April 22nd, 2023

The second Sunday after Easter is typically called ‘The Third Sunday of Easter’. This Sunday the gospel text is from the Gospel according to Luke [24:13-35], and this text speaks of the ‘way’ or ‘road’. And we are continuing our ‘way’ or ‘road’ through the Gospel according to Matthew, at a slightly different position. But the ending is the same.

In the writing of last week, we looked at the last specific miracle that was described between the first and second sermons in this gospel account. This is the miracle that established two different directions in which one could go (Matthew 9:32-34). One could say that Jesus could do these ‘miraculous’ things because of the ‘ruler of the demons’, or he could do these things ultimately because of his heavenly Father. How will the last section of this non-sermon part of this gospel account (hopefully) point the reader/listener to the second of those two options?

Before we look at this last section of this narrative, it may be helpful to restate an earlier part of this gospel account, Matthew 4:23. This will be given a similar translation style to that of the text to be studied:

And he was going about in all the Galilee, teaching in the synagogues of them and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing all disease and all weakness in the people.

One will notice a great similarity to the first part of this next section (Matthew 9:35):
And he went about, the Jesus, the cities, all, and the villages, teaching in the synagogues of them and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing all disease and all weakness.

There are some extremely close similarities, but what are the differences? One difference is that the second text includes the name of Jesus, which is understandable since there have been many more people described since the chapter four. And the area in which Jesus is working is only Galilee in the first reference, and in the second reference, it is described as much larger. That is also understandable, since Jesus has gained more notoriety. After those slight differences, in both texts, there are the same three things described in an extremely similar way.

There were also three temptations given earlier in Matthew 4, and their order was different from that temptation account in the Gospel according to Luke. As the central temptation was the most important in the Gospel according to Matthew—the one having to do with Jesus in Jerusalem—and both times, the central thing of the three things listed that Jesus is doing seems to be the most important. Jesus is proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.

This action is significantly different from simply teaching in the synagogues. And it is certainly different from miracles; powerful news is not necessarily good news. And it may be helpful to remember that the word ‘gospel’ is based on the word for a messenger being sent by a person with authority to do something important and not necessarily powerful. And in this statement, Jesus is seen as the messenger from the throne of his gracious heavenly Father.

What follows are the verses after that, the ending of chapter ten (Matthew 9:36-38; again, in the same translation style—somewhat literal—with the historical presents, like before, in bold print):

Now seeing the crowds, he had compassion concerning them, because they were weary and scattered as sheep not having a shepherd.

Then he says to the disciples of him, ‘On the one hand, the harvest, large, now on the other hand, the workers, few. Therefore, petition the Lord of the harvest so that he may throw out workmen into the harvest of him.

The concern is for the crowds that are ‘as sheep not having a shepherd’. How those crowds get shepherds is the next concern. The importance of the disciples is given in the verses which follow, up to the point where Jesus begins his next sermon. And the following is a somewhat-literal translation of that section (Matthew 10:1-4):

And calling near the twelve disciples of him, he gave to them authority of spirits, unclean, so as to throw out them, and to heal all disease and all weakness [cf. 9:35]. Now of the twelve apostles, the names are these: First, Simon, the one called Peter, and Andrew, the brother of him, and Jacob, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of him, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax-collector, Jacob, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas, the Iscariot, the one also betraying him.
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Names are important, as is yours. This is especially true if you have been baptized. And at the beginning of this account, the story behind the name of Jesus was given. And now this ‘One who saves’ is sending out his twelve—but not yet to proclaim the gospel. For now, that is the business of Jesus.