INTRODUCTION
In Narrative Two, Matthew had followed Mark's basic narrative of Jesus' powerful messianic ministry as Jesus went from place to place performing the powerful works expected of the Messiah.  At the conclusion of this narrative Jesus had encouraged the disciples to pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest.

Mathew' narrative takes a dramatic turn at this point, for the laborers sent out into the harvest turn out to be the disciples themselves!

There is a challenging message here for Matthew's audience, as there is for us today.  When we pray earnestly that the Lord will send laborers into the harvest, it might be that we turn out to be the laborers that the Lord of harvest has in mind!

Notice the parallel traditions in Mark 6:7-13, and Luke 9:1-6.  Matthew discusses the commissioning of the twelve apostles in greater detail than do Mark and Luke.

THE LIMITED COMMISSION (Matt 10:5-6)
We call this pericope in Matthew the limited commission because Jesus limits the charge to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  The disciples are told not to preach at this stage to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to Israel.  Later in Matt 28:19, 20 Jesus will charge them to make disciples of all nations.  We call the commission of Matt 28 The Great Commission in contrast to this Limited Commission.

Mark and Luke also record this commission (Mk 6:7-13, Lk 9:1-6), but neither of them limit the commission to only Israel.  Since Mark and Luke were writing to Gentile audiences, it would have been difficult to explain the reason for the limitation at this point.  Both Mark and Luke are explaining that the Gospel is for both Jew and Gentile.  This would not be a difficult problem for Matthew since he was writing to Jews who should be able to understand that the Gospel was intended first for the Jew, then later for all the world, including the Gentiles.

COMMISSIONING THE DISCIPLES (Matt 10:1-4)
Again, Matthew differs from Mark and Luke in that he names the twelve disciples.  In 10: 1 he calls them the twelve disciples, and then in 10: 2 refers to them as twelve apostles.  This is an interesting play on words.  The term apostolos - apostolos, apostle, literally means one sent out, or rather one commissioned to go.  We have anglicized the Greek term apostolos into the English term apostle, and thereby lost some of the force of the word.  Correctly it means one commissioned to go.

Notice how Matthew has grouped the names into six groups of two.  In similar fashion, in Luke 10:1, Luke records Jesus sending seventy disciples out in groups of two.  In the Jewish culture two witnesses affirm truth.  Notice the following scriptures:

The names of the twelve apostles differ in some traditions or accounts.  In the place of Bartholomew we find in John 1:45 Nathaniel, in some manuscripts Thaddaeus is known as Labbaeus, and in Luke 6 :15 Simon the Cananaean is called Simon the Zealot (derived from the Aramaic kan' an which means zealous or zealot).

THE MISSION OF THE APOSTLES (Matt 10:5-15)
Note again that Matthew is the only Gospel that discusses the limitation of the commission of the twelve.  Mark and Luke being written for gentiles would have had difficulty explaining that the Gospel is for all while here it seems that it is limited to Israel.

After his resurrection Jesus would again commission the Apostles (Acts 1:6-8) when he charges them to begin witnessing first to Jerusalem, then to Judea, then to Samaria, and finally to the end of the earth.  The kingdom was to begin with Israel, but was not to be limited to Israel.  On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) Peter preached the first gospel sermon to the Jews, then in Acts 8 Philip preached to the Samaritans, then in Acts 10 Peter preached the first gospel sermon to the Gentiles (Cornelius and his household).

The content of the gospel to be preached by the twelve apostles in the limited commission was the same as that preached by Jesus, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."  (See Matt 4:17.)  Along with this preaching the apostles were to perform the messianic deeds of healing, identifying their message with that of the Messiah.

Jesus instruction to take no provisions with them on their journey, and to stay with those who welcomed them was within the tradition of traveling rabbis or teachers in both the Jewish and Gentile cultures.  Traveling or itinerant teachers and philosophers were common in the Jewish world, and it was expected by good Jewish communities to welcome and care for such itinerant rabbis.  We encounter the same phenomenon in Rom 15:19-24, 1 Thess 2, and 2 John, and 3 John.  In Matt 10:15, Jesus adds a sense of finality on those who do not accept the apostles and the message they preached, comparing them to Sodom and Gomorrah.

WARNINGS OF OPPOSITION TO THE PREACHING (Matt 10:16-42)
In four alarming paragraphs Matthew records Jesus' warning the disciples of serious opposition and persecution that would result from the preaching of the kingdom message.  However, one can read throughout the discussion not only Jesus' concern for his disciples, but also Matthew's concern for his community as they testified to their faith in a hostile Jewish and gentile context.  First the Jewish authorities and their families would turn on them.  Then the Gentiles would react to the message regarding  Jewish Messiah.  Persecution was sure to arise and threaten the disciples.  The apostles should not be over concerned as to how to react in such circumstances, for the Holy Spirit would be with them throughout their ministry, and the Holy Spirit ("the Spirit of your Father") would give them the words they needed.  Because of their testimony they would be hated and faced with death, "but he who endures to the end will be saved."

Persecution (Matt 10:16-23)
This expressions, "you will be hated by all for my name's sake" and  "but he who endures to the end will be saved," raises an interesting development in Matthew's Gospel.  The expressions are found verbatim in Matt 24:9, and 13 (except that in Matt 24:9 we also have "by all the Gentiles").  The expressions in the context of Matthew's audience take on an eschatological application.  (Matt 24:9, 13 are in the context of the discussion of the destruction of Jerusalem and confusion over the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world.  In Matt 24 :4-14 Jesus warns the disciples not to confuse his second coming with the destruction of Jerusalem.  The destruction of Jerusalem must not limit the preaching of the gospel, for the destruction of Jerusalem was not the end.  The end still had to come and the gospel still had to be preached until the end comes.)  Following the destruction of Jerusalem the disciples must preach the gospel to all nations until the end.  In this eschatological context, the expressions in Matt 10:22 have a dual meaning or application.  The apostles must preach in the face of opposition and persecution until the end comes, as must Matthew's community preach until the end comes.  (Remember, the destruction of Jerusalem had already occurred when Matthew wrote the Gospel to his community.)  Likewise we, today, must preach until the end comes.  (Hagner, Matthew 1-13, pp. 268, 279  discusses this in some detail.  He states that the end can refer to the disciples death, the end of the persecution, or the end of the age).

Matt 10:23 introduces one of the most difficult statements of Jesus in so far as understanding what Jesus meant by the expression "before the Son of man comes."  Similar statements in Matt 16:28, "before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom," and Matt 24:30 "they will see the son of man coming on the clouds" add to the difficulty of understanding "the coming of the Son of man" expressions.  (See Hagner, Matthew 1-13, pp. 278-230 on this difficult passage.)  

The similarity of the expressions indicates that they must somehow be understood together, but nevertheless each must be interpreted in their own context and light.

Several possibilities are indicated for the multiple use of this expression in Matthew.  The expression "coming of the Son of man" could refer to:
1)  The transfiguration of Jesus (Matt 16:28 and 17:1).
2)  The destruction of Jerusalem itself (Matt 24:30).
3)  The breaking of the eschaton in in some unusual manner, or of the eschatological
     kingdom, or of the power of the eschaton (such as the destruction of Jerusalem
     [Matt 24] or the day of Pentecost [Acts 2]).
4)  The coming of Jesus in judgment at any time as a demonstration of his
     eschatologic Messianic reign or power (Rev 1:7; 2:16; 22:7,12).
5)  The parousia (Matt 24:28, parousia is a technical term referring to Jesus' second 
     coming at the end of the world).

Since each expression is found in a different context, perhaps it would be better to take each in its own context, yet within the overarching eschatological implications of the Messianic reign (kingdom).  In this case the eschatological sense would be a combination of options 3) and 4) above, which would then include all five!  Notice the implications of this view:
1)  The the transfiguration of Jesus, the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming of the
     Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the coming of Jesus in judgment on any occasion (Rev
     1, 2, 3, 22), and the parousia, are all expressions or demonstrations of the
     presence of the eschatological Messianic power of Jesus, and signs of the
     presence of the eschaton.
2)  Any event between the coming of the Messiah and his parousia (second coming)
    can be considered an eschatological event, or a breaking in of the eschaton, or a
    coming of the Son of man.

Given that Matt 10:23 was uttered by Jesus to his twelve apostles as he commissioned them to go and preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, we should attempt to keep our interpretation of Matt 10:23 in Jesus' context, before the destruction of Jerusalem, while being aware of the fact that Matthew's context came much later after the destruction of Jerusalem.  With this in mind, Jesus may have had in mind the fact that before some coming of the Son of man they would not have exhausted the towns of Israel.  The Jewish mission of the apostles had to proceed unhindered by persecution and opposition.  If the "coming of the Son of man" referred to by Jesus was the destruction of Jerusalem, and Matthew was writing after the destruction of Jerusalem, it is possible that Matthew's purpose in recording this unique expression was to challenge his Jewish church community to turn away from a limited commission to Israel for the Son of man had come in judgment on Jerusalem, and to encompass a greater commission to disciple the Gentiles.  Jesus, like Matthew, obviously had a vision of a later Gentile mission beyond the cities of Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem, but at this stage his focus was on the apostles and a Jewish mission.

We are introduced to two additional interesting points of emphasis in this pericope:
1) Matthew's reference to God as Father.  Hagner observes that Matthew uses the
    term Father in an intimate manner 20 times,  the term your Father, my Father, our
    Father is used 30 times, and someone has observed that the Fatherhood of God is
    used 42 times in Matthew.  Hagner adds that Father is used in an intimate manner
    only once in Mark, and three times in Luke.  What this means is that the
    Fatherhood of God is an important feature of Matthew's Jewish view of God.
2) The expression "the Spirit of your Father" is unique to Matthew's Gospel.  See Ex
    4:12 for a possible background to this expression (God said to Moses, ^"Now
    therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."  
    Mark substitutes "the Holy Spirit" in the place of Matthew's expression.  This might
    be a Matthean circumlocution for the Holy Spirit in view of Jewish understandings of
    the role and person of the Holy Spirit.

The Disciple and his Followers (Matt 10:24-33)
Jesus warns his disciples that they should expect nothing less than what he, their teacher, would receive from the Jewish leaders.  Since (If is in a 1st class conditional structure in the Greek and should be translated since) they have called their teacher Beelzebul (a Hebrew euphemism for Satan.  See Mat 12:24ff.  The background behind the meaning of Beelzebul or Beelzebub means either "lord of the house" or "lord of dung", or "lord of the flies") they will also malign the teachers disciples.  Jesus warns the apostles not to fear those who can, and will, kill them, but rather to fear he who can destroy both body and soul in hell.  It is only God who can destroy both body and soul in hell.  The term for hell is the Hebrew Gehenna, meaning the valley of Hinnom, or the place of destruction.  It was a euphemism for the Christian concept of hell.  It should not be confused with the Greek adhs - hades, the place of the dead.  The apostles are encouraged not to fear persecution because God knows them and will ultimately protect them.  This does not mean that they will not have to die, but it does mean that they do not have to fear the destruction of hell.  Jesus will acknowledge before God those who faithfully testify to him as Messiah.

The Disciple and the Cross (Matt 10;34-39)
Jesus explains that his coming would bring suffering for those who believe in him.  Parents and family would turn against the disciple because of Jesus.  The radical nature of messianic discipleship was that disciples must choose Jesus before all family allegiance.  Those who will not choose Jesus over all others are not worthy disciples.  Jesus adds a brief statement about disciples taking up their cross and following him.  He will again take up this thought in matt 16:24-28.  Taking up ones cross is a euphemism for being willing to die for Jesus.  It means far more that accepting ones responsibilities as some interpret it.  Jesus is talking about disciples being willing to die for him, for those who faithfully preach his gospel would surely have to make this decision in the coming years of the first three centuries of Christianity.  The word translated "life" in this passage is the Greek yuch - psuche, which can be translated soul, life, psyche or personality.  The RSV, ASV, and NIV appropriately translate this as life.

The Disciple's Message and Reward (Matt 10:40-42)
Jesus assured the apostles that whoever received the apostles and their message received both the Son and the Father.  Jesus followed this with a proverbial saying about the righteous receiving their just reward.  Jesus' closing statement in this pericope sets the scene for a discussion Matthew will take up in Matt 18, namely, that of taking care of the "little ones".  At first glance this might be construed as a reference to children, but Jesus will later describe these little one as those ho believe in him (Matt 18:6).  In Matt 11:25 Jesus will comment on the Father revealing things to babes.  The context here indicates that the babes are the ones who have received the Father's revelation, that is, the disciples.  But why call the disciples babes and little ones?  Simply because disciples, like little children are vulnerable to abuse.  We should remember that these comments in Matt 10 are in the context of disciples being abused and persecuted simply because they believe in and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.

The Second Discourse Formula (Matt 11:1)
At the conclusion of each of the great discourse teaching blocks Matthew has inserted into the Markan narrative, he adds a formula statement which is in the form of a rhetorical key drawing attention to the discourse material.  In Matt 7:28 the formula statement read "And when Jesus finished these sayings, ...."  Now at the conclusion of the second discourse material the formula in similar wording is "And when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples...." These formula statements draw attention to the genius or major concern of Matthew's Gospel, namely, Jesus' teaching material on the character, mission, and focus of discipleship.

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