Matthew’s Mission Bracketology:Christ’s Mission in the New Covenant

Chad Richard BressonApril 8, 2013

The stage has been set1. The brackets have been expended. Bracketology2 is winding down. Thebrackets have served their purposes. There will be a final conclusion3. The American collegebasketball season will draw to a close.

But there is a different kind of bracketology employed by biblical writers. And this kind ofbracketology points us to mission in the New Covenant. The bracketology of Matthew. Thisbracketology expresses the mission of Jesus. An explanation is in order (and jumping back to English101 for most of us).

We use brackets all the time. We use brackets in our sentences to set off a thought or phrase. Somemoms use two gates in their home to bracket off a particular room to confine a toddler to one play-saferoom. Some of us need the bowling rails as brackets to confine our bowling balls to the lane, ratherthan the gutters. Brackets are used to contain something of value to a singular unit, space, thought, etc.

Literature has its brackets. We call them chapters and paragraphs, using indentation, capitalization, andspacing to confine thoughts and ideas and action to singular "units". This kind of organizing helpsmake text easier to understand. The literature of the Bible has its own "bracketology", albeit of adifferent kind.

Our English Bibles are organized into sections called chapters and verses. The Bible wasn't alwaysorganized this way. The writers of the Bible had their own way of organizing the text so that it wasmeaningful to the original audiences who heard the Bible read in the clan meetings, the synagogue, thetabernacle, or temple. Usually this involved repeating words or phrases or thoughts.

The book of Genesis is a popular example. The book of Genesis is marked off in sections by use of theword "generations". This word is repeated throughout the book of Genesis as Moses gave literary andtheological structure to his writing. If one includes Genesis 1:1 (the word "beginning" carries the samethought), there are 12 of these words throughout Genesis (1:1, 2:4 (records), 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 11:10,11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1, 36:9, and 37:2. The use of "generations" (Hebrew: toledot) are the bracketsused by the author Moses to organize the book4.

These kinds of literary devices are all over the Scripture. They are not hidden. We miss them simplybecause we are not ancient Hebrew worshipers used to following the organization of the Scriptures thisway. (Linguists and theologians call these literary markers "inclusios"5.) Repetition in our Bibles is abig deal. Repetition, parallelism, and literary markers (brackets or inclusios) were used to organize theBible in a meaningful way for the ancient cultures. A good habit for any Bible student is to make note

1http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball

2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracketology

3http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=ncb&id=9143357

4http://www.lanz.li/joom/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=1,

http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/otesources/01-genesis/text/articles-books/woudstra_gentoledot_ctj.pdf5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusio#Inclusio_in_the_Hebrew_Bible_.28the_Old_Testament.29

of the repetitions and parallels as the Bible is read. It's a quick way of discerning what was important tothe biblical author writing under the inspiration of the Spirit.

This parallelism begins and ends Christ's commissioning of the disciples found in Matthew. Doyou see it?

Jesus Christ's "Missionary Discourse"6 is bracketed off from preceding and succeeding sections in thebook of Matthew. The apostle Matthew uses a literary device (what we're calling "brackets") tohighlight what is important for the original audience, the early church in the New Covenant, tounderstand, believe, and do in this section of his book.

In order to understand what the apostle Matthew was highlighting for the early church, a very briefbracketology lesson is in order. These repetitive brackets which begin and end Bible passages are partand parcel to Hebrew parallelism. This parallelism is not only a feature of Hebrew poetry, but allmanner of ancient Hebrew writing, prose included.7 When one finds a repeated sentence, thought, orsometimes imagery at the top and bottom of a Scripture passage, not only is one probably dealing withparallelism, but also the brackets (inclusios8).

Not only do these markers help organize passages of Scripture, they carry meaning. Embedded in thesemarkers are the theology, eschatology, and worldview of the inspired writers of the Scriptures. These"brackets" point to the intention of the author, highlighting "what it is" he wants the original audienceto hear and understand. Identifying the parallelism (in similarity or contrast) at the top and bottom of apassage goes a long way in identifying the what the biblical writer wanted his original audience toknow, understand, believe, and/or do. It also goes a long way in helping us rightly interpret theScriptures by keeping thoughts, ideas, events, and instructions in their proper context.

One such place is in this great missionary passage found in the book of Matthew, beginning in chapter9 verse 35 and ending in chapter 11 verse 1. This so-called missionary passage in Matthew 9:35-11:1 picks up on a theme of proclaiming gospel and kingdom begun by Matthew in 4:23: "Jesus wasgoing all over Galillee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, andhealing every sickness among the people."(HCSB)9

Matthew presents Jesus as the expected but unexpected Messiah-King who has come to save hispeople from their sins and inaugurate His (upside-down) kingdom in fulfillment of the Old Testamentpromises. Christ comes on mission, but his mission is not what Israel expected of its Messiah. Christcomes "teaching" and "preaching" the "good news of the kingdom." This mission is not to overthrowRome, but to gather a people to Himself among whom He will dwell as their king. This Messiah-Kingcomes "healing", reversing the curse and ushering in a New Creation.

In chapter 9, we see Matthew's summary statement of Christ's mission repeated as an introduction to anew section of Matthew. Verse 35: "Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in theirsynagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness."

6The popular label given to this section of Matthew: Matthew 9:35-11:1.

7For more on Hebrew parallelism: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/asbury-bible-commentary/Major-

Characteristics-Hebrew, http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Hebrew_Poetry01.pdf,http://www.westminster.edu/staff/nak/courses/BibPoetry.htm, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stone-catend/traci-

ets25.pdf; and, more in depth: Adele Berlin’s “The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism”,http://www.logos.com/product/17176/the-dynamics-of-biblical-parallelism; keep in mind, this kind ofparallelism is not exclusive to Hebrew poetry).8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusio#Inclusio_in_the_Hebrew_Bible_.28the_Old_Testament.299

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%209:35-11:1&version=HCSB

First century Christians hearing Matthew's epistle in their gathering would have perked up their ears onhearing this. They've heard this already from Matthew, in 4:23. The repetition here means Matthew isemphasizing a point.

And then the theme is repeated again in Matthew 11:1: "When Jesus had finished giving orders to His12 disciples, He moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns."

What does Matthew want his audience to understand, believe, and do by way of these repetitionsor "brackets"?

The apostle Matthew uses a literary device (what we’re calling “brackets”) to highlight what isimportant for the original audience, the early church, to understand, believe, and do in this section ofhis book.

We have previously noted that there are similarities between Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, andMatthew 11:1:

Matthew 4:23: "Jesus was going all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the goodnews of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people."

Matthew 9:35: "Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching thegood news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness."

Matthew 11:1: "When Jesus had finished giving orders to His 12 disciples, He moved on from there toteach and preach in their towns."

Each summary statement notes Christ's preaching and teaching (of the kingdom of God), his healing ofthe sick (minus a mention in 11:1), and his movement from town to town with His gospel message andministry. The apostle Matthew uses these summary statements to highlight for the early church towhom he is writing the nature of Christ's ministry as the Unexpected Messiah proclaiming an Upside-Down Kingdom.

It is fair to ask: why are Matthew's "brackets" important? Even more to the point: why bother with thediscussion at all? The answer lies in the reason Matthew has placed these literary markers where he hasin the overall setting of the book of Matthew. His structure of the text is a major clue for understandingwhat he intended for the early church to know, believe, and do.

We've already noted that Matthew 9:35 and 11:1 provide the beginning and ending points for what hasbeen called Matthew's "Missionary Discourse". This mission text thus looks like this:

"Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching thegood news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness." (Matthew 9:35)

Narrative and discourse (Matthew 9:36-10:42)

"When Jesus had finished giving orders to His 12 disciples, He moved on from there to teachand preach in their towns." (Matthew 11:1)

What follows the summary statement in Matthew 9:35 is Christ's commission and sending of thetwelve disciples in Matthew 10:5, a commission that mimics Christ's mission. Christ's sending(apesteilen) of the disciples is anticipated in the "summoning" of the twelve apostles (apostolon).These Christ sends (apostello) as sheep among wolves just as Christ has done previously and will

continue to do throughout the book of Matthew. Christ’s commission is anticipated in the prayer hegives to his disciples: pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out (ekballo) workers into His harvest.Christ sends his disciples into His harvest with a thrust (ekballo), with a propulsion-like force. There isan urgency to the disciples’ mission, a mission begun by Christ after his baptism and temptation(Matthew 3 and 4).

All of the elements of those Matthean summary statements (4:23, 9:35, 11:1) are here in thecommission of chapter 10. The disciples are to "announce" (preach and teach) the kingdom (vs. 7).They are given authority to heal and cast out demons (vs. 1,8). The disciples are to carry out thisactivity in the "towns" of the Jewish people in Israel (vs. 5-6). Eventually, they will be bearing witnessof Christ to the nations, an indication that their mission will someday include Samaritans and Gentiles(vs. 18). For some of these disciples, the mission will cost them their lives (vs. 16,21). These elementsof activity, place, and message inherent to the apostles' mission (healing, proclamation, "towns",kingdom) are themes found in Matthew's summary statements of Christ's mission in Matthew 4:23 andMatthew 9:35. And the common language being used in these passages means Christ's commission andsending of the disciples in Matthew 10:5-8 is parallel to Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, and Matthew11:1, with Matthew 9:35 and Matthew 11:1 being used as brackets for the entire commissioningsection in the great mission chapter (Matthew 10).

Christ's mission becomes the mission of the apostles. The disciples become the answer to the prayer ofMatthew 9:38: Pray that the Lord of the harvest ekballo (propel, thrust) workers into His harvest. TheLord of the harvest does precisely that with the apostles in chapter 10, but they will accomplish muchmore than is first expected. They begin on mission to Israel, but it does not end there. Theirs is amission that will spread Christ's glory to all nations over the expanse of the globe.

What does any of this have to do with missionary activity, reaching the unreached, or carryingthe gospel message to remote corners of the world?

Matthew's "Missionary Discourse" is bracketed by two summary statements. The structure of thissection of his book begins and ends with Christ's proclamation mission of the kingdom. And inbetween we find Christ commissioning his disciples with the same message.

The discourse includes Christ's commission of his disciples, which looks much like Christ's ownmission:

“Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching thegood news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.” (Matthew 9:35)

Jesus sent out these 12 after giving them instructions...“Don’t take the roadleading to other nations, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. Instead, go to thelost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, announce this: ‘The kingdom of heavenhas come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases,drive out demons." (Matthew 10:5-8)

“When Jesus had finished giving orders to His 12 disciples, He moved on from there to teachand preach in their towns.” (Matthew 11:1)

To summarize this for our purposes:

Christ’s mission (Matthew 9:35)The disciples’ mission (Matthew 10:5-8)

Christ’s mission (Matthew 11:1)

The commission given by Christ to the disciples in Matthew 10:5-8 matches the summary statementsfrom Matthew regarding Christ's ministry. Christ proclaims. The disciples are to announce. Christ goesto "towns". The disciples go to the towns of the lost sheep of Israel. Christ proclaims the kingdom. Thedisciples announce "the kingdom of God is near". The brackets of Christ's mission (Matthew 9:35,Matthew 11:1) are pointing to the commission of the disciples (Matthew 10:5-8). Christ's missionbecomes the mission of the disciples to proclaim the arrival of the kingdom in the Person and work ofthe Messiah-King Jesus.

But so what? What does any of this have to do with missionary activity, reaching the unreached,or carrying the gospel message to remote corners of the world? What does Matthew'sbracketology have to do with our mission?

Here are some takeaways from the Matthew 9:35-11:1 passage:

The brackets in this section of Matthew (9:35 and 11:11) are Matthew's way of making sure that thechurch to whom he was sending his account of Christ's first advent (his life, death, resurrection, andexaltation) would continue to notice that Christ came into this world on mission. Emmanuel'smission is other-worldly. The "descension" from heaven is the divine activity of Father sending theSon into the world to take on human flesh in order to "save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).God is With Us, comes from heaven bringing heaven with him: the kingdom he is inaugurating is thekingdom of heaven. Matthew's Messiah-King is establishing His kingdom in fulfillment of the OldTestament promises through mission.

"Saving his people from their sins" involves missionary activity. Early in the book of Matthew,"Jesus was going all over Galilee, teaching"… and "preaching the good news of the kingdom"(Matthew 4:23). In Matthew 9, the mission is again noted by Matthew: "Jesus went to all the townsand villages…"teaching" and "preaching" the good news of the kingdom." (Matthew 9:35). Themovement that began from heaven to earth in the Incarnation of Emmanuel continues toward Hispeople, a harvest (Matthew 9:38). Initially, we find the Messiah in Matthew gathering his people fromamong Israel (Matthew 4:23; his preaching and teaching is in "the synagogues"). But that missioneventually will include the Gentiles (Matthew 4:15). The mission that began in heaven will encompassthe whole earth (Matthew 28:18) and engulf all nations (Matthew 28:19).

Christ's mission has a message. The Son of David's mission to "save his people from their sins"(Matthew 1:21) is in and of itself Good News. The King's people are being "called to repentance"(Matthew 9:13). This "Light that has Dawned" (Matthew 4:16) continues to preach and teach the goodnews of the kingdom (Matthew 4:17), fulfilling the Old Testament promises which anticipated hiscoming (Matthew 1:23, 2:15, 2:23, 3:15, 4:14, 5:17, 8:17, 12:17, 13:35, 21:4, 26:56, 27:9). The oldorder, along with its leaders and oppressive religion, is out. A new day has come, ushered in by aMessiah-King who is establishing His rule and reign among a people with whom he dwells. Absentfrom the Son of Man is the blaze of glory anticipated in Daniel. Instead, God has condescendedhimself to man by putting on human flesh and becoming a servant who gives his life a ransom formany (Matthew 20:28). Where this message is proclaimed through "preaching" and "teaching", theMessiah-King is establishing a church against which the gates of Hell cannot prevail (Matthew 16:18).The proclamation of who this Messiah-King is, what he has done for His people, and what he calls hispeople to do is to be taken to every corner of the globe. This is the message of the mission untilEmmanuel's kingdom is realized in its fullest measure (Matthew 28:18-20).

Christ's disciples have the same mission as his. This is the thrust of the parallels. It is the heart ofMatthew's missionary bracketology. Christ's own mission (Matthew 9:35 and Matthew 11:1) is found

in his commission of the disciples (Matthew 10:5-8). As the disciples mimic their teacher (Matthew10:24-25), Christ's mission becomes the disciples' mission. Christ sends the disciples on missionwith the same activities in the same kinds of places with the same message as He has been doing andproclaiming since the beginning of the book of Matthew (4:23). Thus, Christ's message is the disciples'message. Christ is going to the synagogues in the towns and villages. The disciples too. The Messiah-King is proclaiming the good news of an other-worldly kingdom being established through thesalvation of His people from their sins. The disciples too. Whatever Jesus has been doing in preachingand teaching and healing and confronting the demonic activity, the disciples are sent by Jesus to do thesame thing. They are to immerse themselves in His mission to Israel (and ultimately, to the ends of theearth). Like teacher, like student. The disciples become participants in the Messiah-King's mission toestablish His kingdom among His people.

But this isn't simply mission duplication. It is true that 12 can accomplish more than 1. But that's notwhat the disciples are to understand, nor is it what the early church is to be seeing in Matthew's words.This is mission transfer. Christ soon will die, rise, and be exalted as King of Kings and Lord of Lordsat the right hand of the Father. The disciples will remain on earth to finish the mission. What the earlychurch must see and what we must see in the commissioning of the disciples is that the disciples are onmission on behalf of the King. The disciples are on mission accomplishing "more" than the King. Weget this from the mission summary in Matthew 28. Christ's mission included Gentiles, but his focusthroughout much of the book of Matthew is to the Jewish people. In fact, in Matthew 10, when hecommissions the 12, he specifically excludes the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5-6). But having inauguratedheaven's kingdom through His sacrificial death, he has no such familial limitations in his command tothe disciples in Matthew 28. The mission is to spread over the whole earth to all people groups.Through the disciples, Christ's mission becomes the mission of the church: gathering His people fromamong all people groups over the entire globe.

This is a New Covenant mission. This missionary discourse (Matthew 9:35-11:1) occurs duringChrist’s ministry. When this is given to the disciples, Christ has yet to accomplish what he has begun.The kingdom is “near”, but it will be established through the inauguration of the New Covenant in hisdeath. The disciples initially are to go to the towns of Israel, but Christ gives indication of the broaderscope of the mission when he tells them in the discourse that they will appear before kings and thegospel will be proclaimed to all nations (Matthew 10:18). This is the rhythm of “to the Jew first, andthen to the Gentile” found in Matthew. The early church to whom Matthew writes is living in thealready/not yet of the kingdom proclaimed in Matthew 9:35 and 10:5-7. This early church is living inthe New Covenant anticipated in Matthew. The mission given to the disciples in the proclamation ofthe good news in the synagogues is now their mission of gospel proclamation to all people groups inevery “town” on earth. Christ’s kingdom has been inaugurated and is to be proclaimed to the ends ofthe earth (Matthew 28:16-20).

There's one other way the brackets and the parallelism in this section highlight Christ's mission as thedisciples' mission: eventually this mission will cost the Son of David his life (Matthew 26:28). Thedisciples too (Matthew 10:21,22). Christ does not send the disciples on a mission that He himself isn'twilling to undertake. The disciples, in answer to the mission prayer (Matthew 9:38), are being"ekballoed" (propelled) into Christ's harvest of a kingdom people. But the One who sends is the Onewho Himself will be "ekballoed" from the harvest (Matthew 21:39,41). The Lord of the Harvest willdie for the Harvest. Emmanuel's mission, which began in heaven when the Father sent the Son,culminates in his death to procure for his people salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the inauguration ofa New Covenant and kingdom. The Son of Man dies on mission. Christ's death is so integral to hismission from heaven, the early church can do nothing but conclude that without His death, there is nomission.

While the disciples cannot die for the forgiveness of sins, the mission they are given in Matthew10:5 is embedded with suffering, hardship, and death for the sake of Christ. Mission has beenembodied by Christ. And that Pattern is where the disciples and the early church were to find theirmission identity. As Christ unpacks for his disciples what it means for the Lord of the harvest toekballo workers into a harvest of His people, it becomes very clear that the very act of "ekballo"involves suffering and death. "I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves...people will hand youover...and flog you...brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will even riseup against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of Myname." The disciples and all who follow after them can expect their mission and message and sufferingto be like Christ's because they are united to the Lord of the Harvest who was first on mission to gatherto himself a people through the proclamation of the gospel.

This is Matthew's missional bracketology. It's not the kind of a bracketology that generates office poolsand pizza parties. But it is one that is fueling a generation of Reformed millenials to abandon the whitepicket fence and two-car garage to run to the fields where a harvest of Christ's people awaits. Christ'smission is the New Covenant mission for the church. New Covenant mission is the church engagingitself in Christ's mission to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. No longersimply to the "towns" of Israel, the New Covenant community proclaims the world over to Jews andGentiles alike, "Christ's kingdom is here, inaugurated by the blood of the covenant in His death."(Matthew 10:5-8, Matthew 26:28). Christ rules and reigns on his throne and His people are chargedwith the mission of the proclamation of the gospel to all people groups everywhere.

3 billion people around the world have never heard the good news of Jesus. These 3 billion will beborn, live their lives, and die before anyone tells them about Jesus. They are unreached. They have noaccess to the gospel. And they are unengaged: no church or Christian organization is going to themwith the good news of Jesus. Each one of the 3 billion who have never heard of Jesus have a story.Christ's mission is our mission to take the gospel to many of the 3 billion unreached. We are a NewCovenant people of the mission brackets. Matthew would have us find ourselves standing next to thedisciples, hearing Christ say, I'm sending you, the church, as sheep among wolves, to proclaim theGood News of Jesus and his kingdom to the ends of the earth. Emmanuel's mission continues to be ourmission.