Body, then Head

The logic of Scripture often moves from head to body: What Jesus did, His disciples are to do; we are to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus; we are to follow Him, not He us.

Yet, the sequence of Matthew is inverted in several places. Before Jesus is delivered up, rejected, or cast out of the synagogue, He warns that His disciples will be (10:16-23). Pharisees and scribes are already opposing Jesus (eg 9:10-11), but not with the intense opposition Jesus predicts for the disciples. Apparently, the disciples face the wolves before Jesus does (10:16). Likewise, as David Bauer points out, Jesus’ first reference to the cross in Matthew refers to the disciples’ duty to take up the cross (10:38). Jesus begins to speak of His coming death in 16:21, but doesn’t explicitly mention His own crucifixion until 20:19. As the gospel progresses, the threats originally faced by the 12 are narrowed to a threat to the One.