioned previously (in part 1), Jesus tells his disciples in verses 7-8 to announce the arrival of God’s reign on earth, and as signs of it, to heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead to life. His hearers would have recognized this exhortation as alluding to the Book of Isaiah and others prophesying the re-creation of the world in the “Age to Come.”¹

Just prior to that (verses 5 and 6) he tells them to go only to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Here again he is simply referring to Isaiah (53:6, “we have all gone astray like sheep…”), and the fact that in God’s plan, Israel was to be a light to the nations², and so in order to bring his light to the Nations, he had to begin with Israel. There is a lot more to be said on this but that’s the subject for another essay. He says similar things elsewhere, for example in his encounter with the Canaanite woman.³

He tells them to search for a worthy person and stay in their home until their preaching in a town is finished. They are to give their blessing, and their “peace” will remain. This peace is of course the Hebrew notion of shalom, which is more than, in Augustine’s words, the mere “tranquility of order,” but carries more the sense of a fullness of life and goodness. Everything being exactly as it should be, and flourishing results. This resting of shalom on homes where the apostles stay is another breaking in of God’s reign into the broken world in need of restoration. They bring the kingdom’s new life with them. Things are sounding pretty nice.

But then the discourse suddenly takes an odd, even dark turn. Jesus begins talking about rejection, suffering, even death, and God’s judgement. For a guy rallying the troops, this is an odd way to begin a campaign of global conquest.

He says that if their message of bringing God’s reign is rejected, they are to shake the dust from their feet. This is an obvious gesture of absolute disassociation. But it is also a rabbinic tradition that Jews who had been traveling were to shake the Gentile dust from their feet before entering Palestine, and bringing unrighteous filth into God’s domain. Sodom and Gomorrah were among the clearest examples of God’s judgement on wickedness, but they were of course also Gentile cities. Jesus is tying together a lot of themes in just two verses. The idea is that God’s kingdom is spreading, but the rejection of Jesus is the rejection of that reign, and you’re no different than a faithless Gentile. Ouch.

Importantly, Jesus is turning the tables on Jewish expectations for the Messiah. Instead of claiming to lead Israel to a triumph over the gentiles, he tells them to expect that major portions of Israel itself, because of their lack of faith, are actually the same as gentiles, and so God’s judgement will fall on them no differently than on the “regular” gentiles.

Now things start to get really interesting. Jesus just drew a parallel between Jews who reject Jesus and unbelieving gentiles deserving of God’s judgement. Now he’s moving up the publicity ladder from mere individuals and towns to the giving of testimony before governors and kings (that is, public and institutionally important gentiles), and even to being scourged in synagogues (that is, public and institutionally important Jews). The label of “faithless gentile” is now clearly getting applied to institutional Judaism. It’s not just certain Israelites who might demonstrate infidelity to God by rejecting his reign through Jesus, but Israel itself. Them’s fightin’ words. That’s getting close to insurrectionist talk.

He uses various images telling his disciples that they will have to suffer and possibly even die, in much the same way as he himself will: students are not better than their teachers, nor as servants above their masters, after all.

He predicts that “a brother will betray his brother…a father will betray his child…children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed…” (verse 21).

Similarly, later on in the same discourse he’ll famously say,

“Dont imagine that I have come to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter again her mother, and a daughter-inlaw-against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!”

These statements are typically interpreted as Jesus warning us that the Gospel will introduce division even into homes and tear them apart based on fidelity to, or rejection of him. This is true, he is saying that. But he is also alluding to the book of the prophet Micah, from which he is quoting here.

In chapter 7 of that book, Micah is describing the depraved state of utter ruin of unbelieving Israel at his time, God’s sending “watchmen” to “sound the alarm,” and then an ensuing “time of confusion” (representing God’s judgement), all of which Jesus is mirroring in his own way. Micah says:

The best of them is like a brier,
    the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day God visits you has come,
    the day your watchmen sound the alarm.
    Now is the time of your confusion.
Do not trust a neighbor;
    put no confidence in a friend.
Even with the woman who lies in your embrace
    guard the words of your lips.
For a son dishonors his father,
    a daughter rises up against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
    a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.⁴

Crucially, what Jesus does not quote from Micah is what most of his discourse hangs on. In the very next verse, Micah says, “as for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.”

“God will save me.”

So many words of Jesus to say that his disciples will suffer in this time of tribulation but, and this is key, God will vindicate them.

Connected to this, Jesus introduces the idea of the “Son of Man,” saying essentially that his “return” is imminent.

The “Son of Man” theology deserves its own essay (all things in time…), but for now it’s sufficient to say that this title represents the concept of vindication in the minds of Jesus’ listeners. In the 7th chapter of the book of the prophet Daniel, Daniel sees “one like the son of man” being enthroned at the right hand of God after having suffered at the hands of Yahweh’s enemies. When Jesus identifies himself with this “son of man,” he is signaling to his hearers that he (and his followers) will have to suffer at the hands of God’s enemies (surprisingly, Israel itself apparently), but he will be vindicated in the end. God’s enemies will be cast down, and Jesus and those with him will reign over the new world with God.

This notion of suffering and vindication is essential to apocalyptic literature as a whole, and it helps us to make sense of the rest of the discourse. Jesus has already alluded to Daniel 7. In Daniel 12 (the very end of the book), we read that

“there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book [of life] will be rescued.”⁵

Similarly, Jesus says,

“all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. I tell you the truth, the Son of Man will return before you have reached all the towns of Israel.”

He isn’t talking about his Second Coming, he’s simply using common apocalyptic terminology to say, in other words, “the appointed time of God’s reign is here. You, like me, will have to suffer, but I will be vindicated by God, and as my followers, you will be too.”

He continues reassuring them saying, “don’t be afraid…for the time is coming when everything that was hidden will be revealed.”⁶ That is, “don’t worry, the fact that we’re right, though unclear right now, will be clear in the end.”

He says, “the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid…” This phrase of Jesus isn’t just a nice image, but is an allusion to 1 Sam. 14:45:

But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.

and 1 Kgs. 1:52:

Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.”

The point is clear: those who suffer for Jesus are continuing in the footsteps of those righteous men who suffered unjustly, but were watched over and vindicated by God in the end.

The repeating theme of suffering and consolation through vindication is common within the apocalyptic martyr theology of Israel. Perhaps the clearest examples of it can be found in the first and second books of Maccabees, where righteous Jews are portrayed as suffering and dying in their resistance against their pagan oppressors. In 2 Maccabees for example, we read the unforgettable story of the mother encouraging her sons to die in observance of the laws of God. The second son says to his torturers:

You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to live again forever, because we are dying for his laws.⁷

But at the end of his discourse, Jesus generously promises the reward of God's kingdom for a price much less than martyrdom. Merely giving something as small as a cup of water, something which is within the means of anybody, merits paradise.

Much more could be said on the details of chapter 10, but overall, we find that while on the surface of it, Jesus’ discourse seems like just a hodgepodge of instructions, opaque sayings, and warnings, in fact he is taking on the well-worn mantle of an apocalyptic prophet of Israel, masterfully weaving his instructions to the apostles together with recognizable apocalyptic and martyr language, thereby signaling to them that the climactic moment of God’s intervention in Israel’s history has come. The triumph of Israel is imminent, and though they will suffer severely and even possibly undergo martyrdom, they’re ultimately on the winning team.

But the reader is left with an unnerving implication: their enemy seems to include Israel herself…

1. e.g. Mt. 19:28-29

2. Is. 49:6

3. Mt. 15:21-28

4. Micah 7:4-6

5. Dan 12:1

6. Mt. 10:26

7. 2 Macc 7:9