“The time for Me to be revealed has not come. As you know, I already have many enemies. They must not have cause to hinder Me until the due time.”
“But you have been performing miracles in plain sight for days!”
Jesus nodded. “I am here to do the will of My Father. These men sought me humbly, pleading for mercy. If you have studied the ancient texts, you know that ‘the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in loving-kindness,’ and that He ‘is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.’”
“I am curious,” Andrew, Simon’s brother, said. “Why did You ask them if they believed You were able to heal them? Was that not quite obvious?”
“Yes, I knew their trust was genuine. They had followed for a great distance, and they knew who I was. I wanted everyone to hear them express their faith.”
The men talked until well into the night. Then Jesus announced that He and Simon (whom He began calling Peter), Andrew, and a few of the others were returning to Simon’s home to sleep. “The rest of you make camp here, and we will meet you in the morning.”
MATTHEW WROTE UNTIL the embers began fading, then slept the sleep of the dead. He was awakened just before dawn by whistling. As soon as he recognized the tune as something his mother had hummed to him as a child, he bolted upright and looked around. His brother James waved shyly from several feet away, and Matthew ran to him.
“I was told I would find you here,” James said.
“By whom?”
“Efah at the tax office.”
“He’s there already?”
“And busy. He told me everything! Is it true?”
“James, you must follow us today! By the noontime you will know this Man is Messiah.”
For the next hour Matthew regaled James with every detail he could remember, frequently referring to his notes. As soon as Jesus and the others arrived, Matthew pulled James over to meet Him.
James gushed, “I confess I am here at the behest of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. They have asked me to determine—”
“I know why you are here, My friend. You are welcome to accompany us today and to observe.”
“Thank you, sir. If I can merely confirm for myself even a little of all that I have already been told, I will able to report—”
“That you do not return will be your report.”
“Oh, but, Rabbi, I am expected—”
“That you do not return will be your report. Will you join us for breakfast?”
James appeared speechless and looked to Matthew, puzzled. “Levi, I—”
“James, you have been invited to dine with the Master and us. Say something.”
“Yes! Thank you.”
That day Jesus visited several cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Matthew noticed that James wept when first he saw Jesus begin healing. “I had no idea,” he said.
“I tried to tell you.”
“I know, but this is something you have to see for yourself. Maybe you wrote this, but I was unaware that He heals everyone, not just some. Truly this is the Messiah.”
As the multitudes grew ever larger, it appeared to Matthew that Jesus was moved with compassion for them. When tears trickled down Jesus’ face, Matthew drew near and asked if He was all right.
“They are weary and scattered,” he said, “like sheep having no shepherd. Gather the others, Matthew, please.”
With merely a gesture, Matthew beckoned the rest to surround the Master.
“Listen to me,” He said, sitting. “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
“We don’t know what you mean, Lord,” Simon Peter said.
“My work has only just begun,” He said. “Soon I will select from among you a small group who will be asked to suffer with Me all the way to the end.”
“Suffer with you?” Peter said.
“Much will be required of you. I will become known throughout all of Syria, and the people will bring to Me many afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who are demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics. I will heal them and I will also preach to and teach the multitudes. The need is great. But beware, for the opposition will be greater.”
“Who could be more powerful than You?” Peter said.
“Only those who are allowed, for My Father’s purposes. All will be made clear to you, but not today.”
When Jesus rose and the group began on its way again, Matthew approached Him quietly. “I do not know if I am to be one of the select, but—”
“You are.”
“You may not want to decide that until—”
“I have decided.”
“I am honored by Your confidence, Lord, but I am deeply troubled in my own mind.”
“Your sins have been forgiven you.”
“I know, but—”
“Your whole life is not counted against you any longer.”
“I am grateful, Master. But my soul is vexed still at—”
“I know, Matthew. Your loss.”
“Yes. I don’t understand. I never have.”
“I know. Listen carefully to Me, Matthew. Your ways are not God’s ways. He has plans you know not of. Life is full of deep mysteries that may come with great sorrow. I understand your anger and I empathize with your pain. I know that is difficult to comprehend now, but there will come a day when you will learn that what I tell you is the truth, and in that day you will know the depth of My love for you. Trust Me, and I will show you the goodness of your Heavenly Father even in the midst of grief. I am not promising that you will endure no more pain or sorrow, but I am promising that if you trust Me, you will experience the glory of the goodness of the Father in ways now unimaginable.
“Can you do that? Will you?”
Matthew did not know what to say, but he felt embraced in Jesus’ love, and so he said, “I will.”
OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS greater crowds than ever followed Jesus—from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan—everywhere He went. They awaited Him at dawn when He set out from Peter’s house and stayed with Him to sunset when His many disciples finally spirited Him away to where they could gather with Him around a fire and discuss all that had happened. To His friends He explained Himself and His actions more fully, and while Matthew admitted to his brother that he often understood little more than any of the others, he grew to cherish these times with Jesus apart from the multitudes.
Finally, late one evening as the fire was dying, Jesus said, “The time has come for Me to thank all of you for standing with Me and send most of you on your way. From henceforth, I wish to be accompanied by only the following: Peter and Andrew his brother; James and John, the sons of Zebedee; Matthew and James, the sons of Alphaeus; Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Lebbaeus Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot.”
Jesus spent much of the next hour bidding farewell individually to the many others who had served Him for many days. He spoke quietly to each, prayed with some, and embraced them all. When the last was gone, He called the twelve back around the fire, and several, led by Simon of Cana, also known as Simon the Zealot, added more kindling to make it roar.
“Tonight,” Jesus said, “I am going to impart to you power over unclean spirits.”
“Power as you have,” Bartholomew said, “to cast them out?”
“Yes, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. We have much to do and many places to go. In this way, I multiply Myself through you. Tomorrow I will send you out in pairs, but not to the Gentiles for now, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. That will come later. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely giv
e. Take neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs. As you work, your Father will provide for you.
“Now whatever city or town you enter, lodge with a household that proves friendly to you and seeks after God. Stay there until you leave for your next destination. If the household is worthy, bless it with your peace. But if it does not receive you, do not bless it. Whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.
“Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city! I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Beware of men who would deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues as one day they will do to Me. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”
“Lord,” Peter said, “we are willing. But what shall we do when that happens?”
“When they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For the Father will give to you in that hour what you should speak; for it will not be you who speaks, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. You will be hated for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. Assuredly, you will not have reached all the cities of Israel before the Son of Man is revealed.
“What I have taught you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you have heard Me say, preach on the housetops. Do not fear those who can kill the body, because they cannot kill your soul. Rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
“What if we are fearful, Master?” Philip said. “For I confess I am.”
“Fear not, My friends. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? Not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. How can you be afraid when you are of more value than many sparrows? Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
EIGHTEEN
In the morning, Jesus paired up the disciples, teaming James with Peter’s brother Andrew, and Matthew with Thomas, whom he had not known before. Before they could get acquainted, Jesus continued to admonish them all.
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’”
Matthew was thoroughly confused, and though he was writing every word he heard, he made a note to ask Jesus about this by the fire that night. The evening ritual of bathing in the sea and taking turns roasting fish and baking bread became such a welcome event that Matthew found himself looking forward to it all day. When the sun baked him and his feet and ankles were sore from so much walking, and when sweat mixed with the dust and he wondered whether he could ever be clean again, he daydreamed of the refreshing dip into the water. Stretching out on the sand in a clean, dry garment, relaxing, enjoying olives and grapes with the main staples . . . all this pointed to the long discussions with Jesus as the moon traversed the sky.
It had also become understood that Matthew got to sit closest to the fire so he could write by its light. Somehow Peter and John seemed to have assumed the favored spots on either side of Jesus—Peter because he was a forceful personality and simply elbowed his way into position; John because Jesus often beckoned him to His side. John was the youngest and smallest, and though he had a temper like his brother James, it was apparent that Jesus had taken him under His wing.
Matthew wondered what Peter and John thought of this current discourse. What was Jesus saying? No doubt even they would have questions when the twelve reconvened at the prearranged spot that night.
Jesus continued, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
Matthew knew Jesus was aiming at some truth about priorities—that a man’s relationship with God and with Messiah had to take precedence over all other attachments—but “take his cross”? Matthew had too many times witnessed the spectacle of a condemned man carrying his cross to the site of his own execution. The final act in itself was ghastly enough, but making a person trudge along with his own crossbeam, scraping the flesh from his shoulders, causing him to stagger and stumble, all the while being harassed and humiliated by people who found some enjoyment in watching such things . . . it was horrible by any standard. The populace had long ridiculed Matthew, when he was Levi, for being scum, a sinner, a tax collector. Perhaps they assumed he was one who might enjoy seeing some criminal suffer his just rewards. But Matthew, even at his worst, ofttimes had to look away when even the basest of offenders bowed low beneath his last burden, trudging to a place alongside the road where he would hang in public for as long as it took for him to die.
And now Jesus wanted His disciples, His friends, to take up their crosses and follow Him? Surely this was figurative, symbolic. While Jesus warned daily that He had enemies—and the snarling, sniping Pharisees seemed ever-present—was it really to end in mortal danger to the Master? For all their criticism and charges that He was a blasphemer, could they not see what His miraculous powers had brought to the lives of so many? What had they ever done to improve life in Israel?
In just a matter of several days, Matthew found his love and admiration for Jesus growing so deeply within that he found himself agreeing even with the boisterous Peter when he vowed to never let any harm come to Him. Matthew had never worked with his hands, had not developed the fisherman’s physique, and yet he felt he would throw himself into any fracas that threatened his Lord.
Sometimes, when Jesus talked more quickly than Matthew could write, Matthew would just gesture to Him to pause for a moment so he could catch up. He had to do that now as Jesus began a litany so profound that the twelve not only remained silent but seemed not to breathe, let alone move.
“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.”
Thomas, who had already been designated Matthew’s partner for the next several days of ministry, apparently did not want to wait until the end of the day for clarification. “Forgive me, Lord, but what exactly are you saying here?”
Jesus paused and looked around as the usual crowds began to gather. It was apparent He didn’t want them to hear what He was saying to only His friends, and so he drew the twelve closer and spoke softly. “He who has ears, let him hear.”
All this sounded so earnest and sincere, besides being profound, but Matthew was lost. They all had ears, yet he doubted any of them understood this any better than the others. He knew Jesus was saying that if one had understanding one could grasp it, and it was frustrating to realize he didn’t have that kind of ears.
Families drew close, and Jesus’ eyes always lit up when he was in the presence of children, to whom He often spoke directly. He gestured toward them and whispered, “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”
Matthew would be glad to be as compassionate as Jesus in serving people, especially children—to whom he himself had always been drawn (even when he was a despised tax collector). But what was this reward he would preserve? He wanted nothing more than to be Jesus’ friend.
JESUS REMINDED THEM where they were to reconvene at dusk that evening and assigned each pair to a different town or city. “Tell them I am coming,” He said, “and I will get to each place in due time. Tell them the kingdom of God is at hand and that I have a message for them. Do not hesitate to tell them what that message will be—that they should repent of their sins and be prepared for God to dwell with them. If they will not hear you, perhaps they will hear Me.”
“They will when they see You perform miracles!” Peter said.
“But you have been imbued with the same power, so they will see that you have authority. Now go, and prepare the way for Me.”
Matthew and Thomas were assigned to Tiberias, where Jesus was to come second, around the noon hour. They arrived there in the middle of the morning, having discussed all along the way their strategy of gaining attention and drawing a crowd. They also became acquainted with each other, talking of their pasts, but mostly Matthew tried to steer the conversation to where Thomas would agree to be the primary speaker, at least at first.
“I’d be delighted,” Thomas said. “But you must be the first to minister to the afflicted. Do you have faith, Matthew, that you can do this?”
“I shouldn’t,” Matthew said. “I have never so much as touched a stranger, let alone even considered the idea of healing someone. But had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed Jesus could heal the sick or lame either. He tells me I have been given this power, His power, to heal, and so I will attempt it with confidence. It certainly will not be in my own power that I do this.”
It was a particularly hot day, so when Matthew and Thomas arrived in Tiberius they went straightaway to the communal well, where both townspeople and travelers took turns drawing water and refreshing their animals and themselves and filling pots and pitchers to take with them.
Matthew was impressed that Thomas kept his nerve and called out, “Men and women of Tiberius and travelers, I come to you today with news of the coming kingdom of God!”