This month’s Bible study is an excerpt from Who is Jesus? A Devotional Journey Through the Gospel of Matthew.
The message you read next is not for the seeker. It is for those who call Jesus as Lord. If you are investigating Jesus but have not asked Him to be Lord of your life you may read, but you may not understand. Even for the believer these words of Jesus are often difficult.
They are difficult for several reasons: 1) there are unpleasant things discussed—for there is the forecast of trouble; 2) there are words regarding the reality of persecution and rejection; 3) there are no promises for an untroubled life. These passages are not for the faint-hearted, but are for those who have made the radical commitment to Jesus Christ. And I’m not joking.
In Matthew 10:5-20 we see that Jesus is an honest Commissioner. A commissioner is an individual who carries the power and authority over an interest or area. In essence, Jesus, because he is God, oversees the universe. He has the authority to give away authority. When a commissioner authorizes or commands an act, that authorization empowers and the instructions equip those to whom the commissioner speaks. The commissioned individuals then “act as if” they are the one who has given the commands or authorization. Suddenly the follower has become a leader because of the words spoken to them. This is what Jesus did to the apostles.
The apostles were given not only the authority to act as Jesus acts, but they were also given the reality of the consequences of those actions. Therefore, Jesus needed to prepare his apostles for the realities of Christian leadership. The realities are sometimes quite harsh.
Jesus gave them very clear direction in Matthew 10:5-6. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.”
At first glance this seems to be a very narrow and exclusive field to which Jesus was sending them. But the reality at that time was that the house of Israel was the group of people who should have first recognized him as the Messiah. They had lived centuries full of expectation for the Messiah. The promise of Abraham found in Genesis 12:3 that God would bless all peoples of the earth through Abraham is critical in understanding Jesus’ motivation for this first commission. Now that he was among them, he did not want them to miss out on the fullness of the blessing found in the reality of the Messiah-arrived. We will see later in Matthew how Jesus ministers to Gentiles and commissions the apostles to go to them as well. This first commission, however, was to the precious people of Israel for whom he had come to bring final salvation as well.
Read Matthew 10:7-10.
The great Commissioner gives the apostles specific tasks for their journey: preach, heal, cleanse, drive out, raise and give. These may have seemed overwhelming tasks unless they understood that they were speaking with the authority of God. God decided to work through weak human beings. This is a wonder! And when he vested authority in them they were able to do all the things that he commissioned because it was his power not their own. God will never ask anyone to do anything that he will not enable them to do.
The Commissioner also wanted the apostles to trust him completely. Now here is a hard statement to swallow: “Don’t take anything that you could use to survive—except your trust in me.” This is what Jesus seemed to be saying.
Perhaps it is best to have an understanding of the situation they were in at the time. In that day there were many traveling philosophers and teachers who relied on the support they would find through their students and benefactors. It was common knowledge that a respectable teacher should be supported as they traveled around. Sometimes these philosophers and teachers would have ulterior motives and seek out the best accommodations or the wealthiest benefactors. The difference between the apostles and every other travelling philosopher/teacher was that Jesus wanted them to know that he would be taking care of them through whatever means he would provide. Their singular motivation was to teach, preach, heal and freely give out the message of the Gospel.
In the next few verses Jesus gave them instructions on housing and civic interaction.
Read Matthew 10:11-16
Snakes and doves? Why in the world would Jesus give this kind of advice? The answer is that there are people who are opposed to him and they will be opposed to any of his commissioned disciples. There would be some honorable persons who would take them in, and there would be people who were opposed to them. No sugar-coating here, folks! They would encounter stark rejection.
But what was Jesus’ expected response to these negative encounters? Move along. Don’t give them any more time. Get the message out to those who will listen. Do not waste your efforts on those who oppose you until you absolutely have to. So, in verses 17-23 Jesus spoke truthfully about things that might happen to them and what God will do for them on their Gospel journey.
Read Matthew 10:17-23
Jesus gave powerful promises that would be sustaining at the most critical moments. When you are accused . . . when you are flogged . . . when you are tried in court . . . when you are betrayed . . . it is because of me. And you will have the words . . . you will have the strength . . . you will have the ability to stand firm for one reason—because I have commissioned you to be my apostles.
Like the early Apostles we may face these same difficulties because we bear the Name of Christ. A few of us have the gifts of preaching, teaching and healing but all of us have the gift of the Gospel to share. Christian, the way may be rough, as Jesus’ words so clearly articulate, but the Apostles have gone before us and we have many true and precious promises from a trustable, sufficient Commissioner.
Christian disciple, the way may be rough, but the great Commissioner has gone before us and we have true and precious promises from a trustable, loving and sufficient God. Be strong and of good courage for the Lord is with you—and the Lord is for you. You will need to rest in these great promises because the next passage of Scripture gets even more difficult. In Matthew 10:5-20 we read about the kind of difficulties the apostles would encounter with people in their travels. Jesus told his followers the kind of difficulties that would come from the people closest to them. We will encounter some of the greatest sacrificial consequences for the sake of a relationship with Jesus Christ and the compelling force of the Gospel. But here this word from Jesus first . . . Don’t be afraid.
Read Matthew 10:21-42.
Imagine yourself to be one of the apostles listening to Jesus as he spoke these words. Some of you used to be fishermen, some of you used to be tax collectors and business men. Life was pretty good—and then came Jesus. Your lives were forever changed when you encountered him. You found peace and joy you did not even think possible. You found that your sins were forgiven and that you were free to be baptized and raised to a new life in him.
Because of Jesus your life has been filled with joy, wonder and awe—up to this point. Up to this point most of the negative experiences have happened to Jesus as you stood by watching him confront the religious leaders, being questioned by the legal masters. Now, he tells you that this is your way, too. This is the Way of Jesus Christ. Losing one kind of life and finding another. Losing some family relations and finding new or restored family relations. Saying “yes” to Jesus and saying “no” to your brothers and sisters. Seeing the reality of evil and seeing the reality of deliverance from that evil. Losing a comfortable lifestyle and gaining a fulfilled lifestyle. Losing a temporary reward and finding an eternal reward.
It is this crazy, backwards Kingdom of God that he’s been proclaiming to you for the last months and days. The miracles of healing, feeding and restoring live large in your memories. And now there is a new way of living. One that requires a tremendous amount of trust in God and one that compels you to spread the Gospel, to preach, teach, heal, raise the dead, deliver the demon possessed. This will be a frightening venture. “But, don’t be afraid of them,” Jesus says to you. “Don’t be afraid.”
Don’t be afraid of losing relationship with my father and mother?! Don’t be afraid of being accused wrongly?! Don’t be afraid of being beaten or killed?! Who are you Jesus?
Do you remember why Jesus spread the Gospel? Read Matthew 9:35-36 again. “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Every person who harmed Jesus and his apostles was harming his sheep. There is every kind of evil out there trying to defeat and destroy God’s precious children. Demons are capturing people’s lives and tormenting them. False teachers are leading disciples into empty places of thought and hopelessness. Disease and despair are claiming the lives of all who would be whole. Satan is stealing what has been given to them! This is why the Gospel must be spread. This is why Jesus Christ commissions his disciples to do the work he has already started.
How great a burden this is! How high the cost! How deep the desires that move us beyond our own little world and into the world of God where people—like sheep without a shepherd—need him so desperately.
Jesus himself had great conflicts with his own family. In other Gospels we read how his own brothers and sisters thought he was crazy (Matthew 12, Mark 3 & 10, Luke 8, John 2). Jesus himself had great conflicts with religious leaders and court officials who eventually crucified him on a cross to try to silence this good news called the Gospel. But what the opposition did not know was that Jesus Christ, the Great Commissioner, was God himself come to save the world through his own willing submission to the cross and his own powerful resurrection from the dead.
The voice of Jesus the Commissioner rings out over the centuries. “Will you, believer, be my commissioned? Will you be willing to let go of everything except me? Will you spread the good news to my harassed and helpless sheep?” Oh, Christian, do not be afraid of them.
Read 10:26-31.
Receive the compassionate commission of Jesus Christ today so that you can share his compassion with the world. Be a commissioned disciple for Jesus Christ!
Who is Jesus to ask you to take risks like these? Are you ready and willing to be commissioned?
© M.R.Hyde 2026
