Luke 10:1 – 16 Mission of the Seventy-Two

Luke 10:1 – 16 Mission of the Seventy-Two

After this the Lord appointed seventy (-two) others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.' If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.' Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, 'The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.' Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, 'Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.'" Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

Jesus appointed an additional seventy two disciples and sent them out as sort of “advance men” to every town and place he intended to visit. Their mission was to heal the sick and proclaim that “the reign of God is at hand”. Although they traveled in pairs they were to bring nothing with them, but only accept the generosity of those that welcomed them. They were to be, in a sense, vulnerable like Jesus – not forcing their presence anywhere they were not welcomed, trusting in people’s generosity. Conversely, Jesus speaks quite harshly of those who reject his ambassadors out of hate or apathy. This passage always bothers me. I can’t quite picture these words coming out of Jesus’ mouth. Last year I went with a friend to a “Town Hall Meeting” hosted by my local congresswoman. The topic of the meeting was health care. We waited for over an hour to get into the meeting, then once inside waited for over an hour for the meeting to begin. I have rarely spent two more uncomfortable hours. I guess by definition the only people who would spend three hours on a Saturday morning to attend one of these meetings would feel they really had something to say. The sense of fear and anger and hostility in that room was palpable. Fear of losing their money, their job, their independence? It was disturbing to say the least. By their fear and anger they appeared to me to already be in a sort of hell, unable to hear, to think outside of themselves. Maybe that was going on in the minds of those in the villages who rejected the disciples.