Read: Matthew 10
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Chapter 9 of Matthew's Gospel ends with a brewing conflict between Jesus and the religious establishment, along with His announcement that "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few" (verse 9.37). It's little wonder that Jesus' next actions were to call and equip a group of disciples, instruct them in what they should expect, and send them out into the "harvest" around them to preach and minister. Matthew 10 is describes all of this in great detail.
Why did Jesus specifically set apart twelve of His disciples (followers who were devoted to "walking in Jesus' footsteps") to be "apostles" ("ones who are sent with a mission")? We've mentioned previously that the Old Testament patriarch Abraham "the Hebrew" (see Genesis 14.13) was the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham's son Isaac had a son named Jacob, who is turn had twelve sons. Later in life God gave Jacob the new name of "Israel," and Jacob's sons became known as "the children of Israel" (along with the "Hebrew people" after their ancestor Abraham). The resulting family (which expanded rapidly) organized itself into 12 "tribes" that descended from each of Jacob's sons. By the way, one of the tribes was named for Jacob's son Judah; the tribe's inheritance was a large portion of land just south of Jerusalem that ultimately came to be known in the Greek/Roman world as Judea in Jesus' time (and its inhabitants known as "Jews"). All of Jesus' followers knew of the "Twelve Tribes of Israel" (some of which had been scattered throughout the world as a result of foreign conquests), and Jesus' deliberate calling of 12 leaders for His followers was a clear reference to and connection with the history of Israel. Matthew is letting his readers know that Jesus was indeed restoring Israel as the promised Savior/Messiah, although He was doing it in a way that was not expected by the people of that day.
Like the 12 sons of Jacob in the Old Testament, the 12 disciples-becoming-apostles had names, and Matthew lists them in verses 2-4. Notice that the group includes Simon "the Zealot." Jewish Zealots were a shadowy sect who so resented Roman rule over the land of Israel that they often took violent actions against Romans and Roman sympathizers (no doubts looked upon as local terrorists by the Romans). Since tax collectors worked for and with the Roman government against their fellow Jews, they were particularly hated by the Zealots. As Roger Hahn writes, "That Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot coexisted in the same group is testimony to Jesus' leadership and the power of the Gospel to unite people of radically different political persuasions."
On their initial mission on their own, Jesus sends the Twelve only "to the lost sheep of Israel" (verse 6). Staring in verse 17, Jesus begins to offer instructions that clearly go beyond this first foray into ministry; Jesus is already preparing His disciples-becoming-apostles for what would await them when they took His Gospel ("Good News") to the world following His death and resurrection. Clearly, the effort would not be easy. Nevertheless, Jesus remind them that God will be with them, since not even a sparrow falls to the ground outside of the God's care. "So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (verse 31).
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