10:8
“Heal the sick, raise the dead ...” This is quite explicit, the disciples were to do the things that Jesus was doing, and He had given them authority to do this. “Freely you have received, freely give”. We apply this latter instruction mostly to money, and this is a good thing to do. It is also something we know how to do, but it is not the primary focus here. Jesus is speaking about healing the sick etc. So was this just a one-off? Well that doesn’t work, for they healed the sick and raised the dead in Acts. Was it just for the New Testament times? There are many who believe that, either explicitly for those who are cessationists, or functionally for most of us. But it is clear from the gospels that the coming of the kingdom has material effects. Now we also need to take account of the whole of Scripture, and there were people in the New Testament, including Paul himself, who got sick and were not healed miraculously. So if we are not seeing much of this stuff we are getting something wrong, or, at least, we have much more to learn, not as part of a separate “healing ministry”, but as part of kingdom life.
10:9,10
They were not to take extras, they were not to “worry about what you will east or drink” (Matt 6:25), but instead to “seek first the kingdom” (Matt 6:33). Again, we need to look at the whole of Scripture, which makes it clear we are to work, and to manage our affairs sensibly. So the instructions here are not a general state of affairs, but there will be times when we are trusting completely in God to provide.
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