Father help us to hear the good news.
It's a bit of a coincidence but I was just thinking about this a few weeks ago. We have reams of books about Jesus, we attend church each weekend and listen to various lectures and exhortations, we have plenty of letters in the Bible written by the apostles, such as Paul, Peter, John, etc but what did Jesus actually say?
We have a few snippets of what he said, the Sermon on the Mount being one of the longest, along with his words at the Last Supper (as recorded in detail by John), but just how did Jesus preach? What did he say that caught the imagination of the people so much?
Perhaps it was his miracles? Perhaps people could see Jesus was different and this caught their attention? Perhaps it was his disciples? Perhaps it was just the simplicity of his message?
When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples (in Matthew 10:5) he said they were to preach “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. That was it, in terms of speeches and lectures!
It's probably worth reading Matthew chapter 10 at this point, because the same lesson apply to us. In reality, if we want to be called disciples (followers) of Jesus we need to do the same things that Jesus asked his twelve disciples back then.
So what did Jesus ask of them?
He said that they were to rely on God, not on what they owned. They weren't to take extra coats, money for lodgings etc, but to rely on God to provide. This is a test of faith. Do we rely on God or do we rely on our own possessions?
He also warned them that the times weren't going to be easy. They would be brought before “governors and kings”. Now this could be a good thing or a bad thing, but either way it causes the “good news” to be preached. And it wasn't the powerful that they needed to be afraid of, it was the people of their own family!
Now often is it that the people who hurt us the most are the people we love the most? If an enemy says something horrible we often ignore it, but if it is a friend, it hurts.
The chapter ends with the 'rewards' of Jesus. It doesn't say exactly what the 'reward' is. Yet that is what we are waiting for as well. It's interesting to note that it's not talking about the reward of the Disciples, but the reward of those who would accept them. I don't know about you, but I find that even more powerful. To say that what we are doing will have such an outcome makes it even more important. Not only will we save ourselves, but we have the power and ability to save those around us. If I preach I save myself might have a bit of incentive, but if I preach I can save others as well makes the task even more rewarding. I have to admit that if I want to make a seat for myself then a few planks of wood and a handful of nails will do, but if it is for someone else then I try to make as good a job of it as I can. I think this is what Jesus meant when he spoke of the seed bearing 10 or 100-fold. We don't do a job just for ourselves, but because we can actually do something to help someone else.