Enter Apostles (stage right)

I mentioned last time that we would get to finally meet the twelve this week. Let's do that shall we...

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

Matthew 9:35-10:4 (NKJV)

Matthew sets up the next phase of Jesus ministry with a common literary device - repetition. (Compare verse 9:35 with Matt. 4:23) This has a dual function for the storyteller; it not only catches the listeners attention thus marking a change in the direction of the narrative, but it connects the soon to be launched ministry of the apostles with the early days of Jesus' ministry. This will help reinforce in the listeners mind that what the apostles are about to engage in, is not some creation of their own, but rather an extension of their master's own work.

This is also re-enforced by the choice of the word 'apostles' (meaning 'sent ones') to describe the twelve. It sets these men aside from the rest of Jesus' disciples, an unnumbered crowd of followers some of whom have fallen by the wayside, others will still be around for His death and resurrection. But these twelve are the inner circle, the ones in whom Jesus will invest himself personally.

It should also be noted that his calling of the twelve would seem to be in response to his own prayer request. I can picture in my mind as the crowd heard Jesus lament the lack of workers in the harvest, that quite a number of the collected throng would brashly call out, "I'll go!" and "Pick me!" Was it from such an enthusiastic group that Jesus added to the five we have seen him call personally?

If so, it is an interesting group to be sure. I remember a war film from my youth where military prisoners and ne'er-do-wells were conscripted for a suicide mission. It was called "The Dirty Dozen", and by 1st century social standards the name might apply to this motley crew as well. First in the list we have two sets of brothers, fisherman all. Ranked only slightly higher than shepherds (because fish smell better than sheep I guess) they were hardly regarded as scholarly types. Just look at the reaction to them by the Pharisees in the early chapters of the book of Acts.

Many of them we know little about before their encounter with Jesus, but one pair is particularly interesting - Simon the Cananite and Matthew the tax collector. Many translations call him 'Simon the Zealot' and to be sure the two terms are almost synonymous as the vast majority of the Zealots were indeed Cananites; but regardless of what you called them, they were without doubt the portion of society whose hatred for all things Roman knew no bounds. Imagine, for a moment, his reaction when he discovers a tax collector among the followers of this remarkable rabbi. Before Simon met Jesus he would have considered Matthew the worst traitor possible (I wrote on Matthew's calling here), considering him a Roman lapdog at best. I have often wondered how long it took these two to settle their differences and become brothers under the Son.

And so our compound character "The Apostle's/Disciples" has now arrived on stage, twelve individuals who for the purpose of the Gospel Story act as one. They will, in the remaining chapters, give us some insight into the deeper reactions of the common man to Jesus' works and teaching.

Apostles Exit (stage left)

In the classical Greek theatre of Jesus' day, when an actor exited the stage on the same side from which he entered (they were all male back then) it signified a return from whence they came, back to the old life and the old ways. To exit by the other side of the stage was symbolic of moving on to new things, to new adventures. So it is with our little troupe of apostles. No sooner do they come on stage when they are directed off again - in a direction they themselves have never taken before.

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.

Matthew 10:5-10 (NKJV)

Since they first encountered Him they have marveled at the things Jesus has done and said; now they are sent out into the world to do the very same things themselves. Can you hear them swallow as they try to deal with the lumps in their throats as he says these words? "You want us to do what? Heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead!!!"

That Jesus entrusts them with this mission is indicative of how far they have come in a short period of time. They have not yet graduated, this too will be a learning experience; it is kind of a co-op semester in kingdom expansion.

And yet, there is an odd limitation. Odd in that when so many of the encounters we have seen so far have been with Gentiles who showed remarkable faith, the apostles are warned not to go to them on this trip; not even to the Samaritans. They are to limit their activities to those cities and towns populated exclusively by the Jews, to the 'Lost sheep of Israel."

I'm pretty sure upon hearing this, the more "fundamentalist" of Matthew's congregation would have jumped on it, and reiterated their belief that salvation is for the Jews alone, or at least that Gentiles must become Jews before they can become Christians. But Matthew, I'm also sure, doesn't take the bait. He knows full well that there is a divine order, "to the Jew first, then to the Gentile."

But where they are going and what they are going to do when they get there is not all Jesus has to say. There are five main teaching discourses in Matthew's gospel. In this second one he gives the apostles a 'manual for missions' if you will. A set of rules and guidelines for while they are away. We will look at it in detail next time. Until then...

Shalom.

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Using or Receiving?

If you watch enough news video from the Middle East, you will eventually see an interesting custom play out. Some people, immediately after speaking a particular name (often George Bush) will emphatically spit on the ground before they continue with their sentence. The thinking behind this custom is: This person is so vile and repugnant to me I want to get the bad taste left by saying their name out of my mouth immediately. It is a most vile comment on an individual, reserved only for those for whom the individual feels the greatest hatred.

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9)

It doesn't take a lot of research to discover that, in Jesus' day, this spitting custom was widely practiced whenever anyone said the word nagas or in Greek telones - tax-collector! Only lepers were given a wider swath than the tax-collector. This was largely due to the fact that most tax-collectors were regarded as traitors, Jews who, for financial reasons (they got a commission on the money they collected), decided to cooperate with the Roman occupiers of Israel. In the first century Jewish mindset, the only thing more remarkable than Jesus asking Matthew to follow him is the fact that Matthew left his tax booth and followed!

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” - (Matthew 9:10-13 NKJV)

The Pharisees, as usual, have a valid point to make when they ask why Jesus is keeping company with people who engage in sin as part of their lifestyle, even their livelihood. The Old Testament admonition not to follow the crowd into evil (Exodus 23:2 ) and the declaration that "sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous" (Psalm 45:6-7 ) were, in their minds, validation for creating a social barrier between the two groups. This is the danger of legalism in Christian practice.

Righteous practices are supposed to be expressions of the love for and of God that resides within us. But all too often they can become an end in themselves, with no foundation in love or even faith, but rather just an expression of our own self importance as we strive to prove to ourselves and others that we are more religious. It was this trap the Pharisees had fallen into.

Jesus however, sought to turn this idea on its head. He fully understood that the righteousness and justice of God is not complete unless it also incorporates His love and compassion. This Son of David, who had never sinned in his life, never-the-less understood the cry of David's repentant heart when he declared "Restore to me the joy of your salvation... Then I will teach transgressors of your ways, and sinners will return to you." (Psalm 51:12-13 )

What appeals to me most about this exchange though, is the subtlety of his comment. I'm sure his declaration that the righteous would have no need of his ministry would have massaged the egos of the Pharisees. I can picture them thinking to themselves, " Oh! All right then, that makes sense. We are righteous and good in God's eyes, so it's no wonder he ignores us and talks to them. They certainly do need someone to show them the error of their ways. But it is a lost cause however, so better him than me." The irony is, of course, Jesus didn't consider them righteous at all. Jesus understood that the lowliest sinners who throws themselves upon the mercy of God is closer to the Kingdom of Heaven than the self-declared righteous will ever be.

This is the point behind his quotation of Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." The Pharisees considered their interpretation of the scriptures as being a sacrifice that all people should make to demonstrate their obedience to God. Their zero-tolerance philosophy served only to make themselves look good; it did nothing to draw those who had fallen by the wayside back into the embrace of God's love. Jesus' ministry is not about keeping people out of the Kingdom, it is about welcoming them in.

And while it doesn't seem so on the surface, Jesus words to John's disciples are part of this same exchange.

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. (Matthew 9:14-17 NKJV)

Have you ever noticed that in this question John's disciples group themselves in with the Pharisees? "We and the Pharisees fast often.." A strange comment from the disciples of a prophet who had challenged the validity of the Pharisees repentance. (Luke 3:7-9 ) It demonstrates just how ingrained the idea of pious acts equating with righteousness was in their culture. With the metaphors of the cloth and the wineskins, Jesus tries to help them understand that if the Kingdom that is coming is going to take hold, then the old way of thinking about the Word of God must be set aside. His words must be examined with fresh spiritual eyes, better enabling them to see the truth of God for what it really is rather than for what they had been told it was for generations.

In his essay An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis makes an interesting observation about the nature of reading. He observes that there are two kinds of reading. In the first kind we read a book so that we can "use" it. We are looking to endorse or enhance our own existing world view. The second is when we read a book to "receive" the message that the author is trying to convey. As an avid cyclist I like his explanation of the difference...

"The one [receiving]... is like being taken for a bicycle ride by a man who may know the roads we have never yet explored. The other [using] is like adding one of those little motor attachments to our own bicycle and then going for one of our familiar rides."

This is what happens to all too many of us when it comes to the Word of God. It happened to the Pharisees. They "used" the Law of Moses to their own ends, interpreting it to shore the social/political structure they thought was best for them and for Israel. Jesus recognized that, in truth, it was good for neither and sought to teach people how to "receive" the Word once again by receiving Him - the Word made flesh.

I challenge you, dear readers, to examine your own hearts and ask yourself, "Do I believe what the Holy Scriptures say? or do I believe what I have been told they say?" Ask yourself, and be as honest as you can be, "When I read the Holy Scriptures, am I looking to "receive" the message God has for me, or to "use" it to support my own theology?"

Until next time... Shalom.

Band of Brothers

Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.
This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
"THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES – THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED."

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. (Matthew 4:12-24)


There’s a great scene in the 1938 version of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” where Robin Hood meets a giant of a man named John Little on a log bridge over a stream. They challenge each other for the right to pass first and end up settling the matter with quarterstaffs. I won’t tell you how it turns out, you can rent it and see for yourself, but suffice it to say that “Little” John (played by Alan Hale - see picture*) becomes the first, and most trusted, of Robin’s “Merry Men.”

The recruiting of a band of brothers is a common aspect of many tales of a great quest. We see the same thing in “The Fellowship of the Ring” the first novel in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The pattern is very much the same in each case; the Hero meets a person in his travels, and has a brief encounter during which the Hero finds some worthy trait in the new acquaintance, the hero then invites the individual to join him on the quest. The fact is though, all these adventures take their example from the calling of the disciples by Jesus as he sets out on his earthly ministry.

The one great difference is, unlike Robin Hood, Jesus knows the worth of the twelve before he calls them. There is no need to test their mettle; the quest (ministry) itself will do that soon enough. He knows their hearts already, all that remains is to ask them to follow and see their response. The remarkable thing is - in every account the disciple’s response is immediate – they follow.

In the Kingdom Gospel only the calling of the fishermen is included. As with Robin Hood, here we find a man named John, along with his brother James. They work together with their father Zebedee, mending nets, tending to the boats, hanging the fish to dry, all the tasks required of the family business. Then a stranger walks up to them and ustters a strange phrase, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." We are told they leave their nets and their father and follow the stranger to Capernaum. The same response as Peter and his brother Andrew; they leave their father Jonas and follow the Nazarene.

Considering the culture of the day, this is a remarkable thing. In first century Israel family is everything. To simply walk away leaving one’s family in the lurch was tantamount to treason. Imagine poor Zebedee’s reaction, that is his sons walking off down the beach. And not only is it his flesh and blood, the seed of his loins, but that’s his retirement plan walking away as well. What would your reaction be? Considering that from the perspective of his neighbours Jesus has abandoned his family to become an itinerant rabbi, one has to ask what kind of Kingdom is Jesus setting out to create? Is he questioning the value of the family and the reality of having to make a living?

In a word – Yes!

Or at the very least He is redefining them. One of the hardest things for many people to understand is that the Kingdom of God is not here to meet our needs. The truth is, we are here to meet the needs of the Kingdom of God! The Kingdom does not serve the family; the family is at its best when it serves the Kingdom. God’s goal is not to make us more effective at our careers; but rather, our work is most truly successful when it serves to express the will of God.

In the Gospel Kingdom, Peter and Andrew are still brothers, only now they are part of a much larger brotherhood. James and John are not only the sons of Zebedee, they are now the ‘sons of Thunder’ (Mark 3:13-19), children of the Heavenly Father. They are all still fishermen, only now they fish for people to join the Kingdom. In this passage Jesus disrupts the structure of our families and the pattern of our lives, not to destroy them, but to transform them into something greater that will ultimately bring about the promised Kingdom.

And where is the first place that the Heir leads his band of ‘merry men’? To Syria - a Gentile nation next door to Israel. Jesus’ quest begins in an area where there are not just Jews, but a heavy Gentile population as well. His new home town of Capernaum is in the heart of an area of Israel where many Gentiles have made their home - "the Galilee of the Gentiles"(vs 15), living side by side with their Jewish neighbours. In this part of the world even the Sea of Galilee itself is known by another name, the sea of Tiberius (see John 21). This too is indicative of the nature of the kingdom that is to come. It will be a place where not just one nation, not just one people, but all of mankind is welcome.

Now, imagine with me once again the response of Matthew’s church upon hearing these things. Imagine the turmoil that is their own lives. Given the fact the ‘cult of the Nazarene’ is considered a threat by both the Jews and the Romans, it is likely that many of Matthew’s listeners have been estranged from their own families as well. They are popular with the servant and working classes, even with some of the nobility, but they are decried and even hunted by those in authority.

The prospect of martyrdom is not only a reality, but had to be considered before they even decided to follow this Jesus, this Jewish Messiah rejected by his own people. Would it have given them some comfort to know that it had been the same since the beginning? Would they have drawn encouragement from knowing that James and John, and Peter and Andrew had all left their lives behind as well to follow a the same path as they? I think so; and as storytellers we can draw this out in our telling and give encouragement to our listeners as well.

In the story of the calling of these four disciples, we see not only a representation of the calling of all the twelve, but the first glimpse of what the Gospel Kingdom will look like. We get our first hint at the revolution that is to come. A revolution that will be launched officially in our next episode as Jesus lays out for the people his “Kingdom Manifesto.”


Shalom

Exploring the Kingdom Gospel - episode 8

[* TUT (Totally Unrelated Trivia) - if the man in the picture looks a little familiar, but you have never seen the Errol Flynn classic, it’s likely because the actor’s son, Alan Hale Jr., played ‘The Skipper’ Jonas Grumby on the TV show Gilligan’s Island. Strong family resemblance, eh?]