Jesus has the authority to forgive sins. Authority to call a government tax collector away from his post. To abrogate fasting. Authority such that a ruler comes and kneels before him. Authority over every disease and every affliction, including death. Authority to walk into a crowd of mourners and tell them to go away. Authority over blindness, over demons, authority to teach in the synagogue and to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. Such is the authority of Jesus
As Matthew 8 took up the theme of Jesus’s power, now in Chapter 9 we see the corollary teaching about Jesus’s authority. His authority is questioned, again by religious leaders, who believe that Jesus is blasphemous because of His claims to power and authority. Matthew sets out so demonstrate that Jesus’s authority is real, and that it comes from God.
As in Matthew 8, we see a series of miniature lessons that show more about the kingdom that has come, and the significance of faith on the part of those who follow Jesus. We also gain insights into Jesus himself. He knew the thoughts of his critics, He ate with tax collectors and sinners, and when He saw the crowds who were like sheep without a shepherd, He had compassion on them.
The beginning of chapter 10 is an enactment of Jesus’ teaching at the end of 9, that laborers be sent into the Lord’s harvest. Jesus sends out the twelve and shares His authority with them – authority to cast out demons, to heal, and to raise the dead. All these acts are signs that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The disciples will participate in an inbreaking of the kingdom that is a part of what one day will be seen in whole.
Recalling Jesus’s teaching in chapter 8 that “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (8:20), Jesus instructs the disciples to go without provisions and to find lodging and sustenance where they may as they go to the lost sheep of Israel.
He tells the disciples they are always to be peaceable as they journey, and he warns them that they will not always be received peaceably. The rewards of persecution will soon be theirs, as they go out to reap a great harvest from among the sheep.
As in Matthew 8, we see a series of miniature lessons that show more about the kingdom that has come, and the significance of faith on the part of those who follow Jesus. We also gain insights into Jesus himself. He knew the thoughts of his critics, He ate with tax collectors and sinners, and when He saw the crowds who were like sheep without a shepherd, He had compassion on them.
The beginning of chapter 10 is an enactment of Jesus’ teaching at the end of 9, that laborers be sent into the Lord’s harvest. Jesus sends out the twelve and shares His authority with them – authority to cast out demons, to heal, and to raise the dead. All these acts are signs that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The disciples will participate in an inbreaking of the kingdom that is a part of what one day will be seen in whole.
Recalling Jesus’s teaching in chapter 8 that “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (8:20), Jesus instructs the disciples to go without provisions and to find lodging and sustenance where they may as they go to the lost sheep of Israel.
He tells the disciples they are always to be peaceable as they journey, and he warns them that they will not always be received peaceably. The rewards of persecution will soon be theirs, as they go out to reap a great harvest from among the sheep.
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