New American Bible
2002 11 11
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Chapter 10
1
1 Then he summoned his twelve disciples 2
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure
every disease and every illness.
2
The names of the twelve apostles 3
are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of
Zebedee, and his brother John;
3
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the
tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
4
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who
betrayed him.
5
Jesus sent out these twelve 4
after instructing them thus, "Do not go into pagan territory or enter a
Samaritan town.
6
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.
7
As you go, make this proclamation: 'The kingdom
of heaven is at hand.'
8
5 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,
drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
9
Do not take gold or silver or copper for your
belts;
10
no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or
sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep.
11
Whatever town or village you enter, look for a
worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave.
12
As you enter a house, wish it peace.
13
If the house is worthy, let your peace come
upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. 6
14
7 Whoever will not receive you or listen to your
words - go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.
15
Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
16
"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in
the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
17
8 But beware of people, for they will hand you
over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues,
18
and you will be led before governors and kings
for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.
19
When they hand you over, do not worry about how
you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what
you are to say.
20
For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit
of your Father speaking through you.
21
9 Brother will hand over brother to death, and
the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put
to death.
22
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end 10 will be saved.
23
When they persecute you in one town, flee to
another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the
Son of Man comes. 11
24
No disciple is above his teacher, no slave
above his master.
25
It is enough for the disciple that he become
like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have
called the master of the house Beelzebul, 12 how much more
those of his household!
26
"Therefore do not be afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be
known. 13
27
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the
light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
28
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both
soul and body in Gehenna.
29
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet
not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.
30
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
31
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than
many sparrows.
32
14 Everyone who acknowledges me before others I
will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
33
But whoever denies me before others, I will
deny before my heavenly Father.
34
"Do not think that I have come to bring
peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
35
For I have come to set a man 'against his
father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law;
36
and one's enemies will be those of his
household.'
37
"Whoever loves father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me;
38
and whoever does not take up his cross 15
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
39
16 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
40
"Whoever receives you receives me, 17
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
41
18 Whoever receives a prophet because he is a
prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous will receive a righteous man's reward.
42
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to
one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple - amen, I say to
you, he will surely not lose his reward."
1 [10:1-11:1] After an introductory
narrative (⇒ Matthew 10:1-4), the second of the
discourses of the gospel. It deals with the mission now to be undertaken by the
disciples (⇒ Matthew 10:5-15), but the perspective
broadens and includes the missionary activity of the church between the time of
the resurrection and the parousia.
2 His twelve
disciples: although, unlike Mark (⇒ Mark 3:13-14)
and Luke (⇒ Luke 6:12-16), Matthew has no story of
Jesus' choosing the Twelve, he assumes that the group is known to the reader.
The earliest New Testament text to speak of it is ⇒ 1 Cor
15:5. The number probably is meant to recall the twelve tribes of
Israel and implies Jesus' authority to call all Israel into the kingdom. While
Luke (⇒ Luke 6:13) and probably Mark
(⇒ Mark 4:10, ⇒ 34)
distinguish between the Twelve and a larger group also termed disciples,
Matthew tends to identify the disciples and the Twelve. Authority . . . every
illness: activities the same as those of Jesus; see ⇒ Matthew
4:23; ⇒ Matthew 9:35;
⇒ 10:8. The Twelve also share in his proclamation of
the kingdom (⇒ Matthew 10:7). But although he
teaches (⇒ Matthew 4:23;
⇒ 7:28; ⇒ 9:35), they do
not. Their commission to teach comes only after Jesus' resurrection, after they
have been fully instructed by him (⇒ Matthew
28:20).
3 [2-4] Here, for the only time in
Matthew, the Twelve are designated apostles. The word "apostle" means
"one who is sent," and therefore fits the situation here described.
In the Pauline letters, the place where the term occurs most frequently in the
New Testament, it means primarily one who has seen the risen Lord and has been
commissioned to proclaim the resurrection. With slight variants in Luke and
Acts, the names of those who belong to this group are the same in the four
lists given in the New Testament (see the note on ⇒ Matthew
9:9). Cananean: this represents an Aramaic word meaning
"zealot." The meaning of that designation is unclear (see the note on
⇒ Luke 6:15).
4 [5-6] Like Jesus
(⇒ Matthew 15:24), the Twelve are sent only to
Israel. This saying may reflect an original Jewish Christian refusal of the
mission to the Gentiles, but for Matthew it expresses rather the limitation
that Jesus himself observed during his ministry.
5 [8-11] The Twelve have received
their own call and mission through God's gift, and the benefits they confer are
likewise to be given freely. They are not to take with them money, provisions,
or unnecessary clothing; their lodging and food will be provided by those who
receive them.
6 [13] The greeting of peace is
conceived of not merely as a salutation but as an effective word. If it finds
no worthy recipient, it will return to the speaker.
7 [14] Shake the dust from your feet:
this gesture indicates a complete disassociation from such unbelievers.
8 [17] The persecutions attendant
upon the post-resurrection mission now begin to be spoken of. Here Matthew
brings into the discourse sayings found in Mark 13 which deals with events
preceding the parousia.
9 [21] See ⇒ Micah
7:6 which is cited in ⇒ Matthew 10:35,
⇒ 36.
10 [22] To the end: the original
meaning was probably "until the parousia." But it is not likely that
Matthew expected no missionary disciples to suffer death before then, since he
envisages the martyrdom of other Christians (⇒ Matthew
10:21). For him, the end is probably that of the individual's life
(see ⇒ Matthew 10:28).
11 [23] Before the Son of Man comes: since
the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age had not taken place when
this gospel was written, much less during the mission of the Twelve during
Jesus' ministry, Matthew cannot have meant the coming to refer to the parousia.
It is difficult to know what he understood it to be: perhaps the
"proleptic parousia" of ⇒ Matthew
28:16-20, or the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, viewed as a
coming of Jesus in judgment on unbelieving Israel.
12 [25] Beelzebul: see
⇒ Matthew 9:34 for the charge linking Jesus with
"the prince of demons," who is named Beelzebul in
⇒ Matthew 12:24. The meaning of the name is
uncertain; possibly, "lord of the house."
13 [26] The concealed and secret
coming of the kingdom is to be proclaimed by them, and no fear must be allowed
to deter them from that proclamation.
14 [32-33] In the Q parallel
(⇒ Luke 12:8-9), the Son of Man will acknowledge
those who have acknowledged Jesus, and those who deny him will be denied (by
the Son of Man) before the angels of God at the judgment. Here Jesus and the
Son of Man are identified, and the acknowledgment or denial will be before his
heavenly Father.
15 [38] The first mention of the cross
in Matthew, explicitly that of the disciple, but implicitly that of Jesus (and
follow after me). Crucifixion was a form of capital punishment used by the
Romans for offenders who were not Roman citizens.
16 [39] One who denies Jesus in order
to save one's earthly life will be condemned to everlasting destruction; loss
of earthly life for Jesus' sake will be rewarded by everlasting life in the
kingdom.
17 [40-42] All who receive the disciples
of Jesus receive him, and God who sent him, and will be rewarded accordingly.
18 [41] A prophet: one who speaks in
the name of God; here, the Christian prophets who proclaim the gospel.
Righteous man: since righteousness is demanded of all the disciples, it is
difficult to take the righteous man of this verse and one of these little ones
(⇒ Matthew 10:42) as indicating different groups
within the followers of Jesus. Probably all three designations are used here of
Christian missionaries as such.
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