Who is Jesus? According to Matthew 10:

Jesus is not about complacency!  Jesus has the authority to give supernatural authority to His disciples. With this authority, Jesus expects His disciples to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus blesses them with this power, commissions them, and says that His laborers are worthy of their having their needs met, yet they are to freely (without compensation) give God's gifts of healing and freedom.

Jesus does not promise freedom from persecution, trouble, or conflict in this life. In fact, Jesus says that those who follow him will be persecuted just as He was persecuted. In many ways Jesus is saying that He will be embodied in His disciples.  Those who honor them honor Jesus.  In a like manner as the Father is embodied in Jesus, those who honor Jesus, honor the Father.

Jesus also clearly states that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Big Idea: Jesus delegates authority and responsibility to His disciples and by doing so the disciples become embodied representatives of Jesus Christ.

Profound Identity:

• Jesus had twelve disciples (Matthew 10:1).
• Jesus has the authority to delegate authority (Matthew 10:1).
• Jesus gave his disciples authority to cast out unclean spirits and cure every disease/sickness (Matthew 10:1).
• Jesus was betrayed by one of the disciples to whom he had delegated authority (Matthew 10:1, 4).
• Jesus commissioned his disciples to be witnesses among the Jews (Matthew 10:5-6).
• Jesus gave his disciples specific instruction not to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans (Matthew 10:5-6).
• Jesus recognizes "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 10:6).
• Jesus defines the good news as "The kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 10:7).
• Jesus expects his disciples to not only cast out the unclean spirits and cure every disease, but also while doing these things they proclaim the good news of God's kingdom (Matthew 10:1, 7).
• Jesus associates the nearness of the kingdom of God with the sick being cured, the dead being raised, lepers being cleansed, and demons being cast out (Matthew 10:7-8).
• Jesus taught that the gifts of the kingdom of heaven are not purchased, but freely given (Matthew 10:8).
• Jesus taught that those who work for the kingdom of heaven are laborers who deserve to have their needs met (Matthew 10:10).
• Jesus has a concept of "worthiness" in regard to those who host his laborers (Matthew 10:11-12).
• Jesus condemns those who do not welcome or listen to the words of his commissioned disciples (Matthew 10:14-15).
• Jesus sends out his disciples "like sheep into the midst of wolves" and instructs them to be "wise as serpents and innocent as coves" (Matthew 10:16).
• Because of Jesus, the disciples will be "hand[ed] over to councils," flogged "in their synagogues," and "dragged before governors and kings" (Matthew 10:17-18).
• The persecution of the disciples will be an opportunity for them to testify to the persecutors and the Gentiles about Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:17-18).
• The persecution will push the disciples to move from town to town as a witness to Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:23).
• The Son of Man will come before the persecution has reached every town in Israel (Matthew 10:23).
• Since the disciples are to be like Jesus, they will receive similar persecution and name-calling to that of Jesus (Matthew 10:24-25).
• Jesus told the disciples to not fear those who persecute, because what has been done in darkness will be brought to light (Matthew 10:26-27).
• What Jesus says in a whisper or in the dark to his followers is to be told in the light and proclaimed from the housetops (Matthew 10:27).
• Jesus speaks to his disciples in secret and in whispers that which will be proclaimed by them in public (Matthew 10:27).
• Jesus says that his disciples aren't to fear physical death, but spiritual and physical destruction in hell (Matthew 10:28).
• Jesus will acknowledge before His heavenly Father those who acknowledge Jesus before others (Matthew 10:32).
• Before His Father in heaven, Jesus will deny those who denied Him (Matthew 10:33).
• Jesus did not come to bring peace to the earth, rather Jesus came with a sword (Matthew 10:34).
• Jesus came to bring division among family members, in other words to make family members opposed to one another and enemies (Matthew 10:35-36).
• No one is worthy of Jesus who loves any human more than Jesus (Matthew 10:27).
• No one is worthy of Jesus who does not take up the cross and follow Him (Matthew 10:38).
• Jesus says that those who lose their life for His sake are the ones who will find life (Matthew 10:39).
• Jesus recognizes that those who welcome His disciples will be welcoming Jesus (Matthew 10:40).
• Jesus says that those who welcome Him welcome the one who sent Him (Matthew 10:40).

Questions:

• In Matthew 10:11-15, Jesus talks about the worthiness of a host to host laborers of the kingdom of heaven.  What defines "worthiness"?
• How did Jesus understand the concept of "peace"? (Matthew 10:13)

Prayer:  Jesus - I am sobered by what I read in Matthew 10.  I know not what you are all about.  Save me!  I cannot save myself.

This blog entry is one of a series of entries in my quest to go chapter-by-chapter through the New Testament answering the question "Who is Jesus?"