My exegesis on the Gospel for the Second Sunday after Trinity, Year A, Matthew 9:35-10:23 continues.

Part 1 has the full reading and exposition for Matthew 9:35-9:38. Part 2 discusses Matthew 10:1-2, especially the Apostles Peter and Andrew, who were brothers as well as James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Part 3 covers the lives of Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James of Alphaeus and Jude Thaddaeus. Part 4 provides the stories of Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot then goes into the focus of our Lord’s commission — command — to the Apostles in their first step of ministry.

Today’s post discusses Matthew 10:7-15:

10:7 As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The Kingdom of heaven has come near.’

10:8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

10:9 Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts,

10:10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.

10:11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is Worthy, and stay there until you leave.

10:12 As you enter the house, greet it.

10:13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.

10:15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

In 2015, I wrote an exegesis based on Matthew Henry’s commentary for Matthew 10: parts 1 and 2, which may also be of interest.

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur (as specified below).

At the end of yesterday’s post, John MacArthur said that Jesus gave the Apostles a specific focus: preach, teach and heal only among the Jews. He gave them His model for ministry. The Gentiles and the Samaritans would come later.

Jesus gave them a clear message, something that is also essential in ministry; they were to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of heaven is near (verse 7).

Matthew Henry’s commentary tells us (emphases mine):

Not that they must say nothing else, but this must be their text; on this subject they must enlarge: let people know, that the kingdom of the Messiah, who is the Lord from heaven, is now to be set up according to the scriptures; from whence it follows, that men must repent of their sins and forsake them, that they might be admitted to the privileges of that kingdom. It is said (Mark 6 12), they went out, and preached that men should repent; which was the proper use and application of this doctrine, concerning the approach of the kingdom of heaven. They must, therefore, expect to hear more of this long-looked-for Messiah shortly, and must be ready to receive his doctrine, to believe in him, and to submit to his yoke. The preaching of this was like the morning light, to give notice of the approach of the rising sun. How unlike was this to the preaching of Jonah, which proclaimed ruin at hand! Jonah 3 4. This proclaims salvation at hand, nigh them that fear God; mercy and truth meet together (Ps 85 9, 10), that is, the kingdom of heaven at hand: not so much the personal presence of the king; that must not be doated upon; but a spiritual kingdom which is to be set up, when his bodily presence is removed, in the hearts of men.

MacArthur has more on this central message, which was also John the Baptist’s:

Part of the problem is that we don’t stick with the central message. And what does He say in verse 7? “And as you go, preach.” And as you preach, will you say, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” I mean, I can’t it get much simpler. I love that verse. You say, that’s the whole sermon? Where’s the rest of what you’re supposed to say? That’s enough. The kingdom of heaven is a big enough subject to cover everything that God is interested in. So if you want to open your mouth, then make sure you talk about God’s projects, not man’s. Preach the kingdom, the rule and reign of God, that heaven has come to earth …

Now, I mean to tell you that Satan is not stupid. And the best way to render the gospel of no effect is to make sure nobody knows what it is. It is the message that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that imminently and available to every person is the rule and reign of God in their lives, here and now, as well as earthly, millennially, and eternally. That is our message. I won’t get pulled into politics, although I have some strong feelings about things. I won’t get pulled into other things. I say no to that stuff all the time, because my focus cannot change from the kingdom. I wish, Christians, every time we opened our mouths, something about the kingdom came out. Wouldn’t that be good? Let’s just talk about God’s rule and His kingdom.

I just love it that He says to them, “Just say that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now what are you going to do? Just go around saying that over and over again? No, of course not. Fill it up with all of the content that that term deserves … Well, there’s a sense of urgency in that statement. I know and you know that it wasn’t long after this until the Lord turned away from Israel, because they didn’t take the message offered to them. I think there is urgency and immanency in this world too. I don’t know how long we have before the Lord comes, and we need to be proclaiming the kingdom with urgency. Effective missionaries have a divine commission, central objective, and a clear message.

We say that the world feels far from heavenly, so how did the kingdom of heaven come to earth?

Henry explains how heaven has come to earth in light of the first Pentecost, which could not have taken place without three other events — our Lord’s death on the cross, His resurrection and His ascension into heaven — after which the Holy Spirit came to all believers, at that time in Jerusalem and, in future, until the end of the world, our Lord’s Second Coming in glory:

Christ, in the gospel, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, Heb 13 8. Afterwards, indeed, when the Spirit was poured out, and the Christian church was formed, this kingdom of heaven came, which was now spoken of as at hand; but the kingdom of heaven must still be the subject of our preaching: now it is come, we must tell people it is come to them, and must lay before them the precepts and privileges of it; and there is a kingdom of glory yet to come, which we must speak of as at hand, and quicken people to diligence from the consideration of that.

MacArthur says there are certain things those in the ministry should not preach about:

It wasn’t psychology; it wasn’t philosophy; it wasn’t human wisdom; it wasn’t politics. It was not economics. The message was the kingdom of heaven and its imminence. The nearness of the kingdom.

Jesus told the Apostles they were to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; they were not to be paid, because they received without payment, therefore, they were to give without payment (verse 8).

An atheist once said to me, ‘Jesus was nothing more than a glorified magician’.

Henry proves him wrong by describing His healing miracles, which He enabled the Apostles to also perform. They were acts of mercy, not magic:

To use their power in doing good: not “Go and remove mountains,” or “fetch fire from heaven,” but, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers. They are sent abroad as public blessings, to intimate to the world, that love and goodness were the spirit and genius of that gospel which they came to preach, and of that kingdom which they were employed to set up. By this it would appear, that they were the servants of that God who is good and does good, and whose mercy is over all his works; and that the intention of the doctrine they preached, was to heal sick souls, and to raise those that were dead in sin; and therefore, perhaps, that of raising the dead is mentioned; for though we read not of their raising any to life before the resurrection of Christ, yet they were instrumental to raise many to spiritual life.

MacArthur says that the miracles confirmed the power of the message:

Now, let’s … pick it up where we left off last time. Those who represent Christ – and this is essential – those who represent Christ must have a confirming credential. If you were to go out and preach Jesus Christ, what reason would people have to believe anything that you said was really from God? Why should they believe that? Why should they believe the Twelve when they went out and said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”? Why should they believe that? And when they said, “The Messiah is here, and it’s none other than Jesus of Nazareth,” and when they preached the principles of the king – and maybe they would repeat much of the Sermon on the Mount – while they were preaching all of this, why would the people want to believe that? Why should they believe it? …

… They had to have something that made them convincing. Now, we’ve already discussed the specifics of healing, and cleansing lepers, and raising the dead, and casting out demons. All of that’s gone on in chapters 8 and 9. We’ve seen the Lord do that already … But I want you to see some rich truth here about the nature of these specific things. The credentials were the key to marking them out as representatives of God …

What is the sign of an apostle? Signs, wonders, and mighty deeds. Reversing those, mighty deeds were miracles. They created wonder, and the wonder was a sign that pointed to God as the source. Paul says, “How did you know I was an apostle and came behind not the chiefest apostle? Because of the signs of an apostle: wonders, mighty deeds, miracles.” That was the proof.

… they were revealing the great heart of God. And God cares for people who are hurting, and people who suffer, and people who are poor, and people who are sick. Yes, it dramatized the mercy of God. 

Let’s look at not being paid for healing miracles.

Henry says:

… they are cautioned not to make a gain of the power they had to work miracles: they must cure gratis, further to exemplify the nature and complexion of the gospel kingdom, which is made up, not only of grace, but of free grace … Their power to heal the sick cost them nothing, and, therefore, they must not make any secular advantage to themselves of it.

Henry recalls the episode in Acts where the magician Simon Magus wants to pay for the power to perform miracles:

Simon Magus would not have offered money for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, if he had not hoped to get money by them; Acts 8 18. Note, The consideration of Christ’s freeness in doing good to us, should make us free in doing good to others.

His was a sad story. He heard Philip the Evangelist (not Philip the Apostle) speak in Samaria and was so moved that he became a Christian (Acts 8:9-13). Philip tried to give the gifts of the Holy Spirit to his converts but could not. So, Peter and John travelled from Jerusalem to Samaria to transmit those holy gifts by the laying on of hands. They did not give them to Simon Magus, who offered them money in order that they might do so. Instead, Peter rebuked him, saying that he should repent of such a heinous sin (Acts 8:14-25).

MacArthur says:

In Acts 8, when he saw the power that the apostles had, and he tried to buy it. And he was willing to pay any price, because he knew he could make it back a thousand times over. Peter said, “Your money perish with you. You can’t buy the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is a free gift.

There was Jewish tradition involved in not accepting money for doing the Lord’s work:

A rabbi was bound by the law to give his teaching freely and for nothing. The rabbi was forbidden to take money for teaching the law which Moses had freely received from God. The only time the rabbi, said the Talmud, could ever take money for his teaching was if he taught a small child, because that was the responsibility of the parents. And if they were shirking their responsibility in favor of having the rabbi do it, they needed to pay him for it, because it was their job.

This is supposed to be true in the Church, too:

First Peter says, chapter 5, “We don’t do this for filthy lucre.” Paul says to Timothy, “When you look for an elder, find a man who is not interested in gain.” Paul says to Titus, “When you ordain elders in every city, find a man who’s not interested in personal gain.”

MacArthur says that when he is invited to preach outside of his church, he never asks for a fee. One place sent him a cheque for $3, which he returned to them, but generally speaking, he receives much more:

… the rest of the time I get more than I’m worth. But the issue with me is not to set a price. Do you see? I received the power and the call and the gifts free. God gave them to me; I can’t charge you for that. So, I’ll never set a price. I’ll never ask a fee …

I call this a settled contentment. A settled contentment. One who represents Christ and is sent out as an ambassador or a missionary for Christ doesn’t put a price on his ministry, trusts God to supply, and God’ll supply through the people according to the diligence and faithfulness of his ministry. But the point is here, whatever he receives he is to be – what? – content.

Jesus had more to say about material goods, beginning with the instruction that they take no gold, silver or copper — coins — in their belts (verse 9).

MacArthur explains that this was a matter of faith and also one of putting away materialism:

I believe God will meet my needs. Look at verse 9. Now He says to them, “As you go, you guys don’t take gold, or silver, or copper in your purses.” Now, that’s all coinage – different kinds of coinage. There was gold coinage, silver coinage, and copper coinage. He says, “Don’t take any money.”

Don’t think, “I’m going to go, but first of all, I’ve got to amass a fortune to support this deal. I mean if I’m not going to charge anybody, and freely I’ve received, and freely I give, then it’s obvious that I’ve got to support myself. So, as soon as I get all my money collected and stuffed into my purse, I’ll be on my way.”

Jesus went further. He said that the Apostles were not to take a bag for their journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff; for labourers deserve their food (verse 10).

MacArthur says Jesus meant not to take a second tunic, second pair of sandals or an extra staff:

He says, “Don’t take a thing. Don’t take any money at all. Not only that, don’t take a food bag.” That’s what the word “bag” probably means, a bag of supplies and so forth, a food bag. “And don’t take two coats, figuring, ‘Boy, if something happens to my one’” – it’s an overcoat – “‘one overcoat, I got to have another one.’ And don’t take an extra pair of shoes, and don’t take an extra staff” – is what that means.

“Wow.” You say, “Well, wait a minute. I can’t tell anybody my price, and I can’t take anything with me. I’m going out there naked. I got nothing.”

Ah, a spiritual principle at the end of verse 10. Just remember this, “The workman is worthy of his sustenance.” Who made that principle up? God says, “I did. And I will manage the resources.”

So, you go in confident faith. You don’t take anything. This is like survival training. You go out there without anything. What are you trying to teach these people, Lord? “Confident faith, confident trust.”

MacArthur says that this, too, was an ancient principle amongst rabbis:

This is how the rabbis were. They were never to price anything, they were never to demand anything, they were never to ask a fee, but always the people were to supply their needs.

Those who took care of rabbis were said to be blessed by God in return:

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaacov said, “He who receives a rabbi into his house or as his guest and lets him have his enjoyment from his possessions, the Scripture ascribes to him as if he’d offered the continual offerings.” I mean God’s going to bless him because he took care of God’s servant. And so, you have a double thing here. You see? God’s man has never to be over-concerned with material things, but the people of God must see it their duty to support him. I can’t put the price, but it’s your responsibility before God to support the one who serves, “For the worker is worthy of his sustenance.”

Jesus told the Apostles that, whenever they enter a village, they should find out who is worthy and stay with them until they leave (verse 11).

‘Worthy’ here means ‘God-fearing’, not a local rich ‘worthy’.

Henry says:

Enquire who is worthy, who there are that have some fear of God before their eyes, and have made a good improvement of the light and knowledge they have.

MacArthur says:

“Worthy” doesn’t mean wealthy. It means worthy. What does that mean? Somebody whose character, somebody whose lifestyle, somebody whose integrity would be a fitting place for you to stay. For example, if you go into town, and you stay in a horrible, horrible home of dissolute, unregenerate, vile, wicked people, and you walk out of that every day to preach the message of holiness, nobody’s going to believe you. They’re going to identify you with the unholiness of that place you live.

There is another aspect to this. You might get invited to a grander home rather than the humble one where you are lodging.

MacArthur gives us a personal example:

You find a place that’s worthy for the occupancy of a representative of Jesus Christ; be careful where you stay. But when you find that place, “abide till you leave the town.” In other words, stay there all the time. This is what’s going to happen. You’re going to go into town; every time it’ll happen this way. And I’ve had this happen when you go to a meeting. Some dear saint’ll come up and say, “Oh, would you stay with us? We’d love to have you.”

And you’re so well received, you say, “Of course.” And you to go their home, and it’s a humble, little place, just a humble – and the food is not the bill of fare at some fancy restaurant; it’s just, you know – if you’re in the South, it’s grits and green eggs, whatever, just something real simple.

And you just – and then about two days later, somebody comes along and says, “Now, we don’t know where you’re staying, but we live up on the hill. And we’ve got eight swimming pools, and we’ve got a herd of horses.” You know? “I mean we have a suite that you…”

And you know you’re saying to yourself, “Oh, that would be really nice. How do I get out of this place I…”

You see, that’s all solved right here. Wherever you go when you get there, you stay. Wherever you are, you remain with a settled contentment. If God wants you up the hill, then they’ll meet you first when you come to town.

… the point here is, wherever it is that God in His providence takes you, be content to stay there, and don’t be in the ministry to see how much comfort you can generate for yourself. See? Settled contentment …

Public preaching would lead to hospitable invitations. And they were to be careful not to lodge, first of all, in a disreputable place, and secondly, not to start climbing a social ladder, but to concentrate on the business at hand.

Jesus said that when they enter a house for the first time, they should greet it (verse 12). A greeting in the ancient world involved more than saying hello. It was all about being complimentary and blessing the people who lived there.

MacArthur tells us:

What was the common Jewish greeting? Shalom, peace. What did it mean? Oh, it meant everything. It meant wholeness, and soundness, and health, and welfare, and prosperity, and well-being, and blessing, and benediction from God. Just pour out your blessing and say, “This house is blessed of God.”

Jesus said that if the house was worthy, the Apostles were to let their peace come upon it, but, if it turned out to be unworthy, they were to let their peace return to them (verse 13).

Henry explains our Lord’s intention with this instruction:

First, For satisfaction to the apostles. The common salutation was, Peace be unto you; this, as they used it, was turned into gospel; it was the peace of God, the peace of the kingdom of heaven, that they wished. Now lest they should make a scruple of pronouncing this blessing upon all promiscuously, because many were utterly unworthy of it, this is to clear them of that scruple; Christ tells them that this gospel prayer (for so it was now become) should be put up for all, as the gospel proffer was made to all indefinitely, and that they should leave it to God who knows the heart, and every man’s true character, to determine the issue of it. If the house be worthy, it will reap the benefit of your blessing; if not, there is no harm done, you will not lose the benefit of it; it shall return to you, as David’s prayers for his ungrateful enemies did, Ps 35 13. Note, It becomes us to judge charitably of all, to pray heartily for all, and to conduct ourselves courteously to all, for that is our part, and then to leave it with God to determine what effect it shall have upon them, for that is his part.

Secondly, For direction to them. “If, upon your salutation, it appear that they are indeed worthy, let them have more of your company, and so let your peace come upon them; preach the gospel to them, peace by Jesus Christ; but if otherwise, if they carry it rudely to you, and shut their doors against you, let your peace, as much as in you lies, return to you. Retract what you have said, and turn your backs upon them; by slighting this, they have made themselves unworthy of the rest of your favours, and cut themselves short of them.” Note, Great blessings are often lost by a neglect seemingly small and inconsiderable, when men are in their probation and upon their behaviour. Thus Esau lost his birthright (Gen 25 34), and Saul his kingdom, 1 Sam 13 13, 14.

MacArthur says this custom was widespread in the Middle East:

There must be a rejection of the contemptuous. He says at the end of verse 13, “If the house is not worthy, if they’re not receptive, they’re not interested, then let your peace return to you. Now, that’s a sort of an oriental expression. They would give their peace, and if the house wasn’t worthy, they’d take it back. In other words, they would unbless. They would come to a home, and they would say, “Peace be unto you in the name of Christ.” And the home would be vile and rejecting. And so, they would say, “We take our peace back. This house is unblessed.” They actually would do that. They would confront the situation in that way by removing the blessing that they had verbally given.

And so, He says, “If you find a place where they are not worthy, then let your peace return to you; don’t waste it on them; take it back. Don’t give them God’s benediction if they’re not worthy of God’s benediction. Don’t tell them God’s going to bless them.”

It’s the same thing in the epistles of John, where John says, “Do not, when you have someone come along who denies Christ, do not bid him” – what? – “Godspeed or you become a partaker in his evil deed.” Don’t pronounce benedictions on people who are godless. See? Don’t say, “Bless you, brother,” to someone who isn’t regenerated. God’s blessing is not to be thrown around so indiscriminately. Nor is that person to live under the illusion that they are really redeemed when they’re not, or blessed when they’re not. So, let it return to you.

Jesus said that if anyone refuses to listen to them, they should shake the dust off their feet as they leave that house or town (vesre 14).

This, too, was a common occurrence in the Jewish world, with dust representing Gentile dirt:

Now, that was an – that was a little physical thing the Jews did. Whenever they went into a Gentile country, of course they got covered with dust. And when they came back into Israel, they didn’t want to bring Gentile dust into Israel, because they believed that Gentile dust would defile things.

So, before they entered Israel, they shook all this dust off of them so they wouldn’t bring any Gentile dirt back in. So, He says, “Now, you’re going to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And if they don’t hear your message, you treat them the way you’d treat a Gentile.” It’s exactly what Paul did in Acts chapter 15 – or chapter 13, when he went into the synagogue and they didn’t receive his message, and he says he shook the dust from off his feet and went next door to the Gentiles. He treated the Jews like Gentiles and the Gentiles like Jews. Treat them as a pagan …

… the point is this, the assumption is that when they have seen the miracles, and when they have fully heard the message, and when they have been given ample opportunity to respond, and their conclusion is rejection, then you leave and treat them as the pagans that they are.

Jesus said, emphasising His statement with ‘truly’, that such a town would find itself worse off than Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement (verse 15).

Henry explains:

Note, [1.] There is a day of judgment coming, when all those that refused the gospel will certainly be called to account for it; however they now make a jest of it. They that would not hear the doctrine that would save them, shall be made to hear the sentence that will ruin them. Their judgment is respited till that day. [2.] There are different degrees of punishment in that day. All the pains of hell will be intolerable; but some will be more so than others. Some sinners sink deeper into hell than others, and are beaten with more stripes. [3.] The condemnation of those that reject the gospel, will in that day be severer and heavier than that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom is said to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude 7. But that vengeance will come with an aggravation upon those that despise the great salvation. Sodom and Gomorrah were exceedingly wicked (Gen 13 13), and that which filled up the measure of their iniquity was, that they received not the angels that were sent to them, but abused them (Gen 19 4, 5), and hearkened not to their words, v. 14. And yet it will be more tolerable for them than for those who receive not Christ’s ministers and hearken not to their words. God’s wrath against them will be more flaming, and their own reflections upon themselves more cutting.

MacArthur has more:

And here’s the key, verse 15, “And it’ll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.” And it wasn’t very good for Sodom and Gomorrah, was it? I mean it rained fire and brimstone, drowned both those two cities so that they can’t even be found today. We have no trace of them left. In fact, they think they must be under the south end of the Dead Sea because they can’t find any trace of them at all.

And so, as it was in absolute, utter, total devastating and eternal destruction on those two cities, it’ll be worse for a house or a city in Galilee that refuses you. Why? People, that assumes that the town in Galilee or the house in Galilee knew more, heard more than Sodom and Gomorrah did, the point being they must then have had an awful lot of information. So, the idea being that when a city with a greater exposure to the truth of God – namely the representatives of the Lord Christ Himself, giving them the message and authenticating it with their credentials – turns their back on that, you have a Hebrews chapter situation where they have been exposed to all of the data and all of the situation, and they’ve refused; it’s impossible for them to be renewed to repentance; shake the dust and leave. When you’ve done your best, and they are unreceptive but contemptuous, don’t waste your time. Divine judgment is set on that city and that house. Very severe.

MacArthur sums up what we have learned thus far:

Listen; the Lord sent out the Twelve two by two. He said, “Here are the principles for an effective mission: first, a divine commission, then a central objective, a clear message, a confirming credential, a confident faith, a settled contentment, a concentration on the receptive, and rejection of the contemptuous.”

All being well, tomorrow’s post will conclude with the final eight verses in this reading, in which Jesus covers the future persecution of the Apostles, how Christianity will divide households and the message that the one who endures to the end will be saved.