Last Counsel - Matt 10:8-42

Matthew chapter 10 gives us the rest of the charge that Jesus gives to the disciples before sending them on their missions. The Savior tells them “provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.” The IM says, “The Savior instructed His Apostles that they were not to worry about food, clothing, lodging, or other temporal needs; they were to rely on the Lord and the mercies of others for their sustenance. This was I harmony with the hospitality and social customs of the day. Later, in Luke 22:35-36, Jesus revoked this command to rely on the hospitality of the people, perhaps because the Apostles would soon carry the gospel to Gentile nations that did not have the same standards of hospitality and because they would face opposition from the Jews as they went out into the world.” This was probably a little off putting at first because everyone prepares for a log journey by making sure that their basic needs would be met, food, water, shelter and clothing. By taking away this responsibility, Jesus allowed the disciples to focus solely on the work, to suffer physically for the work and cement their commitment. If they had prepared money and luggage for the journey, then they could have been persuaded to stop their missions and work in order to get money for food, instead of being 100% dedicated to the work. Again, like the IM says, this was also conducive to the Jewish culture at the time.

Jesus next instructs his disciples how to “shake off the dust of your feet” against a city or house that has rejected them. Studying this previously, we’ve learned that shaking the dust of your feet to a people or place is very serious business because it condemns them. If the disciples were accepted, then blessings were to be left on the house or town, but if they were rejected, condemnation. This seems pretty brutal if we think about the fact that the rejection probably wouldn’t have been unanimous, to include women and children, yet they would be punished the same way. The rejection also wouldn’t take very long occur, within a day or two at the most, so an entire community would be condemned based on an interaction that took place over a matter of hours, their eternity would be wasted away, that doesn’t make any sense. I don’t have all the answers about this, but the IM reminds us how serious these actions are saying, “Because of its serious nature, however, this should never be done except under the direction of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.”

The Savior becomes more graphic and grim in his counsel saying, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: by ye therefore wise as serpents, ad harmless as doves.” JTC gives good insight saying, “The Apostles were told to be prudent, to give no needless offense, but to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves; for they were sent forth as sheep into the midst of wolves. They were not to recklessly entrust themselves to the power of men; for wicked men would persecuted them, seek to arraign them before councils and courts, and to afflict them in the synagogs. Moreover they might expect to be brought before governors and kings, under which extreme conditions they were to rely upon divine inspiration as to what they should say, and no depend upon their own wisdom in preparation and premeditation; ‘For,’ said the Master, ‘it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.’”

The warnings become more intense as Jesus tells them what will be waiting for them in the outside world. What’s interesting here is that he’s not telling them this so that they can avoid the persecution and hardships, but he’s telling them this to say, “hey this is coming, so be prepared to deal with it.” He speaks much of negativity, “and ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake… The disciples of not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” I didn’t understand this phrase at first, but I eventually took it to mean that if they will do it to Jesus, then they could expect it to be done to them even more. I would imagine that social constraints at the time made it so that the Master who was followed would have been last to be ridiculed or persecuted, because you don’t offend the higher ups. But if the people were bold enough to insult the master, then it would no doubt roll down hill, gaining speed before smashing into the disciples. At this point, we’ve seen people try to throw Jesus off a cliff in Nazareth because they were angry with him, he’s been asked to leave a gentile city after all the pigs drowned, but I can’t really think of too much else that has happened in persecution of the Savior. I think that Jesus is just trying to prepare them for the massive waves of persecution that were coming for them all.

He gives them some eternal perspective saying, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” He’s reminding them that worst case scenario in this life is that you can be killed, physical death is the worst thing that can happen, but there are much worse things than death. Spiritual illness or injury is much more serious than physical death, and that perspective is needed when staring torture and execution in the face. He tells them, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore.” To really put yourself in the mindset of accepting death for the sake of the gospel, you must understand and believe in the eternal perspective and in God’s omniscience. He must know all you do and value it dearly, because even though people and societies and history will look back on you and think, “he died for that? What a waste,” you must be convinced that it will be profitable to you in the long (eternal) scheme of things.

There’s a lot that Jesus says about him coming on the earth to bring violence among families, but I think that it might be better understood as meaning that he came to bring the good news of the gospel, and that as a result, there would be violence had among families as some accept and some reject it. That’s the interesting thing about Satan though, he’s not content with one person believing in God and one person not, he can’t ever just say, “do you Boo.” He has to convince people that others are so wrong that death is the only acceptable solution, and really, that’s insane. My brother made the analogy the other day saying that when Nephi was the prophet and the believers were waiting for Jesus to be born and all the unbelievers were going to kill them if he hadn’t been born by a certain day would have been like us saying, “ok all you who believe that Y2K is going to melt down the modern world, if it doesn’t then we’re going to kill you.” That really brought a different perspective for me, it sounded absolutely nuts, which of course it is, but that’s just how insane Satan is.

Finally, Jesus ends by cautioning that the gospel will break up families saying, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” The IM says, “In these verses Jesus Christ declared that His message would not always bring peace. In fact, choosing to make God preeminent in one’s life might even result in divisions within a family. President Ezra Taft Benson (taught)… ‘One of the most difficult tests of all is when you have to choose between pleasing God and pleasing someone you love or respect- particularly a family member. Nephi faced that test and handled it well when his good father temporarily murmured against the Lord. Job maintained his integrity with the Lord even though his wife told him to curse God and die.” There are many instances where family members don’t agree with someone’s decision to join the church or to live the gospel, and choosing to move forward in faith anyway is a big step.

One of my favorite verses follows, saying, “He who seeketh to save his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Losing our lives for the Lord’s sake doesn’t only mean dying a martyr’s death, which most of us will not have to do, but means giving our lives in His service. The IM quotes President James E. Faust as teaching, “One of life’s paradoxes is that a person who approaches everything with a what’s-in-it-for-me attitude may acquire money, property, and land, but in the end will lost the fulfillment and happiness that a person enjoys who shares his talents and gifts generously with others. The greatest fulfillment in life comes by rendering service to others, and not being obsessed with ‘what’s I it for me.’” The IM also quotes Elder Neal A. Maxwell as teaching, “So many of us are kept from eventual consecration because we mistakenly think that, somehow, by letting our will be swallowed up in the will of God, we lost our individuality. What we are really worried about, of course, is not giving up self, but selfish things- like our roles, our time, our preeminence, and our possessions. No wonder we are instructed by the Savior to lose ourselves. He is only asking us to lose the old self in order to find the new self. It is not a question of one’s losing identity but of finding his true identity!”