And He called unto Him the Twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two.
The first mission of the twelve
Christ sends them forth.
I. Orderly.
1. As to the persons evangelized. To the Jew first. To have disregarded that, would have excited most bitterly the jealousy of His countrymen, as well as committed the apostles to a work for which they were by no means prepared, because their national antipathies were not yet eradicated.
2. As to the persons engaged in the work of evangelization. Two and two: companionships most desirable arrangement. How important then was this pairing off, enabling them to hold sweet converse together, and strengthen and correct one another when necessary.
II. The mission was in a sense self supporting. They were to go forth in simple dependence upon their Master, and He would put it into men’s hearts to supply their wants. The work on which they were now sent demanded the total surrender of all their energy and will for Christ’s cause.
III. It was fraught with serious consequences. Those to whom they addressed the gospel message would reject it at their own peril; and the guilt of impenitence would be proportioned to the force with which the truth was revealed. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
The mission of the Twelve
I. Consider by what this mission was preceded.
1. By a return to Nazareth where His life was once threatened. (a) This shows Christ’s readiness to forgive and to do good to His enemies.
2. By graciously seeking to win back His fellow townsmen.
3. By another scornful rejection of Himself and His message.
II. The occasion and purpose of this mission.
1. The occasion (see Matthew 9:36-38).
2. The purpose.
(a) To preach.
(b) To heal the sick.
(c) To cleanse the lepers.
(d) To raise the dead.
III. The conditions under which they were to go forth.
1. They must go forth without taking anything for their journey.
2. If rejected in one city, they must proceed to the next. “They might flee from danger, but not from duty” (Matthew Henry).
3. They must refrain from all resentments and retaliations.
4. The full assurance of their Lord’s assistance in every trouble. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Apostolic labours and their reception
I. Christ’s ministers receive from Him power for their appointed work.
II. When called to high service, they need not care for common wants.
III. The rejection of the greatest good leads to the greatest ill. (J. H. Godwin.)
Preparations for preaching
Mark significantly says, “Then Jesus began to send them forth:” forever since that day He has been giving similar work, and qualifying similar representatives.
I. To go forth from the presence of Jesus.
II. To be willing to work together.
III. To be content with the use of moral influence. Men are to be urged, not forced.
IV. To exercise self-denial and cheerful trust in God. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
The apostolic commission
The grandest commission ever entrusted to man. Consider-
I. Its imposed conditions.
1. In company: “by two and two.” Thus for mutual encouragement and help. For the heart of the strongest may fail in presence of danger, difficulty, death.
2. In poverty. Thus was it shown that their power and influence with men was not of earth.
3. In danger. Those whom they went to bless would turn against and persecute them.
4. Yet in safety. God watching over and protecting them. And even if the body is slain, the soul will be safe, and the confessor of Christ will be owned by Him before the Father.
II. Its trust or, the terms of the commission. How grand, how honourable, how precious to the world-the world of ignorant, suffering, sinful men! The great mission has for its object the removal of the evils of human life. Its foulness, its suffering, its error, its subjugation to evil, are all to be combated.
III. Its limitation. Only to the Jews, at present. The children must first be filled.
IV. Its success. (R. Green.)
Missionaries
I. Missionaries must not be, as a rule, solitary men. For counsel, defence, cheerfulness, “two are better than one.”
II. Missionaries must be, as a rule, frugal men. No luxuries; bare necessaries. Like the soldier on the march, or the exploring traveller.
III. Missionaries must not be, as a rule, sedentary men. Sound the trumpet blast, and then on again.
IV. Missionaries must, as a rule, act directly upon the conscience of men. The missionary’s work is to break up the fallow ground. (E. Johnson, M. A.)
Companionship
The solitary soul on a new enterprise is apt to lose heart, and not half perform his part. With no counsellor, sympathizer, helper, he goes uncertainly. Jesus would give His ambassadors all advantage of fraternal support, that in this “apprenticeship,” as one terms it, they might not falter. The confirming word, too, is of might when the message is novel. The apostles afterward went thus in pairs. St. Paul’s strongest expression of regret was that, on any part of his journey, he must be left alone. Livingstone, in the depths of the African continent, longed for the society and cheer of her who laid down her life on the way thither; and, as the end drew near, he leaned harder on the Lord, for no hand but God’s could smooth the troubled brow on which the death-damps gathered, as the noble man, kneeling at his bedside in prayer, bade farewell to earth. (De W. S. Clark.)
Incumbrances to be abandoned
Armies most amply furnished with stores and comforts are most inefficient. The Zulu hordes, with but spear and shield, held long at bay the well-provisioned and disciplined troops of England. Baggage is well termed “impedimenta.” It checks, by just so much, the quickness, and fosters, by hardness. The soul heavily freighted with the luxuries and appliances of this life is at a disadvantage for the sudden movements and missions on which the great Captain would send it. (De W. S. Clark.)
“No money:”
Literally, no copper, for that is the metal that is got from the bowels of the earth. Brass is an artificial alloy, having in it a mixture of tin with the copper, and was unknown, as is supposed, to the Hebrews. The word is not used by the evangelist to denote any particular copper coin, but simply, though representatively, copper money in general. The underlying idea is money in general. Not even coppers would be needed, not to speak of silver and gold. (J. Morison, D. D.)
Mutual help
Why did Jesus send the apostles forth “by two and two?” The answer is, in order that they might be helpmeets for each other. A father was walking one day in the fields with his two children. The wind was blowing over a fine field of ripe corn, and making the beautiful golden ears wave like the waves of the sea. “Is it not surprising,” said one of the children, “that the wind does not break the slender stalks of the corn? My child,” said the father, “see how flexible the stalks are! They bend before the wind and rise again when the wind has passed over them. See, too, how they help to support each other. A single stalk would be soon bent to the ground, but so many growing close together help to keep each other up. If we keep together when the troubles of life come upon us like a stormy wind, we shall keep each other up, when one trying to stand alone would fall.”