Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?
Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• One of the unique organizational features of Matthew’s Gospel is it combines the teachings of Jesus into five long speeches. This is the second of those five speeches, what is known by scholars as the Missionary Discourse. Both Mark and Luke contain a missionary charge to the disciples, but only Matthew brings all of these teachings together into one location.
• The speech starts, “When he [Jesus] saw the crowds…” which is the same way Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount.
• The sheep/shepherd metaphor Jesus used in v. 36 is a common one from the Old Testament in referring to the nation of Israel (cf. Num 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17; 2 Chr 18:16; Jer 23:1-6; Ezek 34:8; Zech 10:12). Numbers 27:17 especially is about Moses transferring authority to Joshua. Similarly, here Jesus is transferring his authority to the disciples.
• Harvest imagery is also a common one in scripture. Harvest is often a metaphor of judgment at the end of days. Boring has an interesting take on v. 38, “therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.” According to Boring, the disciples are to pray for laborers, and then the response to their prayer is their own mission. Reminds me (Pastor Kjersten) of a response Pope Francis gave to the current trend of offering prayers after a crisis. The Pope quipped, “you pray, then you do something, that’s how prayer works.” What’s key in this though, is that Jesus is sending them as a response to their prayer. The disciples’ mission is not a voluntary activity initiated by them, they are chosen, authorized, and sent by God through Christ to this work as the answer to their prayer.
• In the synoptic Gospels (this is in contrast to John’s gospel, where the listing is more fluid) there are twelve disciples, often referred to as “the Twelve.” Twelve is a key number representing the reunification of the twelve tribes of Israel. The symbolism is more important than the actual historical list of persons included in the group. The list is carefully constructed with six pairs of two, perhaps reminiscent of Jesus sending them out two by two (Mark 6:7).
• Jesus mission is continued in the work of the disciples. While this is a pre-Easter story, the disciples are stand-ins for the post-Easter work of the church. Once again, this story frustrates the attempt to make a neat distinction between Jesus’ historical ministry and the work of the church. It is a story about Jesus AND a handbook for how the church is to live in as post-resurrection people.
• V. 5 “do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans,” is strange, because it is in direct contradiction with the Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, where the resurrected Jesus sent the disciples to “make disciples of all nations” (28:19). A couple of things could be going on here. 1) Jesus’ historical mission was to Israel, and the disciples’ mission following the resurrection was to spread the message wider. This sentence could reflect the early church’s struggles to develop and mission beyond Israel. (this is the only time this comment comes up in Matthew, and is definitely not present in Luke or John, where Jesus deliberately went to Samaria several times). 2) I (Pastor Kjersten) also wonder if there could be a pedagogical aspect to this. This is early in Jesus’ ministry. Maybe the command to stay in Israel is to restrict the disciples and give them time to practice in a small area, before they are sent out to wider ministry. Like training wheels on a bicycle.
Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.
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