11  The Messengers of  the King (10:1)

And having summoned His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. (10:1)

Those whom Jesus had called to pray for workers He then called to become workers. As they began to see the world as He sees it, looking out on lost humanity through their Lord’s eyes and with His heart of compassion, they also began to see that they themselves were called to go out and warn that lost world of the coming harvest of judgment and to invite them into the Lord’s kingdom.

Vital as it is, prayer is not all that is required. The believer who prays for God to send workers but is unwilling to go himself, prays insincerely and hypocritically. The Christian who genuinely prays for God to send witnesses is also willing to be a witness.

William Barclay reports that when Martin Luther became convinced that the biblical way of salvation was by God’s grace working through man’s faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, he began earnestly preaching and contending for this doctrine that became the hallmark of the Protestant Reformation. A friend of his was equally convinced of this truth, and the two men agreed that Luther would spend his time out in the world preaching, writing, and debating, while the friend would spend his time alone in a monastery upholding Luther and the cause of the Reformation in prayer. As Luther visited the friend from time to time and reported the difficulties and obstacles of the work, the friend would intensify his praying. One night the friend had a dream in which he saw a gigantic field that stretched over the whole earth. But only one lone figure was working in the field, and when he looked closer the man saw that the lone figure was his dear friend Luther. When he woke up he immediately went to find Luther and tell him that God made clear to him through the dream that it was not enough simply to pray. He, too, must give himself directly to the work of spreading the good news of salvation. He did not forsake praying, but he set aside his pious solitude and began to labor beside Luther in the heat and dirt of battle.

Until this stage of His ministry, Jesus had ministered alone. He had the companionship of the twelve disciples and the company of vast multitudes who followed wherever He went, but none of the twelve, and certainly none in the multitudes, participated in His ministry except as an observer or recipient. After the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Jesus was God’s sole worker in the great field of the world. Then He began the preliminary stages of commissioning those twelve to join Him as fellow workers.

The major thrust of Jesus’ commissioning process begins in verse 5 of Matthew 10 and continues through the chapter as the Lord sets forth His foundational instructions for ministry. But in the first four verses Matthew gives three essentials of the commissioning. In verse 1 he tells of Jesus’ initiation of the disciples and of the divine impact their ministry was to have on the world. In verses 2-4, which will be discussed in the next several chapters, we are given the disciples’ identities.

THEIR INITIATION

And having summoned His twelve disciples, He gave them authority (10:1a)

The verb behind having summoned is proskale, a compound of kale (to call) and pros (toward, or to). It is an intense term that means to call someone to oneself in order to confront him face to face. It is used of God’s calling the Gentiles to Himself through the gospel (Acts 2:39) and of His calling His chosen men and entrusting them with proclaiming the gospel (Acts 13:2; 16:10).

When Jesus summoned His twelve disciples, He was making more than a casual request. The writer’s choice of verbs seems to imply that this summoning was connected to an official commissioning to the Lord’s service. Here Matthew refers to the twelve as disciples, whereas in the next verse he calls them apostles. Mathts (disciples) refers to those who learn under the instruction of a master teacher. Apostoloi (“apostles,” v.2) refers to qualified representatives who are sent out on a mission. During their training period, the twelve were learners and were primarily called disciples, but as they ventured forth themselves in obedience to Christ’s commission and in His power, they were most often called apostles. They still had more to learn before they could be fully sent out to represent their Lord, and it is on their further learning that Jesus next concentrated His attention and effort.

There were four general phases in Jesus’ training of the disciples to be apostles. The first two, already presented in previous chapters of the gospel, were their conversion and their initial calling to follow Him. From the many who came to trust in Him as Messiah and Lord early in His ministry, Jesus handpicked the twelve for special and unique service. He called them away from their former occupations and gave them a completely new vocation.

The third phase of their training could be called an internship, which they experienced as they lived with Jesus constantly for three years, to be taught both by His instruction and by His example. It is this phase that is highlighted in Matthew 10. From Mark’s account (Mark 6:7) we learn that this involved their going out in pairs on short-term assignments to practice what their Lord had been teaching them. During this phase they were never far from Jesus, who closely monitored their progress; and the greatest lesson of this phase was that they were totally inadequate without Him. After such short periods of active service, the twelve disciples returned to Jesus for further teaching.

The fourth and final phase of the disciples’ training began after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, when He returned to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit as the supernatural Helper who would be with them forever (Acts 1:8; 2:4; cf. John 14:16).

It is encouraging to realize that Jesus did not call those twelve disciples who became apostles on the basis of their innate worthiness or personal capabilities or faithfulness, but solely on the basis of what He could make of them by His own power working through them. It is a mark of authenticity and honesty that the gospel writers, like all the other Scripture writers, make no effort to mask the faults and shortcomings of God’s people, including those of their most outstanding leaders. During the disciples’ three years of training under Jesus, we see few signs of maturity and reliability but many signs of pettiness and inadequacy. It is a marvelous insight into the grace of God toward us to see Christ dealing so lovingly and patiently with men who are so weak and unresponsive.

CHOSEN SOVEREIGNLY

Behind Jesus’ training of the twelve are several foundational facts. First, these men were chosen sovereignly by God. None of the twelve initiated the idea of following Jesus and becoming His disciples, much less His apostles. It was entirely God’s planning and doing. Mark tells us that Jesus “summoned those whom He Himself wanted” (3:13), and near the end of His earthly ministry Jesus reminded them, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you” (John 15:16). The men themselves were not consulted nor were any other men. Jesus’ only consultation was with His heavenly Father. Like Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, and all the prophets, the twelve disciples were chosen by God’s sovereign will and for His sovereign purpose, being foreordained to His service before the foundation of the world. That has always been God’s way. He divinely chose Israel, He divinely chose His prophets and His apostles, and He divinely chooses those today who become the leaders of His own Body, the church. Acts 13:1-4 and 20:28 clearly teach that the Holy Spirit sovereignly places men in leadership in the church.

CHOSEN AFTER PRAYER

Second, the twelve were chosen after prayer. The men were Christ’s choice, and His choice was His Father’s choice. Jesus sought the Father’s will in everything He did, doing absolutely nothing independently or on His own initiative (John 5:19, 30; 8:28). Jesus chose and called those whom He would disciple only after a long vigil of prayer. “And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray,” Luke tells us, “and He spent the whole night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). It was only after day came that He called “His disciples to Him; and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles” (v.13). He chose these twelve because they were His Father’s choice, the Father’s gift to the Son. “I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world,” Jesus later prayed; “Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me” (John 17:6). This same pattern of prayer in choosing servants of the Lord can be seen in Acts 13:1-4. Those were very special men, not because of who they were in themselves, but because they had been sovereignly chosen by God the Father to be disciples of God the Son.

CHOSEN TO BE PREPARED

Third, the twelve were chosen to be prepared. Even though they were converted and called, they were far from ready to serve the Lord. Training is an essential part of any work, including the Lord’s. The disciples left their nets, their crops, their tax collecting booths, and their other businesses; and for three years they walked with Jesus—watching, listening, observing, learning, and often misunderstanding.

One writer says of them,

They have no occupation, they have given up the pursuits in which they were engaged: their fishing, their tax gathering, and their agriculture. They carry on no business; they simply walk around and behind their leader, talking to each other or to Him, and when He speaks to the people who begin to gather, they listen just like everybody else. The only thing they do is go with Him from place to place. They are idle, and it begins to be a question of whether it is not doing harm and giving rise to reproach that twelve grown men are being kept idle for no apparent purpose and neglecting obvious duties in order to do so. (Herbert Lockyer, All the Apostles of the Bible [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972], p. 13)

It must have looked like that to many of those who came to Jesus. It was easy to see what He was doing; but why were the twelve with Him? They did very little to help Him, and on more than one occasion they disagreed with and even tried to interfere with what He was doing.

Yet they were with Jesus for a purpose, and not a moment’s time with Him was wasted, regardless of appearances, because their preparation was on a divine schedule. Jesus knew they needed to be taught and trained. They had to be trained before they could be sent. They had to learn as disciples before they could minister as apostles, and theirs was the unimaginable and unparalleled privilege of being trained by the Lord Himself. To every believer Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me” (Matt. 11:29). No believer can grow in Christ apart from learning from Him through His Word. But the training of the twelve disciples was absolutely unique. In all of history, they alone were taught directly by the incarnate God, as they lived with Him inseparably for those three years.

Much can be learned from the classroom, from good books, and from personal experience. But spiritual growth comes best from close contact with a holy example. A consistently pure life that is patient, loving, reverent, and that has peace of heart and mind is an unmatched tutor for godly living. To hear a godly person talk to others and pray to God, to see him act and react, and to feel his heartbeat for the Lord is to be trained in the best of all schools.

The disciples were a humanly defective and inept group, but their Teacher was unsurpassed. His intention was not to teach them to be the best they could be in their own capacities and strength but to teach them to be what they could be through His provision and power.

One of the most obvious shortcomings of the disciples was their lack of spiritual understanding. They were called to evangelize the world for Christ, yet even far into their training they showed no perception of heavenly truth or of God’s unfolding purpose and eternal plan for redeeming the world. They were spiritually alive because they had trusted in Christ, but they had little spiritual perception or sensitivity. They were dense to spiritual things. They struggled to understand Jesus’ parables nearly as much as the crowds did. When Jesus asked if they understood what He was teaching, they would often say, “Yes, Lord.” But their subsequent words and actions invariably proved they did not understand all that the Lord taught. They were so dull that they did not even understand that they failed to understand. Added to their spiritual dullness were their many prejudices and preconceptions, which they were reluctant to forsake even in light of the Lord’s specific teaching to the contrary.

When on one occasion Peter said to Jesus, “Explain the parable to us,” Jesus replied, “Are you still lacking in understanding also?” (Matt. 15:15-16). When Jesus gave the disciples an object lesson in humility by personally washing their feet, Peter proudly refused. After Jesus told him that otherwise he would have no part in Him, Peter went to the other extreme, asking to be washed all over (John 13:5-9). By both responses Peter proved he had missed the meaning of what Jesus was doing and teaching.

When Jesus first began to tell the disciples of His coming death in Jerusalem, “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You’”—to which Jesus replied, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Matt. 16:21-23). When Jesus took His disciples aside to explain His imminent crucifixion—telling them of His predicted arrest, mocking, scourging, death, and resurrection—”they understood none of these things, and this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said” (Luke 18:31-34).

After Jesus was crucified, just as He had predicted, the disciples ignored that He had also predicted His resurrection, and they went despondently back to their fishing (John 21). Even after the Lord had appeared to them several times, proving His victory over the grave, they still did not understand the purpose of His suffering or death or resurrection—or what their role in His future ministry was to be.

Yet through all their misunderstandings, contradictions, pettiness, and failures, Jesus patiently continued to teach—repeating many of the essential truths again and again. Even during the time between His resurrection and ascension “He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

Closely related to the disciples’ spiritual dullness was their lack of humility. Often they failed to understand what Jesus said simply because they assumed they already knew They were proud, jealous, and envious men who were frequently more concerned about their own welfare and prestige than about Jesus’ teaching or work or about His own human welfare or divine glory.

After Jesus and His disciples arrived in Capernaum one day, He asked them, “What were you discussing on the way? But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest” (Mark 9:33-34). Jesus had just told them again of His coming arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection (v.31), yet they could think only of their personal rankings in the kingdom! Jesus rebuked them by saying, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all” (v.35).

A short while later the contest over greatness became even more intense. Probably at the prompting of her sons, the mother of James and John came to Jesus and asked, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left” (Matt. 20:20-21). Again Jesus’ rebuke was sharp, and it was addressed more to the two disciples than to their mother. He said, “You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” With typical self-confidence they replied, “We are able” (v.22). Even at this late date in Jesus’ ministry they did not fully comprehend that the cup He was about to drink was the crucifixion; but even had they known, their answer would doubtlessly have been the same. As Jesus went on to tell them, their answer was correct, but in a far different way and degree than they imagined. James would be martyred for His Lord, and John would be exiled for life, but not because of their own bravery or strength.

At this point the other ten disciples “became indignant with the two brothers” (v. 24), but from no better motive. They were simply angered that James and John presumed to claim the high places they themselves coveted. Jesus therefore said to all of them, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (vv. 25-28).

Jesus not only corrected the disciples’ wrong thinking and attitudes by teaching them again the principles of His kingdom, but He gave them object lessons of those principles. On one occasion He picked up a little child and placed it before them as the model of true humility (Mark 9:36), and when He wanted them to comprehend what true servanthood is like, He washed their feet Himself (John 13:5-15).

A third weakness that plagued the disciples was lack of faith. They had trusted Jesus for salvation, but they struggled to trust in His truth, His goodness, or His power. Repeatedly Jesus referred to them—His select inner circle—as men of “little faith.” When they became terrified for their lives during the storm at sea, He said, “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Even after His resurrection, “He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen” (Mark 16:14). The disciples had witnessed virtually every miracle the Lord had performed during His three years of ministry, including at least two miracles of raising the dead. Yet they did not believe the reports of His own resurrection any more than they had believed His predictions of it.

A fourth problem with the disciples was lack of commitment. Their lack of humility and self-understanding made them quick to promise they would never leave or forsake Him, but their lack of faith bred weak commitment, which rendered them just as quick to fail the test of their promises. When the time of real testing came, Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter denied Him, and the other ten were frightened away. In the beginning, when the cost was small, the disciples “left everything and followed Him” (Luke 5:11); but when they faced the swords and clubs of the soldiers in the garden, “they all left Him and fled” (Mark 14:50).

Only a few hours earlier Peter had confidently boasted, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” (Luke 22:33), and Matthew reports that “all the disciples said the same thing too” (26:35). But Jesus knew them infinitely better than they knew themselves, and He said to Peter, “The cock will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me” (Luke 22:34). Jesus had already warned Peter of Satan’s desire to sift him like wheat and assured him He had prayed that his faith would not fail (vv. 31-32).

A fifth frailty of the disciples was lack of power. As with the other problems, however, they themselves were unwilling to admit it. In themselves they were impotent and helpless, yet even after repeated failures they continued to believe they were strong and self-sufficient. When a certain man brought his son to the disciples for healing, they self-confidently tried but “could not cure him” (Matt. 17:16). Before Jesus Himself healed the boy, He said, “O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?” (v. 17). When the disciples asked Jesus privately why they were unsuccessful, He answered, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (vv. 19-20). The day came when the disciples had such power of faith, but it was only after they were filled with the Lord’s own Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:4; cf. John 20:22).

Jesus dealt with His disciples’ lack of understanding by continuing patiently to teach them. He dealt with their lack of humility by demonstrating humility. He dealt with their lack of faith by demonstrating the power of God. He dealt with their lack of commitment by praying for them. After He had given them several warnings of the persecutions they would face for His sake (John 15:18-21; 16:1-4, 22, 32-33), He lifted “up His eyes to heaven” and prayed on their behalf the most beautiful prayer ever uttered (17:1-26). And He dealt with their lack of power by sending them His own Holy Spirit as their divine Helper (John 14:16; 16:7, 13-15).

It is therefore not surprising that the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were amazed at the preaching and healing power of Peter and John, whom they knew to be “uneducated and untrained men.” It was at this point the people “began to recognize them as having been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). They were recognized as Jesus’ disciples because they now spoke and acted like Jesus. They had become living mirrors of their Lord, and that is why believers were eventually called Christians, which means “little Christs.” The disciples became living illustrations of the axiom that “everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). Jesus had trained them well, and now they went out and lived like their Master. What they had learned by being with Christ and had received from Him through His Spirit not only had transformed their lives but would, through them, transform the world.

For three years they lived with this Man among men who never uttered a word that was not true, who never sinned in thought or deed, who never lost His temper, and who was never angry except in righteous indignation over evil. Though He was the Son of God, He never followed His own will or took glory for Himself. He cared nothing for His own welfare but everything for the welfare of others, literally wearing Himself out with fatigue in their service. He healed the sick, cleansed the demon-possessed, and raised the dead; and He loved anybody and everybody. Now He appointed the “twelve, that they might be with Him” (Mark 3:14) in order that they might become like Him. And they did.

CHOSEN TO BE SENT

Not only were the twelve disciples chosen sovereignly, chosen with prayer, and chosen for training, but they were also chosen to be sent. The disciples (“those who learn”) were trained to become apostles (“those who are sent”).

Jesus calls all disciples in order to send them out. There were only twelve apostles (Matthias was later added to replace Judas, and Paul was a unique addition beyond the twelve) who were the official “sent ones” of the early church and who one day will “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28). But every disciple of Jesus Christ is called to make other disciples (Matt. 28:19-20). We are all trained to be sent.

THEIR IMPACT

He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. (10:lb)

Exousia (authority) is from a verb that means “it is lawful,” and it therefore refers to a right or power that is legitimately delegated. Jesus granted the twelve disciples God’s divine authority to do exactly what He Himself had been doing (see 4:23; 9:35). To do what He did would demonstrate they were sent by Him, just as what He did demonstrated He was sent by the Father. Throughout the book of Acts we see the disciples doing the very things for which Jesus here gives them authority.

The apostles did indeed cast… out many unclean spirits and heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Peter and John healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple (Acts 3:2-8). “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people,. . . And also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits; and they were all being healed” (5:12, 16; cf. 8:6-7). To the man in Lystra who was “without strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked,” Paul said,” ‘Stand upright on your feet.’ And he leaped up and began to walk” (14:8-10). While Paul was stranded on the island of Malta, he healed the father of Publius, the leading man of the island, “and after this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured” (28:8-9).

The apostles manifested the kind of kingdom power that their Lord had manifested, and by their faithful obedience they turned Jerusalem and then the world upside down (cf. Acts 17:6). Jesus promised that they would do “greater works” (in extent, not power) and His words began to be fulfilled.

The following story fell into my hands from an unknown source:

One night in the East End of London a young doctor was turning out the lights of a mission hall in which he was working. He found a ragged boy hiding in a dark corner, where he begged to be allowed to sleep. The doctor took the homeless boy to his own room, fed him and tried to get his story. He learned that the boy was living in a coal bin with a number of other boys. He persuaded the boy to show him where these boys were. They went through narrow alleys and finally came to a hole in the wall of a factory. “Look in there,” he said. The doctor struck a match and looked around, crawling into the cellar. Finally he found thirteen boys with only bits of old burlap to protect them from the cold. One lad was clasping to him a four-year-old brother. All were sound asleep. The doctor caught a vision then and there of service for his Lord. He cared for those boys and started the Bernardo Homes for neglected children. At the time of the death of Dr. Bernardo, the newspapers reported that he had taken, and surrounded with a Christian atmosphere, more than 80,000 homeless boys and girls. Hundreds of them became fine Christian citizens. O that we might have eyes to see the need about us! Thousands will drift into a Christless eternity because Christians do not take Christ to them.