Matthew 10-11

Click here to read Matthew 10 and 11.

In chapter 10, Jesus begins a new phase in his ministry--he starts turning over his work to His followers. This, of course, was always his intent. He knew he was only going to be here for a short time, but, of course, his work is going on 2000 years later.

In his instructions, he made sure that his disciples knew that they totally had to rely on God's provision. They weren't allowed to take any money, a change of clothes, nothing. Everything was to be provided by God through the generosity of others. How often do we wait for God to provide everything up front before we obey what he calls us to do (in fact, often, we take the lack of up front provision as a sign that God is not behind something).

John the Baptist, meanwhile, heard what Jesus was doing. And, he began to wonder if Jesus was actually the Messiah. Of course, it was John who initially declared that Jesus was the one. In fact, it had been revealed to him by God. But, at this point, Jesus' ministry doesn't seem to fit the expectations that John had for who the Messiah was supposed to be.