A Curious Start to Global Domination...(Pt. 1)
Matthew 10
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It’s too easy to approach the Gospels as if they’re basically just a collection of more or less interesting stories and maxims, and unfortunately, modern Biblical “scholarship” has only encouraged that assumption. But of course the Gospels aren’t a haphazard cut-and-paste job by anonymous “editors” so beloved in ivory tower academic lore, they were theologians. As theologians, they were giving us theology. But what’s unique about the Gospels is that they’re theology presented in the form of narrative. As stories, there is a story arc: an introduction that establishes the setting, “rising action” where trouble starts brewing, confrontation and struggle, triumph, and ending.
That being the case, when reading the Gospels, it’s vital to ask the question: where are we in the story?
In the 10th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we’re in the “rising action” stage. Jesus has already established the rough outline of what the Kingdom of God looks like in his Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5-7. Now he’s going to begin the work of expansion. He’s got the startup, now he’s gotta get the word out.
First let’s establish the context, and then we can dive in and see how it all fits together.
Keep in mind that at the time that Jesus appears on the scene, Israel is currently under occupation by the pagan Romans, and the Jews resent it deeply. At the same time, there are different messiahs who pop up here and there, each claiming to be God’s instrument for helping Israel to throw off such a humiliating yoke of oppression, and ushering in God’s reign on earth with Israel up top, a king driving the ship, and the Gentiles belowdecks rowing. In their mind it’s a story of martial triumph and the air is thick with anticipation. Sure, these messiah-pretenders always end up dead, but eventually one of them has to be able to get the job done, right?
So we see already that what Jesus is doing: claiming messiahship and talking about the Kingdom (or “reign”) of God on earth isn’t actually incredibly noteworthy on the surface. Another wannabe. But as the story progresses, we find that Jesus is a very odd sort of messiah. He’s using common concepts, but he uses them in unusual ways. He talks about righteousness and law, but not in reference to the Law of Moses. He talks about Israel, but he seems to include Gentiles in the definition. Stuff like that.
When we get to Matthew 10, Jesus’ intentions and people’s (including the reader’s) expectations collide yet again. He’s going to use more familiar imagery, but in a strange way.
At the very end of chapter 9, we read the following:
“when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them…He said to his disciples, the harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”1
And then chapter 10 opens with these words: “Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority…”
So while his discourse which will make up chapter 10 is directed specifically toward the 12 apostles, his forming them into a single group and his instructing them are both done in the sight of the crowds on whom Matthew just mentioned Jesus having compassion.
So picture it: You’re a first century Jew, and you see a would-be messiah forming a group of 12 guys, and where does your mind immediately go? Holy cow, this guy is reforming the 12 tribes of Israel. And you start to get really excited because these must be his generals for the revolution clearly unfolding before your eyes. Israel is about to kick Rome out. And when that’s taken care of, we’re going to march all over the world and rule over the Gentiles, as is our right. The Kingdom of God is near indeed!
Many translations say that Jesus instructed the apostles. Not untrue, but it misses some crucial overtones. Some say that he commanded them, and this gets closer to the idea. The Greek word that Matthew uses when he describes Jesus talking to his apostles in verse 5 is παραγγείλας (pronounced “par-ang-eil-as”). Parangeilas means “to transmit an order,” and one commentator even says that it is “…used especially of the transmitted orders of a military commander.”2 Do we need any more confirmation that Jesus is launching the revolution?
He tells them to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons.”
To the Westerner without context, this sounds crazy. In a sense it is: Jesus is telling his followers to work miracles. But the crowd standing around would immediately recognize the imagery being employed. Jesus uses this same language again in the very next chapter (11) in his response to John the Baptist’s disciples asking if he really is the messiah. There, Jesus tells them:
“Go back and tell John what you have heard and seen: the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”3
Here, Jesus is stringing together a number of references to signs from the book of the prophet Isaiah that would signal the dawning of the Messianic Age, or, in Isaiah’s words, the “Year of the Lord’s Favor.”4
So our case for ensuing global conquest seems to be getting stronger. And Jesus does indeed send his men out to enlist comrades in the fight and spread the Kingdom of God, but we’ll see presently that the fight will not be with Gentiles, and the Kingdom will not be advanced by warfare (in the traditional sense anyway).
Read Part 2 here.
Mt. 9:36-38, NLT.
Morris, PNTC. 245.
Mt. 11:4-6. cf. Is. 9, 26, 29, 35, 53.
Is. 61:1; 62:1.