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1.13 Synoptics -- Sending out the Disciples to Preach

Mat 10:5-15Mat 10:23Mk 6:7-13Lk 9:1-6Lk 10:1-20. Jesus sent out the disciples to try their hand at ministry: preach, heal and do miracles. Luke has two practicums, one for the 12, the other for the 70 (or 72). The only racial issue is that Matthew has Jesus restricting the disciples to Jewish towns:

        

        These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: 'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel' (Mat 10:5-6).

        

As we will see in other healings and sayings, Jesus sometimes gave the Jews a "home-court advantage" in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. This attitude was best expressed by Paul, the great evangelist of the Gentiles:

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         "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Ro 1:16).

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        On the other hand, there may not have been any ideological reason for this restriction, but a practical one – the disciples had enough on their hands dealing with fellow Jews and with demons, without worrying about Samaritans and Greeks too.

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