Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Wednesday after Sexagesima Sunday

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. Matthew 10:2-16 (NKJV)
 
10:2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
 
5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.
 
11 “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 And when you go into a household, greet it. 13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!
 
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
 
Devotion
 
The Twelve were sent out to proclaim Jesus, that in Him the Kingdom of God is present for them. Nothing else is necessary but His Word. They are not to provide for themselves, but He will provide by those who receive them. They are to bring no harm, but to understand the ways of those doing harm. Thus, they may freely preach and heal, bringing salvation to the downtrodden and showing the evildoers and the self-righteous that this message is of a different nature than that of those who are not sent by the Christ. In place of a watered-down version of God’s Law, or one exchanged for the commandments of men, they carry God’s demand of absolute holiness. And they provide the Absolutely Holy One who had been promised to meet that demand.
 
When the Word of Christ is not received, the Apostles are to give one final witness against that place: the shaking of its dust from their shoes. The Kingdom was preached clearly, with the Messiah even then walking about among them, but their judgment will be harder to bear than that of Sodom and Gomorrah: so close were they to the Kingdom, as the King and His servants came to them, yet they would not receive it!
 
How chilling it is that one being sent out would receive a similar verdict, as St. Luke lists, “Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him”! Yet, how comforting for us that our faith is not compromised, even if Judas baptized us or preached Christ to us, as the Word still remains true and God remains faithful!
 
Prayer: O God, who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do, mercifully grant that by Thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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