TBR Bible Study -- Matthew 10

Matthew 10

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

1He called his twelve disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil[a] spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[b]drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

17"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24"A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub,[c] how much more the members of his household!

26"So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny[d]? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
34"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn
" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
36a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'[e]


37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

40"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."






Footnotes:

1. Matthew 10:1 Greek unclean
2. Matthew 10:8 The Greek word was used for various diseases affecting the skin—not necessarily leprosy.
3. Matthew 10:25 Greek Beezeboul or Beelzeboul
4. Matthew 10:29 Greek an assarion
5. Matthew 10:36 Micah 7:6

 

This is the first mention of "the twelve". But Jesus had literally dozens of disciples. Later in the gospels, He sends out 70 to evangelize, all of them given power and authority to heal, exorcise demons, and perform other miracles.

I thought it interesting that the original Greek word translated here as 'authority' is exousia, which is where we get the modern word "exorcise".

 

The Messiah and His kingdom was promised to the people of Israel. It wasn't until Israel rejected Him that the focus was redirected toward the Gentiles.

 

Jesus told them straight, even now in the beginning: being a witness for Him is a dangerous business. I think it's interesting here that He puts awareness seemingly on an equal level with purity.

There was no 'honeymoon period', even for His disciples. From the start, Jesus warned them about persecution from authority figures in the area, and reassures them that even that will serve as a way to spread the Gospel.

 

One of the associate pastors at my church often says, "there's no such thing as a camoflaged Christian." When coupled with the description of heaven as a courtroom in the OT book of Job (Job 9:15; 23:7), the picture in this passage becomes more clear -- God the Father is the judge, Satan is the prosecutor, and Jesus is the defender. We want Jesus defending us.

 

What are your thoughts on demon possession and exorcism today? I tend to dismiss it when I hear about it but as far as I know there is no scripture that tells us that it was only a problem for the early church.

If we do assume that demonic possession is still happening then as Christians what should our response be? I suppose prayer would be the first thing.

I think that people who do horrible things are often demon possessed, just my guess though I have nothing to base it on.

 

If they are possessed by demons, then how are they responsible for their actions and how do you justify killing them?

 

I have no reason to believe it has stopped or even slowed down. I think there are a lot of cases of opression, rather than possession, and more than a few psych cases and outright lies, but yes -- I do believe it still happens.

In general? Sure, I guess. Or are you talking about if you actually encounter someone who's been possessed?

I think that may be true some of the times, but more often than not I think it's just the negative potential of every human being on the planet taken to the next level. From the research I've done, people who are possessed have little, if any recollection of what they've done when the demon was active.

 

I assume you're talking about capital punishment for particularly heinous crimes? For the record, I'm against capital punishment. But as far as responsibility goes, I don't know. It would have to be taken on a case-by-case basis, and the evidence would have to be overwhelming for me, personally, to let an offender like that go after just an investigation and exorcism.

 

I am wondering what Christians should do for people who are demon possessed. Jesus cast demons out. The apostles sometimes did this as well. You do not hear of this any more unless it is in a horror movie or something or in some obscure story from a remote place.