Jesus sends out the 12 here in a very different way than he does at the end of the Gospel. In Matthew 28 he tells them to “go therefore to make disciples of ALL nations…”. Here he tells them not to go to the Gentiles, nor the Samaritans, but to “go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. This verse tells me two things clearly but poses one question for me.
First of all, it is clear that Jesus wants his disciples to begin with the “house of Israel”, that is the Jews. It is as though Jesus is now putting to action his earlier words, “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it”. The law matters. The Jewish way matters. This thing that has been is important and is not to be recklessly cast out. As churches like my own move forward in a world where God appears to be doing a new thing, we must be careful not to recklessly cast out what has been. Change needs to happen, but it is not a destroying of what was, but, perhaps a fulfillment of what has been intended.
The second thing that’s clear here is that some of the “house of Israel” are lost sheep. Jesus doesn’t say go “the house of Israel” in general. He says go to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”. It’s clear that within this “house” some get it and some don’t. There is some sect, group, or stream of Judaism that is missing the point, but even in missing it, Jesus’ words here state that they still belong in the house.
The big question is, “who are the lost sheep of Israel”? Jesus doesn’t tell us who they are. It’s easy to jump to the “scribes and pharisees”, but are we sure? He’s isn’t clear. We are left to wonder. I wonder if the disciples were like me in this scene. They are all fired up and ready to go. Jesus gives them this great charge, and like football players running out to the field, they head off. Then something inside of them stops them in their tracks: “Wait… Who are the lost sheep? Is it the legalist pharisees? Is it the tax collectors and sinners? And are these lost ones lost because of their own doing or have they simply been locked out? Is it me?” This question would have stopped me in my shoes, feeling paralyzed to act. I wonder if it did so for the 12 as well.
Moving Through Matthew 