St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
8 July 2007
Luke 10:1-12, 16-20

This Gospel lesson is very rich in meaning, and like just about every passage in Holy Scripture, its historical context and its literary context is essential to understand the full meaning of this passage. So, what I would like to do today is to go over this passage in some detail so that we might study it carefully. If you would like, have your bulletin handy as we go through this Gospel passage.

I want to begin with just a little bit of context. This lesson follows on the lesson we had last week. Jesus and his disciples are on their way through Samaria to Jerusalem. Jesus’ earthly ministry, as we call it, is beginning at this point in the narrative to come to an end. Jesus and his disciples have been ministering in Galilee. If you look on a map, Galilee is at the northern tip of what we call Israel, Samaria is in the middle, and Judea is in the south, which is where Jerusalem is. Jesus and his followers are on their way from Galilee through Samaria to Jerusalem. Jesus knows that in Jerusalem he is going to be offering himself up to God as a sacrifice for all human sin. In other words, Jesus knows what fate awaits him in the not too distant future. My point in saying all of this is that when we look at this passage there is an urgency here. Jesus knows that this is the last chance for these people to hear him in the days coming. Because, if these people in Samaria don’t respond to the invitation to come and hear the Lord, they will miss their chance before his crucifixion. So, as we study this, let’s keep that in mind - - there is an urgency to this situation. Look at the first line of the passage, “The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Sometimes in sermons, I refer to the ‘Jesus movement’ and that is to differentiate the larger group of followers from his inner circle of disciples. The New Testament is absolutely clear that Jesus chose twelve people to be his inner circle. We typically call them his disciples; but there were always other people who were following Jesus, who were listening to his teaching. They followed him from place to place. Periodically, we read in the Gospels, ‘the crowds’. The crowds followed. The crowds pressed in on every side. We have evidence of this here. When Jesus sends out people to represent him, to say to the people in Samaria, “The Lord is on his way,” he doesn’t just have twelve people to send. He has seventy. So, this is clear indication that there was a larger group outside of Jesus’ twelve disciples who followed him, and were close to him, and were trusted by him.

There is something else very significant with this number seventy. If you will think back to the Old Testament in the book of Numbers, once the Hebrew people have been freed from Egypt through the exodus, the Lord appointed seventy people to be elders over the people. These seventy people helped Moses administer the exodus community. You can read about that in Numbers, Chapter 11, verse 16 and verse 25. In Numbers, it is said very clearly, “The Spirit of the Lord which was upon Moses was upon the elders as well.” Now, why am I talking about the book of Numbers? Let’s think about this. Jesus sends seventy people out to prepare his way as he comes through Samaria on his way to Judea. He tells them, “You will have authority.” And, it is clear later on that they have authority over unclean spirits, over illnesses. What’s happening here is that Jesus is the new exodus. The first exodus freed the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery - - bondage in Egypt. The new exodus frees people from their sins. That is the good news that Jesus is announcing. There is freedom. There is forgiveness. There is release from captivity to sins. That is the good news that Jesus is proclaiming. That is the reason for the urgency in this passage that we read today. So, just like there were seventy elders with Moses, who had the spirit of the Lord with them, Jesus appoints seventy new elders to prepare his way on the way to Jerusalem. This is a new exodus. This is God’s liberation again of his people from the power of sin.

Then there is this famous, memorable saying of Jesus. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” We will come back to this at the close. Notice the next couple of verses. This is very interesting historically. Jesus says to these seventy people, “Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet on one on the road.” Now what lies behind this? This is Jesus saying to these seventy people, “Be careful.” He is sending them out into Samaria. Samaritans were by and large Jews. But they practiced a form of Judaism that was very different from Judean Judaism to the south, and Galilean Judaism to the north. Samaritans were of a different ethnic heritage. They had different customs than the majority of Jews. The Samaritans’ holy site was Mount Gerizim. They did not regard Jerusalem as the holy site. They did not regard the temple in Jerusalem as the place of pilgrimage. We know from historical records that when Galilean Jews, like these people in this Gospel lesson, came through Samaria on their way to Judea to the south, Samaritans were hostile toward them. Why would they be hostile toward fellow Jews? Because, from the Samaritan point of view, they were going to the wrong place. “You should not be going to the temple in Jerusalem. You should be going on to Mount Gerizim. That is the holy site.” So, there is hostility in this region. What Jesus is doing here is saying to his followers, “Be careful.” It is a very human, very realistic moment here. “Be careful. Travel light. Be able to move quickly,“ he is saying. He then says, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you.” Then he goes on to say, “If you find a place where you are welcome, stay there.” Again, very common sense, realistic advice. In this territory that tends to be hostile toward Galilean Jews, if you find a house where you are welcome, stay there.

The best advice I have ever gotten, I think, was the person who said to me, for the first time, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That is what Jesus is saying here. “If you find a house that welcomes you, stay there.” The following passage says, “But when you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’” We say sometimes in our everyday speak, “I will shake the dust off my feet and move on.” That saying which we use in every day language comes from this passage. Notice what is being said here. This isn’t meant to be harsh, but there is an urgency. Remember, Jesus knows that he is on his way to Jerusalem. He knows that his time is limited. So his counsel to his representatives is, “If they won’t hear you, if they won’t welcome you, move on. Because the days are short. But tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’” Because they will always have the chance, looking back, to realize that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah. He was, in fact, the Christ.

Finally I want to move down to the last passage of this Gospel lesson. These are verses 16-20. The seventy returned [from their mission] with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” Jesus said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.” So when the seventy come back and say, “Lord, we’ve had success. We cured people in your name,” Jesus says, in effect, “I had a vision. I saw Satan fall from heaven.” In other words, “I saw the power of God working in your ministry.” Jesus validates the ministry of the seventy. Then, what does he say? It is very interesting. In the very last part of the passage, he says, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Jesus sees the possibility here of self-righteousness. He doesn’t want these seventy people who have had success in his name to become so self-righteous and arrogant that they hold themselves above other people. So Jesus quickly teaches them, “Remember the thing to really be thankful for is that your names are written in heaven. The thing to be thankful for is that God knows who you are. God loves you as you are.” This is a passage so rich in meaning. We see Jesus desperately trying to prepare the way so that his word can be heard. Jesus wants the people of Samaria to understand that he is the Messiah. That in him there is forgiveness. In him there is healing. In him there is grace and love.