Daily Bread

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Matthew's gospel is written primarily for a Jewish audience. We know this because he used words and phrases that Jewish people would have known and understood. This is in contrast to Luke who wrote for a Gentile audience, and we know this because he explained Jewish words and idioms. For example, Matthew would write 'Holy City' and Luke would write, 'Jerusalem'. The point is that there is a Jewish emphasis or centrality to Matthew's gospel and this is asserted through focusing on Jesus' primary mission being first to the Jews.

You may wonder, if Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was for the whole world, why preach first to Jewish audience and make them his primary mission field? I think the answer lies in understanding the bigger picture.

Israel, as a nation, were called by God to be God's chosen people, not because God showed favouritism, but because God wanted them to be his representatives or ambassadors to the world. They were a holy nation and a nation of priests (representatives of God) that the world might know that God is God, and God's plan had never changed. God still wanted Israel to be the bearers of God's image and to be God's witnesses to the world, and so as Christ was incarnate through a Jewish rabbi, this Jewish rabbi wanted not only to bless Israel but to give Israel the opportunity to fulfil their calling.

The disciples were Jewish and twelve in number, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, again part of Jesus' symbolic mission to the Jewish nation to enable them to fulfil their God-given calling, passed down through Abraham, to 'bless all nations' (Genesis 12:3), and in the first chapter of the book of Acts we read that the disciples would be Jesus' witnesses, "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

What is the faith lesson for us today?

There is something about God being consistent and true to promises made, and also giving their chosen ones every chance to fulfil their calling. This goes to the very heart of the character of God — a God who is faithful and a God of second chances. The testimony in Matthew's gospel reminds us we have a God who can be relied upon and a God who sees things through, a God in whom we can place our trust and lean into, and a God who will catch us when we fall and lift us up.

Holy God
Thank you that you
are dependable and faithful
and that I can place
my trust in you.
Thank you that you are
a God of second chances,
and that no matter
how many times
I slip and fall
you will catch me
and hold me fast.