Hi everyone. Welcome back again to Daily Gospel Exegesis.

We're continuing in the Gospel of Matthew today, a really fascinating gospel, a very Jewish one,

and we're looking at Matthew chapter 10 verses 16 to 23.

So I'll start by reading the text and then we'll have a go at looking at what the text might mean on the literal level.

Jesus instructed the 12 as follows.

Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves. Beware of men. They will

hand you over to Sanhedrons and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the

pagans.

But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say.

What you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because it is not you who will be speaking.

The spirit of your father will be speaking in you. Brother will betray brother to death,

and the father his child. Children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.

You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but the man who stands firm

to the end will be saved. If they persecute you in one town, take refuge in the next, and if they

persecute you in that, take refuge in another. I tell you solemnly, you will not have gone the round of the towns before the

son of man comes. So Jesus says these words in the context of a long speech that he's giving

his 12 apostles. So the audience is the 12 apostles, not all Christians and not even all disciples, actually.

It's just his 12 apostles because he's about to send them out on a special mission.

Now, part of this speech is he's giving them instructions about how they should go into the towns

that they're about to go into around Israel, but he also gives

them some warnings about difficulties they're going to face a little bit later down the road

when Jesus is gone and they're continuing their preaching all around the world. So there's a bit

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