Matthew 10:16-23 NASB
¹⁶Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.
¹⁷But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; ¹⁸and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.
¹⁹But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. ²⁰For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
²¹Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²²You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. ²³But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.
Devotional
Recently we read the instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples when he sent them out, two by two.
Jesus’ disciples are pupils in His class.
They also have to do an internship: Jesus sends them out.
Matthew in his Gospel uses the moment before the disciples were sent out to summarize all of Jesus’ teaching on discipleship.
What follows later in this chapter, you cannot immediately place during that broadcast of the twelve during Jesus’ life on earth, here we find his teaching about what awaits the disciples when they go into the world as apostles.
Their job is heavy.
Their message will not be received in a friendly manner everywhere.
They will have to take into account that proclaiming the Kingdom of God will meet with resistance from people.
Those resistances will be so great that the apostles will be imprisoned (See Acts 4:1-3, 5:17,18, 12:1-4, 16:19-24).
Scary times may come.
But Jesus encourages them beforehand: ‘Take courage, don’t be afraid of what people are going to do to you. The Father in heaven cares for you. Don’t worry about what you should do or what you should speak… the Father will bring it to your mind’ (Matthew 10:19,20; This promise goes e.g. in Acts 4:8-14, 6:8 -10 and 7:54-60 in fulfillment).
The time when the apostles will go out into the world after Pentecost will be a confusing and scary time.
In these difficult circumstances, the disciples of Jesus, will have to suffer.
They shouldn’t be surprised by that.
After all, people have also mistreated Jesus.
Disciples need to know that they are like Him, so people will react to them just as they reacted to Jesus.
If they have mistreated the Master, they will do the same to his servants (Matthew 10:24,25; John 15:18-21).
A disciple of Jesus is instructed to resemble his Master.
But then people will also treat the disciple as they did the Master.
That will hurt, but it’s also an honor.
Look like the Master… who doesn’t want that?
Question
- In what do you want to resemble your Master?
Prayer suggestion
- Ask the Lord to help you be a good student.
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