The deck is stacked against you. When you are armed with nothing but love, and
your enemy is armed with hate and violence of every kind that is difficult to
even imagine, the deck is stacked against you.
Your life is in jeopardy from your enemy. His life is not from you. It seems ludicrous. It seems ridiculous. How could anyone win a war with these kinds
of constraints? Wouldn’t death just
overwhelm life until all life disappeared?
But then love has always been more powerful than hate. In the face of love, hate disappears. The hole inside of us, cut in the image of
God, is designed to know the bliss of love.
Nothing else can ever fit that shape.
Love throws water on the fire of hate, until the fire is gone. Hate needs hate in return, in order for it to
thrive. Resistance is what hate must
find fuel within. I hit you, you hit me
back, now we have the makings of a fight, perhaps to the death. But I hit you, and you refuse to counter. You walk away looking at me in pity, wishing
something more for me than my slavery to anger and pain. This is something hate has a hard time
understanding. Love does not destroy, it
lifts up.
But for the hardened enemy of our Lord, great love must be
shown, to break through the barriers hate has erected. Jesus knew this. Jesus let His own life go, to demonstrate how
far He was willing to go to show us His love for us. So far in fact, He would die in our
place. So far, He would die at our
hands. So far, He would forgive us for
His murder, driven by our endless choice to sin and turn from love. That kind of God-example of love, breaks the
power of hate and death. It puts an end
to the cycle of it. It is that level of
love that our enemy fears. He does not
fear our feeble attempts to fight back.
He fears our divinely strengthened attempts to love in spite of his
antics. That kind of love is
transformative. It does not just
transform its object, it transforms its bearer.
It is that divine love that resets evil, drives it away, heals what evil
has broken, restores what used to be dead back to life. It was not the ability of Jesus to wage
traditional war that made Him so powerful.
It was His divine ability to show love in a world that wanted only the
resistance of hate.
Hearts melt in the face of the love of Jesus. Lives are transformed. Even when the deck is stacked against the
servant of the Most High, the outcome has already been determined. Our earthly lives are but stepping stones to
our eternal life, the gift of love itself.
So then, fear cannot be used against us.
Eternity has already been granted us.
We can use our earthly lives in the service of Jesus, without worrying
what the outcome is in this life; only that He assures us a perfection
culminating in the next one. Whatever
has not had time to be perfected here, will be completed there. But living begins now, no matter what the
conditions say against it. Life begins
now, because our Lord becomes the central part of who we are. And all the while we are pleased to join His
service.
Matthew records for us a momentous event. Jesus has reached a point in His ministry,
when it is time to increase the laborers for the harvest. The first evangelism is commissioned. The first community outreach is offered. The first message is sent to the lost sheep
of Israel, no matter the level of the resistance, His own church would put up
against it. For it is not the church
elders who determine or dissuade the saving power of Jesus Christ on the life
willing to submit. They have no
control. So they can war against it all
they like, the power of Jesus to save, will be undeterred. Even when lives are lost. Lives are also found. Matthew picks up the story in chapter ten of
his gospel, beginning in verse 1 saying … “And when he had called unto him his
twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out,
and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”
The first thing Jesus does, is arm His followers with His
power of love, over the enemy. The
disciples needed to be able to push the supernatural away from the sufferers,
before they were able to hear clearly the message of love intended for them. Then, they were given by Jesus, the ability
to channel His power to heal all manner of sicknesses or diseases. They were to reset the deformity from which
we suffer in our bodies, again to make clear the message of love Jesus came to
offer. All of this was to be done in the
name of Jesus. Not just some random
religion. Not just some eastern
philosophy, or enlightenment, but in the name of Jesus alone. This was a new gospel. New because in part, the original religion
Jesus had established with Moses at Mt. Sinai had rejected its author. The Messiah had arrived and the Pharisees
called Him the devil. So since tradition
would not accept the reality of Jesus Christ, reality had to evolve to become
the new religion of Jesus Christ. A
reset of church elder thinking (in their day and in ours).
Matthew continues picking up in verse 2 identifying those
who were first called saying … “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these;
The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of
Zebedee, and John his brother; [verse 3] Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and
Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname
was Thaddaeus; [verse 4] Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also
betrayed him.” This may not have been
the exact order in which they were called.
This may not have been the exact order of prominence in the church after
Jesus had long since ascended. It was
just a list. And the most interesting
name in it was that of Judas. Judas is
NOT excluded from the commission, or the power of Jesus, or the gifts Jesus had
to offer. Judas was included in
everything. The love of God was no less
for the one who would betray Him, than for the one who would deny Him. The fate of Judas would result from the
choice of Judas, not the denial of God who knew in advance the crimes of Judas.
Then came the target audience they were to seek out picking
up in verse 5 saying … “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them,
saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not: [verse 6] But go rather to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel.” The covenant with Abraham
was not to be abandoned because his descendants made bad choices. God honors his promises, even when we
don’t. There would be time for the
Samaritans and the Gentiles (us) to hear the gospel, and come to the message
later. But the first offer would be extended
to the house of Israel, the first to be honored with the good news of the
Messiah would be to those who were supposed to understand it best. God still loved a people who were attempting
to love Him in return. Even though their
love was filled with error, God does not abandon them, but reaches out to them
while He was even here among them, to bring them close to Him.
The message begins in verse 7 saying … “And as ye go,
preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. [verse 8] Heal the sick, cleanse
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely
give.” The Kingdom of Heaven is
here. Not at the end of all life, but in
the here and now. The entrance is
through the door of Jesus Christ. As we
submit to Jesus, Heaven begins to dwell within us. How we think changes. What we value changes. And how we love changes. This is where mankind begins to see what the
kingdom of heaven is really like. That
is a current message. A relevant one in
any age to any people. It affects lives
in the immediate, in the day to day, in the here and now. Real change for the better right away. Evidence of it included healing the sick,
cleansing lepers. Changing the problems
of this world until the problems are no more.
His command includes asking His disciples to “raise the dead”. Not a lot of this going on today, we could
ask ourselves why. But the barrier man
thinks is so permanent is not so permanent to a God who gives us life, and can
give it again.
He asked them to cast out devils, have no fear of them. For they cannot stand against the power of
Jesus. They do just fine against an
organized religion, that values its traditions more than it values love. But against Jesus, no contest. And Jesus tells them to hold nothing back from
those in need. Freely give, as these
gifts were given to you freely. You did
NOTHING to earn them. You have them in
spite of your imperfections. You are not
100% right on your doctrines, and you may not be for some time yet. But the ONLY doctrine that really matters is
the message of the Kingdom of Heaven brought to us by Jesus Christ, that has
arrived today, back then. It is that
message that needs to be promoted. Not
what you can and cannot do, but through whom you will find harmony with God.
Then there is a matter of trust. Matthew continues in verse 9 saying … “Provide
neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, [verse 10] Nor scrip for
your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman
is worthy of his meat.” You do not need
to prepare for this assignment. Just
go. With what you are wearing, in the
condition you are in. You do not need
money. You do not need reservations, or
arrangements, or an itinerary. You just
need motivation. The “work” of spreading
this message is worth what it takes to sustain you. You are in God’s hands. You will be in the care of others. Generosity in the hearts of listeners will
likely be in the instrument through which God sustains you. But even if it has to be ravens carrying you
bread, you do not need to worry about bringing money, or earning it, or where
you will sleep. You are in the care of
God. It takes trust to do this. It takes commitment.
Blessings are for real.
Matthew explains this picking up in verse 11 saying … “And into
whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there
abide till ye go thence. [verse 12] And when ye come into an house, salute it. [verse
13] And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not
worthy, let your peace return to you.”
Anyone who provides lodging for someone carrying the message of Jesus
will be blessed to do so. Even if it is
only while the messenger is in the house.
But if the host, is willing to embrace the gospel, the blessing lasts
forever. This is not about
exclusion. It is about inclusion, and
what it means to embrace the gospel of peace, from the author of love.
But cause and effect remains in place as Matthew continues
in verse 14 saying … “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,
when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. [verse
15] Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and
Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” This is very strong language that Jesus uses
to make a point. Sodom and Gomorrha were
destroyed for their wickedness in the days of Abraham and Lot. Every Jew knew this story and understood how
bad these cities must have been to warrant special destruction for their
evil. The tradition of this in the
scripture is used to illustrate how important the message of Jesus Christ is to
the people of this time. It is no small
matter. It is everything. To reject Jesus, is not to have some small
doctrinal dispute about interpretation, it is to throw away the only means
there is for salvation of any kind.
To choose to cut yourself off from the salvation Jesus
Christ alone can bring, is to cement your character to the weakness of sin, the
pain and death it causes, and the downward cycle from which there is no escape
other than through Jesus. Sodom was not
presented with the Messiah. Sodom was
not presented with healings, with sermons from the mouth of God. Sodom had only the witness of Lot, the
contrast of one who did follow God, with the citizenry who did not. Evil ran unchecked in Sodom as it will in us
without the saving power of Jesus Christ and our submission to Him. It was not a threat against the people of His
day. It was an illustration of how
important their choice would be to them.
And the counsel for the laborers had only just begun …
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