Smoodock's Blog

Too often we forget that the New Covenant text was written to particular folks back in the first century AD. We benefit from what is written therein, but the text itself was written with other brethren in mind. At times, we believe we’re being persecuted, simply because folks don’t like us, or because they don’t like what we say and forbid us to preach the Gospel. If I don’t like you or what you tell me, does that mean that I’m persecuting you? Of course not! Therefore, we aren’t being persecuted, when folks don’t like us and reject the Gospel we preach.

Everyone is free to have an opinion, and this is called freewill or free moral agency. Persecution is when I seek to kill you, or take away your livelihood, or confiscate your property, because I don’t like you, and I don’t want what you’re telling me to become common knowledge, where I live. There are places in this world, where our brethren are persecuted, because they have found and love Jesus. So, we should never make light of that, by complaining we’re persecuted, simply because we’re not liked or what we say isn’t appreciated. Folks having a negative opinion about us and what we do is not persecution.

Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he sent his disciples to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God coming to mankind. He was sending innocent, peaceful folk into a violent society, so he told them to be wise and behave in a peaceful, unchallenging manner. The message itself is challenging enough, without their behaving as though they’re ready for a debate, and let the last man standing take the spoils (Matthew 10:16)!

First of all, Jesus told his disciples to beware of men. Men, especially men of authority, would challenge what they preached and bring them before the councils and have them scourged in the synagogues (Matthew 10: 17). An interesting point that can be made here is that, first, the Apostles would be scourged in synagogues, so the Jews, especially Jewish authorities would be their persecutors. Secondly, Jesus wasn’t seeking to create a new society apart from the Jewish tradition. No Jew had to be scourged, not even Jesus’ Apostles. They were scourged, only if they accepted scourging as their discipline for what they said and did. In other words, it was the price to pay to be still recognized as Jews. If the Apostles wished to separate from the Jews, they could have refused to be scourged, and they’d be recognized as non-Jews from that point on.

Additionally, they’d be brought before governors and kings, for the sake of what they were doing in Jesus’ name. Therefore, they needed to accept this abuse without a challenge, and receive it as an opportunity to bring a witness against them, vis-à-vis the Jewish and gentile authorities (Matthew 10:18).

How they would do this is interesting. They weren’t supposed to seek to have a defense. In other words, they wouldn’t need a good lawyer, because, although they would, indeed, speak for themselves, their words would be given them by the Spirit of God that dwelt in them. He would give them words that would witness against the Jewish and gentile authorities (Matthew 10:19-20).

One might ask, how all this would occur. How would knowledge of what the Apostles said and did come to the ears of the authorities. How would they become so well known (cp. Acts 4:13)? It is because their enemies would be of their own household, brother against brother, and father against son, and son against his parents. In other words, they would be delivered up to the authorities by the very folks that knew them, whom they believed loved them (Matthew 10:21).

No matter what they did or said in their defense, they would be hated by all men for Jesus’ name’s sake. Nevertheless, if they endured all this abuse for his name, they’d be saved in the end. The disciples’ only defense would be, when they were persecuted in one city, they should run away to another. The important matter was to spread the Gospel, and this wouldn’t be fully done, until the Messiah’s coming (Matthew 10:22-23).

Notice that Jesus wasn’t concerned about the gentile cities or the Samaritan cities, even though Samaritans and gentiles would receive the Gospel. Jesus was concerned that all the Jews heard the Gospel and were given the opportunity to respond. The “end” that Jesus spoke of, was not an end of time or an end of mankind. It was the end of the Jewish nation, the end of an age. It was the latter days of their covenant with God (Deuteronomy 31:29; Genesis 49:1; cp. Hebrews 8:13).

What they needed to keep in mind was that the servant is not above his Lord or the disciple above his Teacher. In other words, they could expect only what they knew happened to Jesus, nothing more, nothing less. It is enough for the disciple to be **as** his Teacher (cp. Genesis 1:27). Therefore, if Jesus was accused of being Beelzebub, what more could they say about them. If Jesus was slain, what more could they do to his disciple (Matthew 10:24-25).