It’s been said that when God gives a vision, he always gives the provision to fulfil it. Often, as the disciples found, he makes us the answer to our own prayers (9:38; 10:1). He gives us authority to act in his name. ‘All authority in heaven and on earth’ has been given to Jesus (28:18), but he shares it with us. Consider, no authority is greater than that which is entrusted to us by Jesus. Every other power must yield (9:35; 10:1)!

As this Gospel’s author, it may seem curious that Matthew chooses to be known by his former profession, ‘tax collector’ (10:3). Hated by his fellow Jews, it identifies him as a swindling lackey of their Roman oppressors. Think about your pre-Christian life. Is there any way you lived then that shows just how much you’ve been saved from? In God, your past is not your future; it’s the story of how Jesus rescued you for a glorious destiny in him and it needs to be told! It could save a soul! With his authority (10:1), you can reach out to lost sheep with the compassion (9:36) of one who remembers what they were saved from, and who knows what they’ve been saved for (see Ephesians 1:18).

‘Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.’¹ What does this mean in your own experience?

In our passage Jesus travels from place to place, teaching in the synagogues and healing everyone he encounters. He is driven by an intense compassion for the crowds. Yet even Jesus, limited by his humanity, was aware he could not reach everyone. Therefore, he told his disciples to plead with God for more labourers and he commissioned them for this task.

If Jesus could not meet every need, then neither can we. This may seem obvious, but we all recognise that there are so many good things we could do and people we could help that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and guilty that we are not doing more. 

Jesus dealt with the immensity of the task by sharing out the load with his disciples. However, we can struggle to delegate. It often feels easier to do everything ourselves rather than take time to train up someone else. We can worry that others will not perform tasks as well as us or that people will think less of us if we aren’t doing as much. However, Jesus is our example and he involved the disciples in his mission despite their imperfections and knowing that they would mess up at times and make mistakes. We have been designed to work together as a team: God has shared his gifts out between us rather than giving them all to only one person. We cannot be the body of Christ in the world by ourselves. God uses us all, despite our imperfections and inexperience. Today’s passage subtly reflects this by deliberately repeating the phrase ‘healing every disease and illness’ used of Jesus in 9:35 to describe the task of the disciples in 10:1 too. Despite their shortcomings, the disciples were able successfully to carry out Jesus’ mission. If we work together, we can too.

Dear Lord, help me to have healthy attitudes about my role, seeing myself as part of a team guided by you rather than an individual bearing the load alone.

¹ 1 Cor 12:27