Wed, 10 January, 2007: Today’s Bible readings.

Matthew 10:5-15

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷ And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. ⁹ Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, ¹⁰ no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. ¹¹ And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. ¹² As you enter the house, greet it. ¹³ And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. ¹⁵ Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Jesus is sending out the twelve apostles to preach the news that The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The Messiah is here. They are given power to perform miracles to demonstrate the truth of what they proclaim, and they are given a specific audience to preach to. At this point, they are to bring the news to the Israelites only.

The people of Israel had the scriptures and were expecting the Messiah, so they should have accepted the message the apostles were preaching. But for the towns that refused to listen, they were commanded to shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town as a testament to them of the coming judgment they will face for having rejected the news of the Messiah. They will face a worse judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah because they had the news of Jesus Christ preached to them, but they refused it. Sodom and Gomorrah never had the gospel presented to them.

What do we learn from this?

Scripture clearly teaches that there are degrees of punishment. All sin is damnable, but there are levels of sin and there will be degrees of punishment.

We all know how bad Sodom and Gomorrah were. But as bad as the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were, it is a worse sin to reject the news of the gospel. The punishment will be more severe for those who have heard explained what Jesus Christ has done on behalf of sinners and to refuse to turn to God in faith.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ came as the promised Messiah. He did what scriptures foretold as He lived the perfect life and died a substitutionary death on behalf of His people. He has earned, the salvation of all who come to Him in faith.

What a great thing Jesus Christ has done for sinners! And what a great sin it is to reject what He has done by refusing to repent and turn to Him in faith, claiming the grace He freely offers.