Jesus Calls Ordinary Men

“Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples.” Before they are called apostles, they are disciples. Before they are sent, they are gathered. Before they speak for Christ, they must be with Christ. This is the order of grace. The Lord does not merely recruit workers; he makes worshipers. He does not first ask what we can offer him. He first calls us to himself.

Look at the names. Simon Peter, often bold and often stumbling. Andrew, who seems to live in the shadow of his brother. James and John, sons of Zebedee. Thomas, who will later be remembered for doubt. Matthew, the tax collector, was named with his former shame still attached. Simon the Cananaean (or Zealot), likely associated with zeal for Israel’s cause. Judas Iscariot, “the one who betrayed him.” This is not the list we would have written if we were founding a movement meant to endure through centuries.

Yet that is the comfort. The kingdom of heaven is not built on impressive résumés. It is built by a God who calls those like us. God uses weak vessels so that the glory belongs to him alone. A fisherman’s hands, a tax collector’s past, a doubter’s questions, a zealot’s fire—all are placed under the lordship of Christ. Grace does not find worthy servants; grace makes servants useful.

There is an old story told of a craftsman who kept a cracked vessel in his shop. Visitors wondered why he did not throw it away. “It cannot hold water,” they said. “No,” he answered, “but when I set a candle inside, the light shines through the cracks.” So, it is with us. Christ does not deny our cracks; he shines through them.

It Is  Jesus’ Authority

Jesus “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” Their authority was not native to them. It was received. They did not discover a hidden spiritual power within themselves. They were entrusted with authority from the Son of God.

In the world of the New Testament, sickness, uncleanness, and demonic bondage were not abstractions. They marked bodies, homes, families, and villages. The historian Josephus, writing in the first century, records Jewish traditions and practices concerning exorcism, showing that the language of demons and deliverance belonged to the world in which the Gospels were first heard. But Matthew’s point is not that the disciples possessed a technique. His point is that Jesus possesses authority, and what he gives, his servants exercise only as stewards.

This is why the church must never confuse ministry with mastery. We are not lords of grace. We are not owners of the gospel. We are not physicians who invented the cure. We are beggars who were shown where bread may be found. When Christ sends his people, he sends them under authority and with authority: under his Word, under his mercy, under his cross, and therefore able to speak with confidence not in themselves but in him.

Imagine I send my daughter to invite the neighbors to supper. She does not own my house. She did not buy the food. She did not prepare the table. But when she knocks and says, “My dad says, come,” the invitation is real. Its power rests in her father’s generosity. So, the church goes into the world: not saying, “Look what we have made,” but “Come, and see what God is doing.”

First stop, the Lost Sheep

Jesus says, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This command was particular to that moment in the history of redemption. The promises had been given to Abraham and his offspring. Israel had received the covenants, the law, the prophets, the temple, and the hope of a Messiah. The Shepherd came first to the sheepfold where the promises had long been heard.

This was not because the Gentiles would be forgotten. At the end of Matthew, the risen Christ will send his disciples to “all nations.” But here, in Matthew 10, the mission begins in Israel. The gospel moves according to God’s covenant faithfulness. The Lord keeps his promises in their order and fullness. He remembers mercy from generation to generation.

There is tenderness in the phrase “lost sheep.” Jesus does not speak of Israel first as a problem to be managed but as sheep to be sought. Sheep wander. Sheep become exposed. Sheep do not rescue themselves from wolves, cliffs, or wilderness. A lost sheep needs a shepherd. The mission of the Twelve is therefore an extension of the compassion of Christ, who had just seen the crowds as “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

A shepherd once noticed one ewe missing at dusk. The hired hand said, “There are ninety-nine here. Let the night have the one.” But the shepherd took his staff and lantern and went into the cold. Hours later, he returned, soaked with rain, carrying the sheep across his shoulders. The hired hand asked, “Was one worth all that?” The shepherd answered, “It was mine.” That is the heart of this mission. The lost are sought because they belong to the Shepherd.

Announce the Kingdom

“As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’” The message is not first advice, therapy, moral improvement, or religious technique. It is news. Something has happened because Someone has come. The reign of heaven has drawn near in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The kingdom comes near not because human beings have climbed high enough to reach heaven, but because heaven has stooped low in mercy. The King comes into villages where sickness has lingered, into homes where shame has settled, into lives where bondage has seemed final. He comes not merely to improve the old order but to announce and enact the new creation.

This is why the signs accompany the proclamation: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” The miracles are not tricks to gather a crowd. They are foretastes. They are windows opened for a moment so that people may glimpse what the King’s reign means. Disease yields. Death is challenged. Uncleanness is cleansed. Evil is expelled. The curse begins to tremble because the King has arrived.

History gives us many examples of empires announcing peace while spreading fear. Rome called its order “peace,” but Roman peace often came by the sword. Christ’s kingdom is different. His heralds are sent not to seize but to serve, not to plunder but to heal, not to crush the weak but to lift them. His kingdom comes with authority, but it is authority clothed in mercy.

Give it Away

Then comes the final word in our text: “You received without payment; give without payment.” This sentence guards the whole mission. The disciples must not turn grace into merchandise. They have been given authority freely, mercy freely, access freely, forgiveness freely, and calling freely. Therefore, their ministry must bear the family likeness of the grace they have received.

The gospel cannot be bought because Christ is not for sale. The kingdom is not a marketplace where the poor stand outside until they can afford entrance. It is the Father’s house, opened by the Son, announced by servants who know they themselves were welcomed by mercy.

A story may help us. A debtor owed a sum he could never repay. Every morning, he counted the debt; every evening, the number remained. Then the creditor’s son came and paid it in full. The debtor walked out free. On the road, he met another poor man and said, “If you pay me, I will tell you how debts may be forgiven.” What a contradiction! Forgiven freely, he tried to sell freedom. That is what happens whenever the church forgets that grace is a gift before it is a task.

This does not mean that our ministry has no cost. It costs prayer, patience, sacrifice, tears, and sometimes blood. We must remember that the message itself remains free because its price has been paid by another. The church gives because Christ gave himself. The church serves because Christ took the form of a servant. The church announces pardon because Christ bore judgment. The church goes because Christ first came.

Conclusion

Matthew 10:1–8 shows us the mercy and majesty of Christ. He summons ordinary disciples. He gives authority that belongs to him alone. He sends them first to the lost sheep of Israel, proving that God remembers his promises. He announces that the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. He commands that what has been freely received must be freely given.

So, hear the comfort: Christ calls weak people. Hear the warning: grace must never be handled as though it were our possession. Hear the invitation: the kingdom has come near in Jesus Christ. And hear the commission: as those who have received mercy without payment, go and give mercy without price.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Works Cited

• Matthew 10:1–8, New Revised Standard Version / New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, as reflected in standard published Bible texts.
• Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 8.2.5, cited for first-century Jewish references to exorcism traditions.
• Matthew 9:36–38 and Matthew 28:18–20, cited for the immediate compassion context and the later universal mission in Matthew’s Gospel.
• Bible Gateway, “Matthew 10:1–8 NRSVUE,” consulted for the passage wording and textual notes.
• Bible Hub, “Matthew 10:8 Commentaries,” consulted for historical commentary on “freely you received, freely give” and textual discussio