Matthew 10:24-39

This passage occurs in year A of the Revised Common Lectionary, during "ordinary" or "proper" or weeks after Pentecost" time.  Most recently, June 21, 2026.

Summary thoughts:  I sense that Jesus is challenging his disciples about fear and anxiety.  As disciples we will fear and get anxious about the wrong things: Our physical comfort (even health!) and our reputation.  Jesus is calling us to fear the proper thing: God. I am still working through this passage, but I think it can speak to us today as disciples in a time of great fear and anxiety.

As I read this in 2026, I am drawn to the word sword (μάχαιρα) and reflect on who and why the sword is used. 

Some words that drew me into further study:

βεελζεβουλ ("Beelezboul" or "Beelezbub"10:25)  Literally Lord of the "flies." This is the name of a Philistine god.  In the Old Testament, he is referenced when an Israelite king grows sick:  

• "Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and he became ill; and he sent messengers and said to them, 'Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this illness.'" 2 Kings 1:2  (Elijah promptly condemns this king for inquiring of another god).

So why flies?  Flies are attracted to that which is sick and dying, so flies would come and pester humans who were sick.  Turns out that people would perform rituals for flies to ward them off.  The god who could take away the flies would be the god who would have brought about healing. 

It also may be a play on words that allowed the Israelites to insult another god -- calling him the lord of the Flies.

See:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myiagros and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beelzebub

Later in the Gospel, people claim Jesus is working through Beelzeboul (12:24; 12:27).  Jesus is warning his disciples here of insults they will receive for following him.

αποκαλυφθησεται (from αποκαλυπτω, meaning "reveal", 10:26)  In everyday language, apocalypse means the end.  But it literally just means the "revealing."  When I reflected on this passage in 2020, I offered, perhaps we are living through the apocalypse now in that so much of what is problematic in our culture has been revealed.

των αποκτεννοντων ('the ones who kill', 10.27)  This is a substantive participle (in the genitive).  It literally means the ones who kill.  This is rather fascinating.  Jesus is likely referring to individuals who will persecute his followers.  

The last time I significantly wrestled with this passage was 2020, when the nation was living in intermittent lockdown from COVID and also protesting the George Floyd killing.  This served as a powerful time to reflect on what exactly could and would kill us:  The virus?  Complacency?  Racism?  Still wrestling with this question six years later.

γεεννα (literally Gehenna, 10:28)  Gehenna; not hell as we often think of it.  It was a burning trash dump.  Simply, it does not mean a location, underground, in which people are tortured in the afterlife.  However, Jesus likely uses it symbolically in this and other cases in the Gospel of Matthew to denote some area/place/space of punishment.

• "Literally valley of Hinnom, a ravine south of Jerusalem where fires were kept burning to consume the dead bodies of animals, criminals, and refuse; figuratively in the Gospels and James for hell, a fiery place of eternal punishment for the ungodly dead (MT 5.22)"  Friberg Lexicon, accessed through Bible Works
• It was the location, in all likelihood, of childhood sacrifices to previous gods of the region (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna) 

υηεις ('you', 10.31)  When Jesus says that "you" are worth more than sparrows, it is a you plural -- you all are worth more, not just you as an individual!

πατηρ (literally pater, meaning 'father', used throughout this passage)  I find it interesting that Matthew positions these sayings about the heavenly father 's provision (vs 29) against our love of our earthly fathers (vs 37).  As I considered Jesus' teaching (and ministry), I sense that Jesus is trying to create fictive families.  By a fictive family, I mean a group of people who are not (closely) biologically related who function like a family in terms of caring for each other.  Friends!  As humans, we are capable of creating enormous fictive families (tribes, political parties and national states).  Yet repeatedly we show a bad capacity to hurt and exclude those not in our particular fictive family.  This is most distressing.  Jesus intends to create one fictive family of the entire human family, helping us see that we are united in him.

μάχαιρα (meaning 'sword', 10.34)  What I find fascinating is that Jesus says that he has come to "bring" a sword, but he does not ask his followers to take up the sword.  In fact, he tells them to put down the sword for all who take the sword, will perish by the sword (26:52).  When the sword is employed by God, it is the Word of God that pierces the soul (Hebrews 4:12)

Simply:  Jesus uses the sword to put to death the sinner in us.  We are not called to use the sword to put to death the sinner in our neighbor.

This passage does not seem to address the question of whether Christians can bear arms; rather it suggests that Christianity will produce divisions.  In fact, the disciple is called to lose his or her life rather than take someone else's.

Matthew 9:35-10:8

 This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary, year A (Proper 6), most recently June 14, 2026.

Summary:  When Jesus has compassion, his next move it to equip and send out his disciples.  Often in our lives, our response to our own compassion is to pullback or fix.  Instead, Jesus sends out others.  This is a humbling lesson for ministry, where Jesus' reaction to the situation is likely not our first response.

Key words

θεραπεύω (literally, therapey-oo, meaning, "to heal", 9:35, 10:1, 10:8)  This verb has a fascinating etymology.  Originally it meant "service to the gods".  (Can you see the word "theos" contained in the verb?!)  The idea was that you went to the temple, particularly of Asclepius, and the "therapists" took your offerings, rendered a sacrifice to the gods for you and then were involved in your healing.  (Interesting, it involved a lot of dream interpretation, aimed at producing a catharsis!)  A couple of things to observe then:

• The therapist was focused upwards -- serving the gods, rather than serving the human (most OT usage of this word involves service to a king or divine being).
• The therapist needed to make sacrifices on your behalf to achieve healing
• The therapist used all sorts of animals, incantations and guided meditations
• The therapist worked at a temple

In this light, you can see how Jesus therapy breaks with the tradition.  He is simply helping other people, on the streets, with his hands and voice, even if they cannot pay for it; most poignantly, he is the sacrifice himself!

ἐσπλαγχνίσθη form of σπλαγχνίζομαι (meaning "compassion", 9:36)  The word for compassion in Greek means "intestines." This is already striking, but more striking is that it is a verb.  Jesus having compassion means his innards are turning over!  In Greek, compassion is not cognitive; it is not emotive.  It is embodied.

ἐξουσία (literally, ex-ousia, meaning "authority"; 10:1)  Some day, when I have more time, I want to consider how the word for "authority" is related to "out of being" which is what the word literally means.

Authority seems important in Matthew's Gospel, as the question of Jesus' authority is continually pondered (7:29, 9:6, 9:8, 21:23) and only at the end will he claim full authority.

My question for us:  Do we have this authority?  Do we still believe we have the authority to cast out demons and raise the dead?

Quick grammar tid bit:

δωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε.  (Freely you have received, give freely).  I was curious why the verb "give" here is in the aorist, instead of the present.  I would think Jesus wants us freely to continue giving, rather than give just once.  My hunch is that this what some linguistics call "the Gnomic Aorist" where proverbs uses the aorist instead of the present tense.  (Burton's NT Greek Moods, accessed via Accordance)

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary Year A (Matthew), most recently June 7, 2026.  It also appears as part of a supplemental gospel passage in the narrative lectionary, paired with Romans 1:1-17 and Micah 6:6-8.

Note:  I find this a surprising pericope.  Because of the timing of Easter and how the lessons work, I actually don't know if I have ever preached on this passage.  

Summary:  Mark's version of this story is much more dramatic!  This passage serves as one of the few times where Mark's Gospel account is actually longer than Matthew's!!  Which leaves me asking:  Why did Matthew (who likely wrote with Mark in hand!) edit the story the way he did?  What did he want to make sure we heard?

Perhaps rather than focusing on what is lost in editing, we can focus on what is gained by previewing this pericope with verses 9-13, which focus on how Jesus aims to heal the lost.  This means that Jesus must get to places where the people are:  the streets and their homes.  Following Jesus includes, but is not only about going to church.  It must include finding where people are hurting and sick.

Key Word "clusters" (for this week, I am putting similar words together):

The side characters

However, there are a number of words used to describe the characters in this story.  It is worth reminding ourselves that the people listening to our sermons likely do not immediately understand the social context of the people involved.

• τελώνιον ("tax-collector", 9:9) Hated by their fellow Jews, the tax-collectors lived a life as an exile in their own land.  They were never loved by the Romans and typically this position became an inherited job because no one else wanted to do it.
• Φαρισαῖοι ("Pharisee", 9:11):  This group of Jews who often had a great deal of political, economic and social clout.  However, they did not always align themselves with the powers that be.  They were zealous in their belief that if Israel could avoid foreign cultural influence and hold fast to the laws of Moses, the Messianic age would begin.  In Christianity, we often look down on them as hypocritical, but they actually were the most conversation partners for Jesus, because they actually cared about righteousness.  
• ἄρχων ("leader", 9:18)  In Mark's Gospel, we get information about this leader, including name and occupation.  Here we simply hear that is a leader.  I wonder why Matthew edits out this information!

The woman

• αἱμορροοῦσα (9:20):  One who is bleeding.  A gentle reminder that bleeding of women was not simply a medical condition in the first century, but also a spiritual one, whereby one could NOT enter into proper society and certainly not the temple, under such circumstances.
• θύγατηρ ("daughter", 9:18, 9:22)  Before we get into the weeds, it is worth pointing out that the leader has a daughter and that Jesus has a daughter!  What does this signify?  Why might Matthew want to emphasize this to us?  It goes a step further too...If you look closely, you will see that the word θύγατερ has a slight spelling difference in verse 18 and verse 22, ending in -ερ in verse 22.  This is because in verse 22, the word daughter is in the vocative, which means it could be translated something like "O Daughter" or even "O my daughter!"  The vocation means this direct address here means that Jesus is not just referring to her as a daughter but really as his daughter.  Ponder that, the woman here, who is on the outside, has now become the ultimate insider.  She is no longer a bleeding woman but "O daughter!"

The mission

ἰσχύοντες ("strong", 9:12) and κακῶς ("badly, 9:12) This verse is a bit of a word salad, but basically Jesus contrasts

• "Those who are able"
• "Those who have it bad"

It is interesting to consider how much of our ministry actually caters to those who are able instead of those who have it bad.  How can our congregations actually minister to those who have it bad??

Touch

There are a whole bunch of words related to touch

• ἐπίθες τὴν χεῖρά ("lay hands upon", 9:18)
• ἅπτω ("touch", 9:20,21)
• κατεγέλων ("seize", 9:25)

Worth considering then is how much Jesus has to reach out and touch someone to heal them!  The word has power, but it turns out, that we worship an incarnational God and physical touch matters.

Other words I found interesting and may expand upon if I come back to this

ἠγέρθη (arise, 9:19,25)

ἠκολούθει (follow, 9:9,19)

ἐσώθη (save, 9:22)