Matthew 10:32-11:1
“Notice what you notice.” Today we again continue Matthew’s account of Jesus’ instructions to His disciples. And again, Jesus has some harsh words for them – not harsh toward them, but harsh toward the world and their enemies. This is especially true of the paragraph beginning with Jesus saying, Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. (v. 34) In many other occasions Jesus has preached peace, as in Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. (John 14:27) My guess is that His “peace” is within/between His followers and that the “sword” is between His followers and the world/devil.
Jesus closes out His instructions with some comfort for His disciples that very likely continues to speak to us today: Whoever receives you receives me…, The one who receives a prophet…, the one who receives a righteous person…, And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… (vv. 40-42), with each of these “targets” ending with a positive blessing. Maybe that’s a word for our missionaries today or those of us who support missionaries. Or it could be that we ARE His missionaries and the blessings fall on those who receive us. But that’s only true if we are, in fact, sharing Him with the world around us. Blessings are there if we act!
Slava Bohu!