As we saw earlier, Matthew 9 concludes with Jesus preaching to large crowds and instructing the disciples to pray earnestly for more laborers to be sent out to gather in the harvest (Matt 9:35–38). Now Jesus takes action by instructing the disciples for their mission and sending them out to proclaim the good news of the kingdom. This second of five discourses focuses on kingdom and discipleship. It is divided neatly into three parts, each of which culminates with a reference to the end time introduced by the words “Truly, I say to you . . .” (Matt 10:15, 23, 42). The first section of Jesus’ discourse, introduced by the third mention of the twelve in five verses, is more localized (Matt 10:5–15), while the second (Matt 10:16–23) and third sections (Matt 10:24–42) of the discourse (which contain no mention of the Twelve, but only generic “disciple” references i
Lessons from Matthew 10
As we saw earlier, Matthew 9 concludes with Jesus preaching to large crowds and instructing the disciples to pray earnestly for more laborers to be sent out to gather in the harvest (Matt 9:35–38).