I tell you this story because it reminds me a lot of something the disciples of Jesus experienced when he sent 72 of them out to spread the word about his mission.
In this series we are looking at Jesus from the perspective of his followers, and today we’re going to learn what it means to be sent by him into a broken world.
THE WORLD OF THE TEXT
Our main passage for the day is Luke 10, Page ______. We’re actually going to look at this passage in two parts. Part I today and Part II next Sunday. Because it covers some really important themes about following Christ.
Now, before we look at the text itself, we need to talk a bit about what we here at Grace call the world of the text.
We talk a lot about the world behind the text, which is the world of the Bible’s original authors and the culture of the people they were writing to.
And we talk about the world in front of the text because that’s our world. Our culture and perspective.
The world of the text, though, is how a given passage connects with those around it. How the language picks up on themes from other biblical books. Or how the literary nature of a passage tells a bigger story.
To understand the “sending of the 72,” we need to see it as a part of a much bigger narrative that Luke is writing.
It starts with John the Baptizer (or the Baptist), who Tim talked about a few weeks ago. John is a prophet sent by God into the wilderness to “prepare the way for the Lord.” He’s sent on a mission to set the stage for Jesus. One man.
In Luke 9, Jesus sends out his 12 disciples to kind of do the same thing.
Luke 9:1-2
One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
So now the 12 disciples are sent to spread the word that the kingdom of God is here. Later, in the passage we’ll look at today and next week, Jesus sends out 72 disciples with the same mission. It just keeps building.
And these numbers are significant. 12 disciples represent the 12 tribes of Israel.
And 72 is a number that represents… everyone else.
In the Greek version of Genesis 10 it says the world was made up of 72 nations.
Other ancient Jewish sources say that there are 72 different languages in the world.
And there’s a tradition that 72 elders were commissioned to translate the Torah from Hebrew, the language of Israel, into Greek, the language of the Greco-Roman world.
The point is that by sending out 72 disciples to spread the word, Jesus is preparing to take God’s kingdom to the nations.
And in the book of Acts, which is Luke’s sequel to his gospel, that’s exactly what happens. Jesus tells his followers:
Acts 1:8
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
That passage is basically the entire plot of Acts.
So we start Luke with one weirdo prophet eating grasshoppers in the wilderness and talking about the coming Messiah, and we end Acts with the good news of Jesus taking root in every corner of the Roman Empire.
That is the world of the text of Luke 10. Of the sending of the 72. We are right in the middle of the developing story of how the message of Jesus fills the earth.
So why is this important to know? Because without that context, this passage is just a story about some ancient Jesus-followers. But with that context, we realize that this is actually a story that includes us.
Luke is writing his gospel for the sake of the Church. He wants followers of Christ throughout time to see their own God-given mission as a part of that much bigger narrative.
As Jesus is giving instructions to the 72, Luke wants us right there in the crowd, hearing the words along with them.
We are “sent ones” too, and this passage tells us a lot about what that sending looks like.
So, let’s explore this passage and see what it tells us about our purpose in this world.
THE HARVEST IS GREAT
Luke 10:1-2
The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.”
The harvest is great, but the workers are few. What harvest is Jesus talking about here?
Well, throughout the gospels, Jesus often talks about his mission in terms of planting seeds and harvesting crops. It was an agricultural society.
We could talk a lot about this metaphor, but for now I’ll just say this: from the very beginning, Jesus is on a mission of healing. Not just physical healing, which he does, but mental healing, relational healing, the healing of injustice, and of course, spiritual healing.
We talk at Grace about the “Six Broken Places.” Well, Jesus heals them all. Isolation, hatred, pain… You name it.
Those who are oppressed or downtrodden or enslaved to sin find freedom and life in him. Plucked from the brokenness like a stalk of grain that can now nourish and multiply. They are a harvest of God’s purposes for the world.
It is a harvest of things made right by God in a world made wrong by us.
It’s a harvest of new life, and Jesus’ followers are the workers in the field. We’re the ones sent by him to do the harvesting.
This is why at Grace we believe that every single person was created by God to join in this mission. Why we believe that you were made with a unique purpose, unique gifts, unique passions…
The world is broken but you get to help heal it as a representative of Christ.
Maybe Jesus is calling you to be his representative to a specific group of hurting people: kids in foster care, grieving widows, those facing poverty, the spiritually lost…
Or maybe it’s a cause that you’re here to take up: caring for creation, criminal justice reform, women’s education in the developing world…
Maybe it’s a role within the church: to speak prophetically, to lead, to nurture younger believers, to teach…
I know we talk about this a lot, but it bears repeating: God has put you here on this planet on purpose and he is eager for you to step into the very reason you were born.
So here’s a good question at this point: Are you working in the field yet? Are you living out your one-of-a-kind purpose?
If you’re not, just know that at Grace we’re praying to the Lord of the harvest that you will. And we want to help launch you…
Joining God’s healing mission is what we’re here to do.
But be warned, Jesus says in verse 3, “I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.”
In other words, this mission of life will be opposed. Among all the ripe stalks of wheat are thorns and thistles ready to draw blood. There are predators in the tall grass.
Now, we’re going to talk about the opposition we face next week, and how we should feel about the fact that we have an enemy. But for now, let’s take a closer look at the specific instructions Jesus gives the 72 he is sending because I think they tell us a lot about what it looks like to go in his name.
THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF PEACE
Luke 10:4-11
“Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.
“Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.
“If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’”
So. Don’t take any money. Don’t take a bag. Don’t even take an extra pair of sandals. Just go.
As someone who has done a lot of traveling in my life, this seems like kind of unwise advice. Isn’t it good to be prepared? To pack the right supplies? To have the right food for the journey?
Well, here Jesus is presenting a pretty radical concept: the idea that as his followers go into the world to spread his message, God will have already prepared the right people to receive them.
In verse 6 he literally calls these people “sons of peace.” According to Jesus, these people will welcome the disciples in, house them, feed them, and meet their needs as they share the message of God’s kingdom.
You won’t need a traveling bag because these “sons and daughters of peace” will have everything you need. If your sandal wears out, they will give you a new one.
It seems crazy, but I don’t think it is. Luke sure doesn’t. This phenomenon is exactly what we see playing out in the book of Acts.
For example, God tells the apostle Philip to just “go south,” and he does. And who does he meet on the road? An Ethiopian court official who is already primed to hear the gospel. He believes in Christ, immediately gets baptized, and then takes the message of Jesus back to Ethiopia.
Peter is welcomed into the home of Cornelius, this gentile Roman army officer. He feeds Peter and puts him up for a few nights. Why? Because God had already been working in Cornelius’ heart. He was a “son of peace.” Peter didn’t even finish his sermon before the whole household came to Christ.
Or another example: When the Apostle Paul visits the city of Philippi for the first time. There a wealthy woman named Lydia is the “daughter of peace.” She opens her home to Paul and provides for him and his companions as they spread the message of Jesus.
In fact, she doesn’t just open her home, she pleads with them to stay at her house. An entire church is born right there in her courtyard.
Do you see the pattern? God prepared the way for the message of Jesus to take root in Ethiopia, in the Roman military, in Philippi. It’s what he does. The harvest field is seeded with sons and daughters of peace.
JUST GO
At least, it was in the book of Acts. What about today? Does God still prepare the way? When he calls you can you really just go?
Well, from my experience, I think the answer is… yes.
In my non-profit days, I believe God was calling me to go and tell stories of what his children were doing around the world. So I went, and found that he had already prepared the way.
That experience in rural India… Deshpande and I had no idea what our time in the village would look like. But the gospel needed to be planted there, so God prepared a “son of peace” to receive us.
We just went and God took care of the rest.
The same thing happened to me in South Sudan, in Ukraine, in Guatemala…
When I was in Kenya I was welcomed into a family’s home in a slum and fed from their own kitchen for weeks so that I could tell the story of what God was doing there.
Jesus tells the 72, “Eat whatever is set before you.” You better believe I did, with deep gratitude, (even if it was sometimes a pile of salty little fish that you ate entirely whole!).
When I was in Haiti and wanted to write about the effect of the earthquake, a son and daughter of peace invited me to share their family’s tent in a refugee camp and they went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable.
Jesus says, “Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality.” I didn’t, and it was an experience that changed my entire perspective of hope in the midst of devastation.
Even here in the US, as I tried to run my non-profit I was astounded as people came out of the woodwork to support my ministry in all kinds of ways. God just kept opening doors.
Jesus says in verse 8 that if a town refuses to welcome you, you should symbolically wipe the dust from your feet. Well, I never had to do that, because sons and daughters of peace were everywhere I went.
JUST GO!
My point is this: Jesus calls his followers to go. To go into the harvest fields and spread his message of hope and life. To use the gifts and passions God has given us to heal this broken world.
I know my experience might be a bit out of the ordinary. I know the Apostles in Acts were, well… apostles, but I believe the same dynamics hold true no matter what it is God is calling you to.
It doesn’t have to be halfway around the world. Your call could be to spread the light of Jesus in your workplace. In your school. In your church. In your own home. Wherever it is, I want you to hear this truth from Jesus:
When God calls you to go, he also prepares the way.
Will it be easy? Will everything just go off without a hitch? No. Jesus makes it clear that following his call is not for the faint of heart. It’s self-sacrifice. It’s carrying your cross. It’s death to yourself.
And, as we’ll talk about next week, we are opposed in this mission. We have an enemy who stands in the way.
But what I want you to hear today is that we may be opposed as we go. But we are never alone.
The Spirit of Christ is within us, speaking and guiding and working through us. And the Spirit is also ahead of us, preparing the way, opening hearts and minds, working even now to plant sons and daughters of peace in our path.
The harvest is great, but the workers are few. It’s time for us to just go and let God astound us by what he has in store.
A JOYFUL RETURN
When the 72 disciples return in verse 17, they are blown away at what they experienced as they went.
Luke 10:17
“Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”
Yes. Because they were going in the power of Christ. Whose mission of healing and life is unstoppable.
Now, there’s a lot more we could say about this. And it probably raises a lot more questions than it answers. Like,
• How do you know you’re actually being called by God?
• What do you do when you’re not received with open doors?
• Is difficulty in your mission proof that it’s not God’s call because he’s not opening doors or proof that it must be God’s call because you’re being opposed?
Those are all valid questions and they’re worthy of further discussion.
But for now, I think we have only one message to wrestle with. It’s the whole point of the sending of the 72.
When God calls you to go, he also prepares the way.
Will you go? Will you get into the game? Will you go into the field?
Because Jesus has given you his authority to go in his name and he’ll be waiting for you there when you do.
Be bold, friends. We’ve been sent into this broken world on a mission. And we do not journey alone.