Smoodock's Blog

At about the time that Jesus sent out the Twelve to preach and minister to the people in Galilee, Herod had slain John the Baptizer, but Matthew doesn’t mention John’s death until chapter fourteen (Matthew 14:1-2). There, Matthew also gives an account of how John was slain (Matthew 14:3-11). Afterward, John’s disciples came and told Jesus (Matthew 14:12). After this we are given the account of Jesus feeding the 5000 (Matthew 14:13-21). I mention this here, because Mark ties the two events together. Jesus sent out the Twelve (Mark 6:7-13), and immediately afterward, Herod wanted to see Jesus (Luke 9:9, cp. verses 6 & 7). Therefore, when Jesus heard of it, he left Herod’s tetrarchy and went to Philip’s realm of authority, Bethsaida, where he fed the 5000.

In other words, Herod was tricked into committing a political blunder, and he slew John for the sake of his vow. Immediately afterward, he heard of multitudes of people under his authority flocking to Jesus. Why? He didn’t know if Jesus was politically dangerous, so he wanted to see him (Luke 9:9). Jesus fled Herod’s realm of authority and entered his brother’s, Philip’s, tetrarchy until things calmed down, and Jesus wasn’t considered a threat.

According to Matthew, Jesus told the Twelve to go and preach to Jews only, whom he referred to as the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.” They were not to enter gentile cities or even Samaritan towns and villages (Matthew 10:5-6). He also told them what to preach: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7). Therefore, he commanded them to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons. Jesus didn’t charge them or other folks he ministered to, so neither should they take anything for their services (Matthew 10:8). Under the Old Covenant a tithe was given to the Levites and the priests for their services. Under the New Covenant there was no such law. The disciples of Christ are to be completely dependent upon faith in Jesus’ willingness to provide them with a living for the service they render to him.

Jesus commanded them to take nothing in their purses, not even food or extra clothes for their journey (Matthew 10:9-10), because a laborer is worthy of his hire. Now, this doesn’t mean those to whom they preached or ministered to hired the Twelve to serve them, but it does mean that Jesus (God) hired them to serve others, and he could be depended upon to satisfy their needs.

Therefore, Jesus told the Twelve that immediately upon entering any city, they were to inquire who was worthy in that town. What this meant was certain folks were apt to show strangers hospitality. They had room and food to spare, and the Lord often used such folks to care for traveling strangers (cp. Acts 16:13-15; Job 31:32). Therefore, the Apostles neither had to be embarrassed for providing nothing for their journey (cp. a babbler; Acts 17:18), nor would they embarrass those whom they served, many of whom couldn’t offer them anything. When such a person was found, and they entered his or her home, the Apostles were to bless the home (Matthew 10:12-13; cp. Luke 10:5-6), and if the householder was indeed worthy, let the blessing of peace remain upon him, but if not, the blessing will return to you.

Moreover, if any householder, who is in the habit of taking in strangers, refused to show hospitality to them, vis-à-vis the Apostles, or if any city refused to listen to them, when they left the house or the city, they should shake off the dust from their feet as a testimony against them (Matthew 10:14; cp. Acts 13:50-51), because it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city that refused them or rejected the Gospel! Sodom and Gomorrah mistreated traveling strangers, but they did so ignorantly, not knowing the God of Abraham. In fact, Jesus would say later that had the same message been preached in Sodom that he preached in Capernaum, Sodom would have remained to that day, and would not have been destroyed in the judgment of God (Matthew 11:23-24).            [EB1]