I ended my post on Matthew 7 with this question: If we lived in the reality of Jesus with us and his authority (s'mikhah) in us, how would that change the way we live and how we relate to the world around us?
Does 10:1 give us the answer? “He called his twelve disciples and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.”
Matthew 9:35-37 is like a hinge in the story. These three verses swing back to summarize what has happened since 4:17, while opening the story forward, pointing us to the next phase of the story: The Rabbi’s students doing what the Rabbi does. “Your turn,” Jesus says. “Here are the keys to the kingdom. Take it for a test drive.”
Jesus gives the twelve a boatload of instruction in chapter 10, more than I want to detail here. But let me just point out one main idea that sticks out to me. Don’t you find it compelling that there exists such close communion between Jesus and his disciples that their words and actions (their very lives) are seen as if they are Jesus’ words and actions? Jesus instructs them, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me” (10:40; see also 10:17-20, 24). That’s authority of Jesus transferred to the lives of his disciples.
What does it mean that those who follow Jesus represent Jesus to the world? This is not just some lofty ideal. This is how the kingdom works.
I wonder if there’s a correlation between seeing the power of God and living under the authority of God. Is it possible that we deny the power of God in our world today because we choose to live under an alternative authority?
Would people see more of Jesus in us if we saw ourselves more in Jesus?
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