Matthew 10:1 "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease."
Matthew 10:5-8 "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give."
Chapter ten of the book of Matthew opens with us being told who the twelve core disciples are. It also tells us that Jesus gave them the same power He had been manifesting to cast out unclean spirits and to heal. The last phrase gives us the name of the most infamous disciple, Judas Iscariot, and ends with the expression “who also betrayed him.”
I call this to our attention this morning because it reminds us to realize that Jesus in fact called Judas Iscariot to Him. Even though Judas betrayed Jesus in the end, Judas also had power against unclean spirits and went about with the other disciples healing the people. I have no intention of entering the debate here about whether Judas was a child of God. I offer this as an observation that everything that Jesus instructed His disciples included Judas Iscariot, and he did these things with the other disciples.
Jesus commanded these twelve to only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel at this time. Since all the demands of the law service had not yet been satisfied, it was not yet the right time to bring the Gentiles in. However, in the mind and purpose of God, that had always been the intention. Remember that Jesus told His disciples in John 10:16 that He had other sheep (the Gentiles) which were not of the present fold (the Jews under the law service). Jesus declared that He “must” bring them, and that they “would” hear His voice.
Until that time was fulfilled, the disciples were to preach that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. It was upon them and they would see it preached not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. Once Jesus had satisfied God’s righteous law, these “other sheep” could be brought openly into the kingdom. After His resurrection, He told His disciples to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations (Matthew 28:19)”.
Finally, dear ones, Jesus left them this command. While there are certainly things that He told the twelve that may pertain only to them, I believe that this is something that every called servant of God should lay to heart. We have received the grace, gift, and calling of God freely, because we could not afford the price had it been asked of us. As we have received from God freely, we should give of our time and talents to God’s service and people freely and trust Him to provide. I hope that my prayer will always be “Lord, what would you have me to do,” and never “Lord, what is in it for me?”