Matthew 10:1-4 – The Answer to Jesus’s Prayer

Long before Scheherazade, Charles Heath, or Charles Dickens, Matthew penned a cliffhanger when he recorded Jesus’s words to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” If this was a movie from the 30’s we might splash “To Be Continued…,” “What will happen next?” or even “Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion!” But this isn’t a movie from the 30s, it’s a blog post. But, before we get to the answer Matthew provides to this cliffhanger, I’d like to draw your attention to another cliffhanger of sorts.

If you have been reading these posts from the start, you should know I am writing about how Matthew’s Gospel instructs us in ways to better pray the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s prayer, well known throughout the world by religious and non-religious people alike, has long been a staple in the Christian world. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that it has become so ubiquitous that it has nearly lost its meaning; it is merely a cliche we recite when called upon, but rarely do we see it as having any practical purpose in our lives. This, I believe, is a mistake of epic proportions.

I began this journey by writing about the Lord’s Prayer and how the Sermon on the Mount mirrors each petition of the Lord’s Prayer. [You can find those blog posts here: The Lord’s Prayer – Lord Teach us to Pray…] My conclusion was that Jesus, through Matthew’s pen, did not merely command his disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, he also explained each petition of the Lord’s Prayer when he gave what we call The Sermon on the Mount. But by the time I concluded those blog posts, I started asking myself whether Matthew’s Gospel included other instructions, parables, or narratives that might enhance my understanding of the Lord’s Prayer. I had started looking for a few verses that could be pulled out of context to be used as examples, but what I found was much more interesting. Not only is the Sermon on the Mount organized in such a way that it mirrors the structure and content of the Lord’s Prayer, but Matthew’s entire Gospel also seems to be organized in such a manner.

After a few months of study, I began writing this series of posts, the first of which explored how Matthew 1 and 2 develop our understanding of “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” The next section of posts explored how Matthew 3-7 develops “Your kingdom come,” and then a few posts on how Matthew 8-9 develops “your will be done.” [You can find all these posts here: The Lord’s Prayer and Matthew’s Gospel.] But that portion of the Lord’s Prayer doesn’t end in a period; it ends with a comma. And that brings us to our second cliffhanger. But to understand this, we need to take a detour to a little Greek.

In the sentence “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” there is no period between “your will be done” and “on earth as it is in heaven.” In fact, these three petitions in Lord’s Prayer are connected as one sentence — although some translations set “Your kingdom come” off as its own sentence, but in Greek, there is no punctuation; the translators decide where to place the English punctuation. A literal word-for-word translation of this sentence from Greek to English reads, “come kingdom your be done will your as it is in heaven so on earth.” The most logical way of reading this, it seems, is that the phrase “as it is in heaven so on earth” modifies both “come kingdom your” and “be done will your.” Or, in the English phraseology, “Your kingdom come” and “your will be done” are both modified by the phrase “on earth as it is in heaven.” What this means is that Jesus told his disciples to pray that both the Father’s coming kingdom and the Father’s will would be present on earth in the same way they are present in heaven. And with these ideas being connected in the Lord’s Prayer, it should make sense that in Matthew’s Gospel, if it is an explication of the Lord’s Prayer, we would find that the next part of Matthew’s Gospel would be an explanation of how the Kingdom and the Father’s will can be expected to come on earth as it is in heaven.

But we are weak and sinful vessels living on fallen earth; we aren’t Jesus. We aren’t God. We don’t have the same powers to control all the forces of nature nor do we have the full wisdom of God residing in our sinful minds as Jesus does. When Jesus preached and taught the kingdom and when he performed the will of the Father, he did these things with a fully willing spirit as they would be done in the realm of heaven. He had no limitations and he perfectly responded to the Father’s will without reservation and taught only the Kingdom without spurious doctrines creeping in. But, since we aren’t Jesus and we aren’t in heaven, we need to be taught how to preach the Kingdom and do his will on earth. And that, I suggest, is exactly what Matthew tells us in this next section of his Gospel.

And now, with both cliffhangers in the balance — the answer to Jesus’s prayer and how the kingdom comes and the will is done here on earth — we turn the page and see that Matthew writes,

1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Matthew 10:1-4

At first glance, this seems to just be a list of the disciples. Most of us have probably only skimmed these words. But I would suggest we slow down and read them carefully and think about it for a minute. Matthew didn’t have to include a list of disciples, in fact, John didn’t. And Matthew’s list doesn’t really come across as being special because it is nearly identical to the list in the other two Gospels, Mark, and Luke. It isn’t the list itself that should cause us to think, but rather, where Matthew chose to place it. Mark places his list in chapter 3 prior to Jesus’s miracles or parables, Luke places his list in chapter 6 prior to his version of the Sermon on the Mount, but Matthew’s list occurs in chapter 10 after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’s miracles, and his parables.

I realize this placement might cause problems for some people; they might conclude that the three synoptic Gospels are contradictory, but such a conclusion would be erroneous. The Gospel writers composed their books, John included, not for the purpose of producing a chronologically perfect story, but they wrote so as to highlight specific aspects of Jesus’s character and mission. While looking at the reason for all four Gospels would make for an interesting discussion, our focus is set on Matthew. Certainly, Matthew wrote his Gospel so the Jews would know that Jesus is the Christ, but I believe he also wrote so that Jesus’s disciples, then and now, might better understand how to pray and live out the Lord’s Prayer.

Prior to Matthew’s list of the disciples, the only hand tending the fields of the Father was Jesus. But when Matthew listed the twelve disciples immediately after Jesus told his disciples to pray for workers, the number of hands tending the fields increased by twelve; the disciples were the answer to Jesus’s prayer for workers. They were the first ones to whom Jesus gave “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction,” and they were the next shepherds to guide and shelter the “harassed and helpless” sheep.

It’s not often that a prayer is answered one breath after being uttered, but that is what happens here. A heartbeat after Jesus told the disciples to pray, the number of workers tending the Father’s fields went from one to thirteen. But, even though they heard the message of the kingdom, saw Jesus do really cool things, and wanted to be part of what was happening, it’s highly likely they weren’t prepared for the sort of troubles and opposition awaiting them. Jesus chose his disciples but he didn’t send them out before instructing them, and it is these instructions we find in Matthew’s next verses. Jesus provided directions, gave warnings, stated limitations, unveiled consequences, and promised rewards to the disciples before they were sent out to the “harassed and helpless” sheep.

But we won’t get to these instructions until next week.

Another cliffhanger?

Yeah, kinda. But I need to address a question that is probably already on your mind.

So, you are a mind reader now?

No. But since I am you and you are me, I know what you are thinking.

What?

I knew you’d say that…anyway…back to the question. If we take a look at the twelve disciples Jesus chose we might know that four were fishermen, one was a tax collector, one was a political insurgent, one was a thief, and the other five had occupations so unremarkable they weren’t even mentioned. None were theologians, scribes, or any other sort of religious leader. Jesus knew their background didn’t matter, it was their faith in Jesus and their willing heart to act on what they had been taught that mattered.

What about Judas? That seems like a bad pick.

That’s a good question.

Thank you…it’s about time!

Jesus knew Judas would betray him, but Jesus still chose him, taught him, and sent him out with the other disciples to be workers in the fields ripe for harvest. Of course, there are some who might say that Jesus needed Judas so prophecy would be fulfilled and to betray him, and maybe that’s right, but I think there’s another way to think about this. But before I go on, I would like to state that I realize I might get in trouble with some theologians on this one, but I think Jesus’s choice of Judas might also reveal the lengths to which God will go to allow a person to repent.

Take a look at Peter for a moment. Peter, as we know from later on in the Gospels, denied Jesus, but Peter repented and Jesus accepted him back into the fold. With Judas then, is it so hard for us to believe that had he not hung himself but rather repented, Jesus would have forgiven him and accepted him back into the fold? I have a difficult time imagining Jesus saying, “No. I can’t forgive that.”

Yeah, I think I can hear the theologians turning off their computers now and deleting the link to your blog site!

Perhaps. But is not God forgiving? One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Leviticus 26 where God tells Israel the sort of punishment awaiting them should they continue to reject God and ignore his commandments. But at the end of the chapter, after they had been warned five separate times, God says this,

40 But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham…I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 26:40-42, 44-45

Jesus chose Judas knowing he would betray him, but I think it’s possible Jesus also chose Judas to give Judas the opportunity, as well as the rest of the world, to see the length and depth and width and height of God’s immense love.

Okay, I realize this sounds like a lecture on Judas and forgiveness, but it’s really a discussion about the sort of people God chooses as workers in the fields ripe for harvest. I have nothing against seminary — in fact, I have a seminary degree myself — but we need to be disabused of the idea that God only chooses the really educated people to become ministers in the ripe fields. He called fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, a thief — all who ran away when Jesus was arrested — one who denied him, and a guy who would betray him to his enemies. I’m pretty sure that motley crew of disciples aren’t the typical sort of people we think of as answers to Jesus’s prayer for “the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” But Jesus calls us all.

But to be clear, I don’t think this means Jesus calls everyone to give up their jobs, sell everything, and move to the jungles of Irian Jaya living in a van down by the river. I know I’m getting ahead of myself here, but when Jesus later tells his disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:18), we often miss the fact that the word “go” is passive; it isn’t a command to “leave.” When Jesus says, “go” the (Greek) word really means something much more closely to the phrase “as you go.” I don’t think it’s a far stretch to read it as saying that we should make disciples as we go into accounting, sales, construction, advertising, healthcare, academia, or other such occupations. Being a chartered accountant doesn’t eliminate us from the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20), nor does it eliminate us from the possibility of being a worker in the fields ripe for harvest. Jesus’s prayer is that “as we go,” all of us, into the world we are to make disciples. And interestingly, the word for “make” (or “teach”) is active. The emphasis in Matthew 28:18-20 is placed on our teaching and making disciples, not on our going.

And this brings us back around to our cliffhangers. Other than those twelve disciples Matthew listed in Chapter 10, I think a strong case can be made that all of us are qualified to become a worker in the fields ripe for harvest. All of us are already going into the world, but doing the will of the Father, making disciples, and teaching the kingdom requires that we actively make a decision. And, if we choose to join the twelve disciples as listed in Matthew 10, Mark 3, and Luke 6, then Jesus’s next words of instruction should apply to us. Jesus doesn’t just send people out, he instructs them and explains what it will look like for the Father’s kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven

But for that, you’ll have to come back next week for the dramatic conclusion…

• Click HERE to go to the page containing all the posts for this study on The Lord’s Prayer and Matthew’s Gospel