Knowing that apostleship is a role that is ordained by God, and knowing that Jesus only called the twelve apostles after an entire night of prayer, one might think that such a call is both a high honor and a particular blessing. It is, but that is not the point. Jesus has already blessed them with Himself. He has poured into their lives day by day. He has walked with them, shared plates with them and slept under the same roof as them. For some time now, actually. He has shown them what it is to heal, what it is to deliver from the demonic, what it is to preach, what it is to perform miracles. He has blessed them abundantly, far more than any man could reasonably ask. So now comes the point of all that blessing. After listing the apostles, Matthew immediately notes, “These twelve Jesus sent out…”
Jesus was seeking to expand the ministry. The lost tribes of Israel were too many for one man to reach, no matter how effective the ministry was. Besides, it is not that Jesus wanted to reach the lost merely by teaching – in that case He could have created mass printing in His day. It is not that Jesus wanted to reach them merely by preaching – in that case He could have created television in His day. No, He wanted lost people to see His care and compassion the eyes of those He sent. He wanted lost people to know His touch through the hands of those He sent. He wanted lost people to know His love for them by going to where they were instead of expecting them to come to Him.
It is astonishing, that though He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and has all authority to send people to go where He might not be willing to go, or do what He might not want to do – Jesus only commissions His disciples after modeling what going actually entailed. He doesn’t ask anyone to do what He Himself did not actually do. He had been traveling with the disciples. He had been walking along dusty roads in the middle-eastern heat, eating meager rations and getting thirsty. He had been living in crowded conditions. He had eaten food off the same plate as the poor and lowly. He had washed His feet with the same dirty water, and wiped them dry with the same dirty rag. Such was His love for the lost. Such was His care for those who He knew would call out for His crucifixion when the mob turned. Such was His compassion for those He understood were dead in their trespasses and sins, and entirely unable to help themselves in any way, manner, shape, form or function.
It is for these same reasons that Jesus stlll sends people out today. Of course, today we have radio, and television, and all sorts of means of mass-communication through satellite and web-based applications. But for the lost, even if and when we get mass-holographic communication, it still won’t be the same as seeing the Gospel in action through someone who actually comes to them with the Good News.
Matthew writes about Jesus’ commission of the twelve. Later, John will write Jesus’ words of commission to all of us, “Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” He sends us the way the Father sent Him: in human form. With human voices. With human touch, human compassion and human limitation. All this is by God’s design, that in the same form we were lost we might be recovered.
Amen.
Jesus was sent by God the Father and was God’s best missionary, the true model for Christian mission.
Samuel Escobar
APPLICATION: Intentionality
He came for us only after setting aside His divine form and glory. Let us go for others with confidence in the same manner.