For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Christ sends you as sheep into wolves' jaws, so you must learn to combine the serpent's cunning with the dove's innocence. He forewarned the disciples of sufferings to come, not to shake their faith, but to steel it; when troubles arrive as He predicted, they will confirm rather than destroy what you believe.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 10:16-42
Christ fortifies His disciples with promises of the Spirit's aid, then opens the real cost of faithful ministry: betrayal by blood relations. Brothers deliver brothers to death, fathers their children, children their parents, natural affection torn away by blind zeal and bigotry. Nothing more barbarous than kinship turned to murder.
AI summary
The Samaritans, though descended from pagan colonists, had adopted Jewish religion with admixtures of their own, placing them between Jews and Gentiles. When the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, the apostles' prohibition was lifted: they were to witness first in Jerusalem and Judea, then in Samaria, then to the uttermost earth.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 10:5-42