April 29th, 2023

This Sunday, typically called ‘The Fourth Sunday of Easter’, is often entitled ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’. And as Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd in the tenth chapter of the Gospel according to John [the Gospel text for this year is John 10:1-10], last week in these writings we looked at Matthew 9, at the text which said that Jesus had compassion on the crowds ’because they were weary and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd (Matthew 9:36b; in a somewhat-literal translation).’ Soon after this, Jesus begins his second sermon within his series of five sermons within this gospel account. The first part of it will be given below (Matthew 10:5-13; in a similar style of translation):

These, the twelve, he sent out, the Jesus, instructing them, saying:

“Into a way of nations do not go, and into a city of Samaritans do not enter, now go, rather, toward the sheep, the lost, of a house of Israel. Now, going, proclaim, saying, that it has come near, the kingdom of the heavens. Ailing, heal; dead, raise; lepers, cleanse; demons, throw out; freely you received, freely give.”

“Do not provide gold or silver or copper into the money belts of you, nor a wallet into a way, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staves; for worthy, the worker of the food of him. Now into whatever a city or village you enter, search out who in it worthy is; and there remain, until you go out. Now, entering into the house, greet it; and if, on the one hand, it is, the house, worthy; let it come, the peace of you upon it; on the other hand, if not it is worthy, the peace of you toward you, let it return.”

You might consider the words here an ‘intermission’. It IS, after all, a long sermon, and this IS a ‘Sabbath Day’s journey (a short journey)’ with a text. But there is something important to point out, or perhaps you noticed it already. There were some ‘easier’ commands given in the last few words of the above section.

This sermon, as a whole, contains a lot of commands. That is what Jesus indicated he was going to do at the very beginning. But there are only two commands that are given in what is called the ‘third-person’. These are similar to the commands that God had at the creation account, ‘Let there be light (Genesis 1:3).’

It also should be noted that these two gentle commands above have to do with peace. And this is something important after Jesus was raised from the dead. Jesus gives out peace in the resurrection accounts of both Luke and John (see Luke 24:36 and John 20:19, 21, 26). We could say that ultimately the peace that was from the apostles came from Jesus. The phrase above that is ‘the peace of you’ does not point to the individual disciples. Both times the word ‘you’ in that phrase is the plural ‘you’. In other words, the disciples cannot have an individual peace, one that comes from the Self. True peace comes from the One, Jesus, and it goes toward his many followers.

The following picks up from where we left off. Here is more of the text of the sermon in the same translation style (Matthew 10:14-23):

“And whoever will not receive you nor hear the words of you, going out, outside the house or the city, that, shake off the dust of the feet of you. Amen, I am saying to you, more tolerable it will be, land of Sodom and Gomorrah, in a day of judgment, than the city, that.”

“Behold, I myself am sending you, as sheep in a middle of wolves; therefore, be wise as the serpents and harmless as the doves.”

“Now beware from the men, for they will deliver you into sanhedrins, and in the synagogues of them, they will scourge you; and before leaders, now also kings, you will be led for the sake of me, into a testimony to them and to the nations.”

“Now when they deliver you, do not be anxious how or what you say, for it will be given to you in that, the hour, what you say; for not you, yourselves, are the saying ones, but on the contrary, the Spirit of the Father of you, the One saying in you.”

“Now he will deliver, a brother, a brother into death, and a father, a child, and they will rebel, children, against parents, and they will kill them.  And you will be, being hated, by all, on account of the name of me; now the enduring, into an end, this will be saved.”
“Now when they persecute you in the city, this, flee into the other; for, amen, I am saying to you, not at all, you will complete the cities of the Israel until he comes, the Son of the Man.”

If it is true that instructions or commands within this sermon are important, the last sentence above is also important. What appears here may be called an emphatic negation. There is a certain amount of authority that is given in such a statement.

What is interesting is that, like the gentle commands above, this emphatic negation only appears two times within this sermon as well, but they are not near to each other like the gentle commands. The emphatic negation appears near the middle and the end of the sermon, and this structure has been seen in other places.

There is the special name of ‘Jesus’ at the beginning and the end of the account of his naming (1:18-25), then with the phrase, ‘and they [the disciples] followed him’ a few chapters later, at the time when Jesus is calling his disciples (4:18-22), and then a somewhat similar structure was found in the first sermon of Jesus, the so-called ‘Sermon on the Mount’; there the usual use of the special title ‘Father’ was ‘your Father’, but the middle use of ‘Father’ was ‘our Father’ and the final use was ‘my Father’ (see 5:16 through 7:21).
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This middle-and-end structure is an important one, and it certainly fits with an important gospel account that connects to a man (rather than the lion, ox, or eagle). The emphatic negation is closely connected to the coming of the Son of Man. He certainly came with authority, and an emphatic negation also has authority. And Jesus also came at the ‘middle’ of time, and he will come again at the End.