Before sending his 12 disciples forth, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 10:5, 6). In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy stated, "Millions of unprejudiced minds—simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert—are waiting and watching for rest and drink" (p. 570). Are we to believe there were no unprejudiced minds with all the Gentiles and Samaritans?
A1 Jesus' instructions to his disciples in this case pertained only to their very first assignment. He had taught them for some time, and they had become good students. So in sending them out on their own, the Master pointed them first toward a certain group of Jews. Unlike the Pharisees—an exclusive Jewish group interested in maintaining the general purity of Judaism—"the lost sheep of the house of Israel" were thought to be a group of country people who were not too interested in the details of Jewish cultural and religious laws. This may have been why Jesus called them "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He warned and equipped his disciples for what they might encounter (see Matthew 10). He said, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matt. 10:16). And he blessed them all: "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me" (Matt. 10:40).
Also, Jesus planned on following his disciples soon after. They went in pairs to prepare people living in these Jewish towns for the good news—the healing news—that Jesus had for the world. Jesus sent them "ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go" (Luke 10:1, New International Version). In the King James Version of the Bible, it says he "sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come."
