SECTION I. THE MISSION
Matt. 10; Mark 6:7-13; 30-32; Luke 9:1-11.
The twelve are now to come before us as active
agents in advancing the kingdom of God. Having been for some time in Christ's
company, witnessing His miraculous works, hearing His doctrine concerning the
kingdom, and learning how to pray and how to live, they were at length sent
forth to evangelize the towns and villages of their native province, and to
heal the sick in their Master's name, and by His power. This mission of the
disciples as evangelists or miniature apostles was partly, without doubt, an
educational experiment for their own benefit; but its direct design was to meet
the spiritual necessities of the people, whose neglected condition lay heavy on
Christ's heart. The compassionate Son of man, in the course of His wanderings,
had observed how the masses of the population were, like a shepherdless flock
of sheep, scattered and torn, and it was His desire that all should know that a
good Shepherd had come to care for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The
multitudes were ready enough to welcome the good news; the difficulty was to
meet the pressing demand of the hour. The harvest, the grain, ready for
reaping, was plenteous, but the laborers were few.[8.2]
In connection with this mission four things call
for special notice: The sphere assigned for the work, the nature of the work,
the instructions for carrying it on, the results of the mission, and the return
of the missionaries. These points we shall consider in their order, except
that, for convenience, we shall reserve Christ's instructions to His disciples
for the last place, and give them a section to themselves.
I. The sphere of the mission, as described in
general terms, was the whole land of Israel. "Go," said Jesus to the twelve,
"to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" and further on, in Matthew's
narrative, He speaks to them as if the plan of the mission involved a visit to
all the cities of Israel.[8.3] Practically, however, the operations of the
disciples seem to have been restricted to their native province of Galilee, and
even within its narrow limits to have been carried on rather among the villages
and hamlets, than in considerable towns or cities like Tiberias. The former of
these statements is supported by the fact that the doings of the disciples
attracted the attention of Herod the tetrarch of Galilee,[8.4] which implies
that they took place in his neighborhood;[8.5] while the latter is proved by
the words of the third evangelist in giving a summary account of the mission:
"They departed and went through the villages (towns, Eng. Ver.), preaching the
gospel, and healing everywhere."[8.6]
While the apprentice missionaries were permitted
by their instructions to go to any of the lost sheep of Israel, to all if
practicable, they were expressly forbidden to extend their labors beyond these
limits. They were not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor enter into any
city or town of the Samaritans.[8.7] This prohibition arose in part out of the
general plan which Christ had formed for founding the kingdom of God on the
earth. His ultimate aim was the conquest of the world; but in order to do that,
He deemed it necessary first to secure a strong base of operations in the Holy
Land and among the chosen people. Therefore He ever regarded Himself personally
as a Messenger of God to the Jewish nation, seriously giving that as a reason
why He should not work among the heathen,[8.8] and departing occasionally from
the rule only in order to supply in His own ministry prophetic intimations of
an approaching time when Jew and Samaritan and Gentile should be united on
equal terms in one divine commonwealth.[8.9] But the principal reason of the
prohibition lay in the present spiritual condition of the disciples themselves.
The time would come when Jesus might say to His chosen ones, "Go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;"[8.10] but that time was
not yet. The twelve, at the period of their first trial mission, were not fit
to preach the gospel, or to do good works, either among Samaritans or Gentiles.
Their hearts were too narrow, their prejudices too strong: there was too much
of the Jew, too little of the Christian, in their character. For the catholic
work of the apostleship they needed a new divine illumination and a copious
baptism with the benignant spirit of love. Suppose these raw evangelists had
gone into a Samaritan village, what would have happened? In all probability
they would have been drawn into disputes on the religious differences between
Samaritans and Jews, in which, of course, they would have lost their temper; so
that, instead of seeking the salvation of the people among whom they had come,
they would rather be in a mood to call down fire from heaven to consume them,
as they actually proposed to do at a subsequent period.[8.11]
2. The work intrusted to the twelve was in one
department very extensive, and in the other very limited. They were endowed
with unlimited powers of healing, but their commission was very restricted so
far as preaching was concerned. In regard to the former their instructions
were: "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:
freely ye have received, freely give;" in regard to the latter: "As ye go,
preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand."[8.12] The commission in the
one case seems too wide, in the other too narrow; but in both the wisdom of
Jesus is apparent to a deeper consideration. In so far as miraculous works were
concerned, there was no need for restriction, unless it were to avoid the risk
of producing elation and vanity in those who wielded such wonderful power--a
risk which was certainly not imaginary, but which could be remedied when it
assumed tangible form. All the miracles wrought by the twelve were really
wrought by Jesus Himself, their sole function consisting in making a believing
use of His name. This seems to have been perfectly understood by all; for the
works done by the apostles did not lead the people of Galilee to wonder who
they were, but only who and what He was in whose name all these things were
done.[8.13] Therefore, it being Christ's will that such miracles should be
wrought through the instrumentality of His disciples, it was just as easy for
them to do the greatest works as to do the smaller; if, indeed, there be any
sense in speaking of degrees of difficulty in connection with miracles, which
is more than doubtful.
As regards the preaching, on the other hand,
there was not only reason, but necessity, for restriction. The disciples could
do no more than proclaim the fact that the kingdom was at hand, and bid men
everywhere repent, by way of a preparation for its advent. This was really all
they knew themselves. They did not as yet understand, in the least degree, the
doctrine of the cross; they did not even know the nature of the kingdom. They
had, indeed, heard their Master discourse profoundly thereon, but they had not
comprehended his words. Their ideas respecting the coming kingdom were nearly
as crude and carnal as were those of other Jews, who looked for the restoration
of Israel's political independence and temporal prosperity as in the glorious
days of old. In one point only were they in advance of current notions. They
had learned from John and from Jesus that repentance was necessary in order to
citizenship in this kingdom. In all other respects they and their hearers were
pretty much on a level. Far from wondering, therefore, that the preaching
programme of the disciples was so limited, we are rather tempted to wonder how
Christ could trust them to open their mouths at all, even on the one topic of
the kingdom. Was there not a danger that men with such crude ideas might foster
delusive hopes, and give rise to political excitement? Nay, may we not discover
actual traces of such excitement in the notice taken of their movements at
Herod's court, and in the proposal of the multitude not long after, to take
Jesus by force to make Him a king?[8.14] Doubtless there was danger in this
direction; and therefore, while He could not, to avoid it, leave the poor
perishing people uncared for, Jesus took all possible precautions to obviate
mischief as far as might be, by in effect prohibiting His messengers from
entering into detail on the subject of the kingdom, and by putting a sound form
of words into their mouths. They were instructed to announce the kingdom as a
kingdom of heaven;[8.15] a thing which some might deem a lovely vision, but
which all worldly men would guess to be quite another thing from what they
desired. A kingdom of heaven! What was that to them? What they wanted was a
kingdom of earth, in which they might live peaceably and happily under just
government, and, above all, with plenty to eat and drink. A kingdom of heaven!
That was only for such as had no earthly hope; a refuge from despair, a
melancholy consolation in absence of any better comfort. Even so, ye
worldlings! Only for such as ye deem miserable was the message meant. To the
poor the kingdom was to be preached. To the laboring and heavy laden was the
invitation "Come to me" addressed, and the promise of rest made; of rest from
ambition and discontent, and scheming, carking care, in the blessed hope of the
supernal and the eternal.
3. The impression produced by the labors of the
twelve seems to have been very considerable. The fame of their doings, as
already remarked, reached the ears of Herod, and great crowds appear to have
accompanied them as they moved from place to place. On their return, e.g. from
the mission to rejoin the company of their Master, they were thronged by an
eager, admiring multitude who had witnessed or experienced the benefits of
their work, so that it was necessary for them to withdraw into a desert place
in order to obtain a quiet interval of rest. "There were many," the second
evangelist informs us, "coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to
eat. And they departed unto a desert place by ship privately."[8.16] Even in
the desert solitudes on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee they failed to
secure the desired privacy. "The people saw them departing, and ran afoot
thither (round the end of the sea) out of all cities, and outwent them, and
came together unto Him."[8.17]
In quality the results of the mission appear to
have been much less satisfactory than in their extent. The religious
impressions produced seem to have been in a great measure superficial and
evanescent. There were many blossoms, so to speak, on the apple-tree in the
springtide of this Galilean "revival;" but only a comparatively small number of
them set in fruit, while of these a still smaller number ever reached the stage
of ripe fruit. This we learn from what took place shortly after, in connection
with Christ's discourse on the bread of life, in the synagogue of Capernaum.
Then the same men who, after the miraculous feeding in the desert, would have
made Christ a king, deserted Him in a body, scandalized by His mysterious
doctrine; and those who did this were, for the most part, just the men who had
listened to the twelve while they preached repentance.[8.18]
Such an issue to a benevolent undertaking must
have been deeply disappointing to the heart of Jesus. Yet it is remarkable that
the comparative abortiveness of the first evangelistic movement did not prevent
Him from repeating the experiment some time after on a still more extensive
scale. "After these things," writes the third evangelist, "the Lord appointed
other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face, into every city
and place whither He Himself would come."[8.19] The Tübingen school of
critics, indeed, as we have already indicated,[8.20] assure us that this
mission had no existence, being a pure invention of the third evangelist,
intended to thrust into the shade the mission of the twelve, and to exhibit the
Christian religion as a religion for humanity, represented by the Samaritans as
the recipients, and by the seventy as the preachers of the faith, the number
corresponding to the number of the nations. The theory is not devoid of
plausibility, and it must be owned the history of this mission is very obscure;
but the assumption of invention is violent, and we may safely take for granted
that Luke's narrative rests on an authentic tradition. The motive of this
second mission was the same as in the case of the first, as were also the
instructions to the missionaries. Jesus still felt deep compassion for the
perishing multitude, and hoping against hope, made a new attempt to save the
lost sheep. He would have all men called at least to the fellowship of the
kingdom, even though few should be chosen to it. And when the immediate results
were promising He was gratified, albeit knowing, from past experience as well
as by divine insight, that the faith and repentance of many were only too
likely to be evanescent as the early dew. When the seventy returned from their
mission, and reported their great success, He hailed it as an omen of the
downfall of Satan's kingdom, and, rejoicing in spirit, gave thanks to the
Supreme Ruler in heaven and earth, His Father, that while the things of the
kingdom were hid from the wise and the prudent, the people of intelligence and
discretion, they were by His grace revealed unto babes--the rude, the poor, the
ignorant.[8.21]
The reference in the thanksgiving prayer of Jesus
to the "wise and prudent" suggests the thought that these evangelistic efforts
were regarded with disfavor by the refined, fastidious classes of Jewish
religious society. This is in itself probable. There are always men in the
church, intelligent, wise, and even good, to whom popular religious movements
are distasteful. The noise, the excitement, the extravagances, the delusions,
the misdirection of zeal, the rudeness of the agents, the instability of the
converts--all these things offend them. The same class of minds would have
taken offence at the evangelistic work of the twelve and the seventy, for
undoubtedly it was accompanied with the same drawbacks. The agents were
ignorant; they had few ideas in their heads; they understand little of divine
truth; their sole qualification was, that they were earnest and could preach
repentance well. Doubtless, also, there was plenty of noise and excitement
among the multitudes who heard them preach; and we certainly know that their
zeal was both ill-informed and short-lived. These things, in fact, are standing
features of all popular movements. Jonathan Edwards, speaking with reference to
the "revival" of religion which took place in America in his day, says truly:
"A great deal of noise and tumult, confusion and uproar, darkness mixed with
light, and evil with good, is always to be expected in the beginning of
something very glorious in the state of things in human society or the church
of God. After nature has long been shut up in a cold, dead state, when the sun
returns in the spring, there is, together with the increase of the light and
heat of the sun, very tempestuous weather before all is settled, calm, and
serene, and all nature rejoices in its bloom and beauty."[8.22]
None of the "wise and prudent" knew half so well
as Jesus what evil would be mixed with the good in the work of the kingdom. But
He was not so easily offended as they. The Friend of sinners was ever like
Himself. He sympathized with the multitude, and could not, like the Pharisees,
contentedly resign them to a permanent condition of ignorance and depravity. He
rejoiced greatly over even one lost sheep restored; and He was, one might say
overjoyed, when not one, but a whole flock, even began to return to the fold.
It pleased Him to see men repenting even for a season, and pressing into the
kingdom even rudely and violently;[8.23] for His love was strong, and where
strong love is, even wisdom and refinement will not be fastidious.
Before passing from this topic, let us observe
that there is another class of Christians, quite distinct from the wise and
prudent, in whose eyes such evangelistic labors as those of the twelve stand in
no need of vindication. Their tendency, on the contrary, is to regard such
labors as the whole work of the kingdom. Revival of religion among the
neglected masses is for them the sum of all good-doing. Of the more still, less
observable work of instruction going on in the church they take no account.
Where there is no obvious excitement, the church in their view is dead, and her
ministry inefficient. Such need to be reminded that there were two religious
movements going on in the days of the Lord Jesus. One consisted in rousing the
mass out of the stupor of indifference; the other consisted in the careful,
exact training of men already in earnest, in the principles and truths of the
divine kingdom. Of the one movement the disciples, that is, both the twelve and
the seventy, were the agents; of the other movement they were the subjects. And
the latter movement, though less noticeable, and much more limited in extent,
was by far more important than the former; for it was destined to bring forth
fruit that should remain--to tell not merely on the present time, but on the
whole history of the world. The deep truths which the great Teacher was now
quietly and unobservedly, as in the dark, instilling into the minds of a select
band, the recipients of His confidential teaching were to speak in the broad
daylight ere long; and the sound of their voice would not stop till it had gone
through all the earth. There would have been a poor outlook for the kingdom of
heaven if Christ had neglected this work, and given Himself up entirely to
vague evangelism among the masses.
4. When the twelve had finished their mission,
they returned and told their Master all that they had done and taught. Of their
report, or of His remarks thereon, no details are recorded. Such details we do
find, however, in connection with the later mission of the seventy. "The
seventy," we read, "returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are
subject unto us through Thy name."[8.24] The same evangelist from whom these
words are quoted, informs us that, after congratulating the disciples on their
success, and expressing His own satisfaction with the facts reported, Jesus
spoke to them the warning word: "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the
spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven."[8.25] It was a timely caution against elation and vanity. It is
very probable that a similar word of caution was addressed to the twelve also
after their return. Such a word would certainly not have been unseasonable in
their case. They had been engaged in the same exciting work, they had wielded
the same miraculous powers, they had been equally successful, they were equally
immature in character, and therefore it was equally difficult for them to bear
success. It is most likely, therefore, that when Jesus said to them on their
return, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile,"[8.26]
He was not caring for their bodies alone, but was prudently seeking to provide
repose for their heated minds as well as for their jaded frames.
The admonition to the seventy is indeed a word in
season to all who are very zealous in the work of evangelism, especially such
as are crude in knowledge and grace. It hints at the possibility of their own
spiritual health being injured by their very zeal in seeking the salvation of
others. This may happen in many ways. Success may make the evangelists vain,
and they may begin to sacrifice unto their own net. They may fall under the
dominion of the devil through their very joy that he is subject unto them. They
may despise those who have been less successful, or denounce them as deficient
in zeal. The eminent American divine already quoted gives a lamentable account
of the pride, presumption, arrogance, conceit, and censoriousness which
characterized many of the more active promoters of religious revival in his
day.[8.27] Once more, they may fall into carnal security respecting their own
spiritual state, deeming it impossible that any thing can go wrong with those
who are so devoted, and whom God has so greatly owned. An obvious as well as
dangerous mistake; for doubtless Judas took part in this Galilean mission, and,
for aught we know to the contrary, was as successful as his fellow-disciples in
casting out devils. Graceless men may for a season be employed as agents in
promoting the work of grace in the hearts of others. Usefulness does not
necessarily imply goodness, according to the teaching of Christ Himself.
"Many," He declares in the Sermon on the Mount, "will say unto me on that day,
Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out devils,
and by Thy name do many wonderful works?" And mark the answer which He says He
will give such. It is not: I call in question the correctness of your
statement--that is tacitly admitted; it is: "I never knew you; depart from me,
ye that work iniquity."[8.2]
These solemn words suggest the need of
watchfulness and self-examination; but they are not designed to discourage or
discountenance zeal. We must not interpret them as if they meant, "Never mind
doing good, only be good;" or, "Care not for the salvation of others: look to
your own salvation." Jesus Christ did not teach a listless or a selfish
religion. He inculcated on His disciples a large-hearted generous concern for
the spiritual well-being of men. To foster such a spirit He sent the twelve on
this trial mission, even when they were comparatively unfitted for the work,
and notwithstanding the risk of spiritual harm to which it exposed them. At all
hazards He would have His apostles be filled with enthusiasm for the
advancement of the kingdom; only taking due care, when the vices to which young
enthusiasts are liable began to appear, to check them by a warning word and a
timely retreat into solitude.
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