Canonical Reading Plan for Oct 5, Mat 9-10

Today's readings are Mat 9-10.

In Mat 9, Jesus calls Matthew, the writer of our gospel. Notice the progression, He heals many who appear to be "unworthy" then heals on the Sabbath, both creating tension with the Pharisees. Next, he calls a tax collector to be one of His disciples. Tax collectors were considered extremely unsavory as they collaborated with the Romans and took advantage of the people. They were perceived as sinners and traitors.

Just as He instructed His followers to live holy lives in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is walking it out. He is a living demonstration of His teaching. Not only is Jesus touching the diseased and unclean, but He is also traveling and living with them! Far from avoiding them, He begins teaching that these are the very people He came to help and save. They are not to be looked down upon as unworthy and inferior. They are to be loved and ministered to.

Jesus is not here to save those who think they are so righteous they have no need to be saved. The reality is that those who feel they are already righteous only want Jesus to give them what they expect and feel they deserve, victory and a better life. They're not interested in being forgiven for their sins, they believe they have none. Meanwhile, they point their fingers and judge those around them. Their actions are the ultimate expression of pride and arrogance.

In Mat 10, we see the twelve disciples, often referred to as “the twelve.” Jesus sends them out, giving them the authority to proclaim the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons (Mt 10:7-8). There are those who claim this is for all believers. Perhaps so, but those who think it is prescriptive of the Christian life frequently neglect to read the rest of the passage.

The disciples are to preach and teach without pay, without material belongings, without a home, staying with the people to whom they preach along the way (Mt 10:8b-13). They will be flogged, arrested, put to death (Mt 10:17-19). Their families will hate them, and there will be a hostile division between them and the ones they love (Mt 10:34-39). As all these trials come upon them, they are to speak the gospel by the power of the Spirit. Furthermore, they are to do it all in Israel and only to Israelites (Mt 10:5). Clearly, these instructions are not to the entire body of Christ, but to a select group of people for a singular purpose, to prove that the Messiah has arrived.

These instructions and prophecies are made directly to the twelve. The original prophecy was that the gospel would go to the Jews and Jerusalem first (Ro 1:16; 2:9-10; Acts 1:8). This is how God will use these twelve to spread the gospel, starting in Jerusalem and spreading to the entire world. This is also how He will establish His church. The twelve are given this type of authority to authenticate the validity of their teaching at a time when the church needs it most.

During those first few years, there was no completed set of Scriptures to which we can refer. They were still being written. God empowered a small group of men to do extraordinary things to give authority to what they wrote and taught. A close examination of the rest of the New Testament will reveal that no one outside the twelve is on record as performing miracles like these.

While we have the same charge to spread the gospel, we may not have authority to raise the dead or the need to be flogged in the synagogues. Neither do we have to travel to Israel to do so. We’re not starting the church. We are the church! And we have been given the full counsel of Scripture to help us along. 

God can and will undoubtedly heal people today, even raise the dead, if He so desires. But, to take what Jesus says to His twelve disciples as a mandate for all Christians would be a mistake. If we do, we would have to take the rest of Mat 10 as a mandate as well.

There are those who lay claim to all the good things they see in Scripture and none of the hardship or suffering. Yet, we see, time and again, that our walk is the narrow way, the way of persecution and trial. We should expect the supernatural without being surprised by the tribulations that can come from living in a fallen world. God does indeed work miracles, the foremost of which is our own transformation and redemption. When we recognize that truth, any need or demand to see more will take a back seat to the miracle He’s already performed in our hearts.