After this 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. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘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.’
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 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. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 (Year C July 3-9) contains community rules in legal style that offers a prescription for the Christian community concerning[1] the mission of the seventy. The early community was conscious of its characteristic piety in distinction from that of Judaism.[2] The account of this second mission of the followers of Jesus focuses on the experience of mission as the arena of conflict and division, including conflict with cosmic forces. The spotlight falls on participating with Jesus in his mission, with its emphases on dependence on God and on the mixed responses that follow the good news.
The first set of instructions of Jesus to a group of disciples before sending them out on a preaching mission is in Luke 9:1-6, which is based on Mark. This could be a "doublet" of the sending of the Twelve, but it could also be that Matthew has combined a set of instructions to a larger group with that given to the Twelve. The focus is the ministry of the disciples, whom Jesus commissions to a powerful ministry in his name. Here are instructions for the road. The early church rooted its own missionary activity in the mission charge of Jesus. The mission charge suggests urgency and hostility. Luke’s purpose seems to be that the mission is not restricted to the Twelve - others participate. We receive an insight into the eschatology of Luke here in the coming visit of the Lord, the harvest from evangelical preaching, and judgment.
The instructions come after the stern words of Jesus about the necessity of unwavering resolve for the sake of the proclamation of the coming rule of God (9:62). Luke refers to Jesus as the Lord (ὁ κύριος), a title found throughout Luke-Acts (Luke 17:5-6, Acts 9:10-11, 15, 17), signaling his divine nature. Drawing from political imagery, the Lord appointed and sent (Mark 6:6), acting as one with full authority and leadership, 70 persons, a symbolic number representing the nations of the earth in Gen 10 (72 in LXX, also the number of cattle set aside for the sacrificial offering in Num 31:38), but it is also the number of elders chosen to accompany Moses to the Mt. Sina (Ex 24:1, 9), the seventy elders deputized by Moses to quell unrest in the wilderness (Num 11:16, 24), and even the years of patriarchal maturity before the birth of a noteworthy son (Gen 5:12,11:26), the members of the house of Jacob (Gen 46:27, Ex 1:5), the number of palm trees of Elim (Ex 15:27), and the number of talents of bronze used to construct the appointments of the tent of meeting (Ex 38:29). The Lord sent the seventy on ahead of him to pairs to the towns where he intended to go. Traveling in pairs was frequent practice in the ancient world, for obvious reasons of safety (a truth made in passing in the parable of the Good Samaritan, found only in Luke's gospel, at 10:29-37). They could also provide mutual support, veracity of message (Deut 19:15, where two witnesses are necessary for valid legal testimony), and an example of the Christian life of harmonious cooperation.[3] The pattern of pairs of missionaries is common in New Testament writings: Peter and John (Acts 8:14), Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2), Barnabas and Mark (Acts 15:39), Paul and Silas (Acts 15:40), and others.
In verse 2 (Matt 9:37-38), the image of the harvest is eschatological. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. It is time to harvest them for the rule of God. Yet, he invites his disciples to pray for laborers. It is a call to repentance and preparation for the coming judgment. The image carries with it an occasion for joy. Scattered Israel will be gathered from the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt (Isa 27:12-13). Israel was the first fruits of the harvest of the Lord (Jer 2:3). Paul wants to come to the church in Rome so that he may reap some harvest among them as he has among the rest of the Gentiles (Rom 1:13). Jesus observes that a common saying involves knowing how many months until the harvest, but the fields are ripe for harvesting now, the reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together (John 4:34-38). However, it can also be employed for the coming judgment. The harvest is ripe, because their wickedness is great, so judgment is coming (Joel 3:13). Here, however, the harvest is plentiful, a good sign and a positive image of the response to what Jesus has been proclaiming, teaching, healing, and exorcism that are signs of the approaching rule of God. They will gladly hear the good news and were ripe for gathering into a new community. The sending and gathering are both under the guidance of the Lord of the harvest. Yet, Jesus also observes that the laborers are few, opening the door for selecting and commissioning more disciples, who will expose more persons to the message of the approaching rule of God. They are to pray for additional laborers to deal with the harvest of the blessing of the coming rule of God. Jesus is directing them to do what he has done in the previous two chapters. Others begin to share with Jesus that proclaims the coming rule of God, a point Luke will expand throughout his gospel and into the Book of Acts.
In verse 3 (unique to Luke), Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Jesus regularly speaks of gathering a new people of God, using a variety of images to do so, as here they are defenseless and unprotect lambs or sheep.[4] "Sending" was the main way of getting one's message out to others. What kind of a sending is it, by whom to whom for what? Cynics described themselves as being sent. Diogenes said that the Cynic is both messenger and scout of God. Epictetus: "Behold, God has sent me to you as an example, that you may see 0 Humans, that you are seeking happiness and serenity not where it is, but where it is not." Why was it important to have this vision of being sent? Dio Chrysostom says he hoped it would gain him a hearing. To say one was sent responded to concerns about authority and authorization. It answered the implied question: And what gives you the right to say that? How is it that you can do this? The early Christians in Israel viewed itself as messenger-scouts, heralds of a better path to happiness. In this capacity, Jesus tells them to expect to have to face certain wolves along the way. The pastoral image is that of a shepherd taking lambs to pasture among wolves. II Esdras 5:18/IV Ezra (70 AD) refers to the shepherd who leaves his flock in the power of cruel wolves. The band of disciples is not a haven for sheep. They must venture out not only into insecurity but even into defenselessness. Suffering becomes an important function of Jesus’ band of disciples.
Verse 4 (Matt 10:10) has the advice to travel light: Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals (although in Mark 6:8 they are to take a staff); and salute no one on the road. Such advice denies the typical oriental wish of the divine peace upon those whom one meets on the way, which is why such ceremonial greeting have so much solemnity. The point is that they are not to join others, as in caravan, which would bring more protection, but it also means traveling at a slower pace. They are not to lose time, for their duty to proclaim the nearness of the rule of God must be fulfilled with speed, since every minute is precious.[5] This advice outlines a form of asceticism, profiling an impoverished way of life. This way of life gives the follower of Jesus the freedom to accept help from those to whom they speak and minister. The advice is consistent with Luke 12:22-32 = Matt 6:25-37 in its advice not to be anxious about what one is to eat, drink, or wear, nor are they to seek such things, because they are to seek the rule of God, trusting that their Father knows they need these things. Jesus commissions these disciples to an itinerant form of ministry. A distinguishing feature of the ministry of Paul was its itinerant character. However, resident leaders in Christian communities are present within his churches (Rom 16, I Cor 16).
Similarities with the Cynic pattern here is one of similar social manners, not just rhetoric.
1) Prohibition of the use of money. Diogenes Laeterius: "Diocles relates how Diogenes persuaded Crates to give up his property to sheep-pasture, and throw into the sea any money he had." Similarly Monimus, after deciding to follow Diogenes: "straight off pretended to be mad and easy flinging away the small change and all the money on the banker's table, until his master dismissed him; and he immediately devoted himself to Diogenes." Julian described Diogenes as: "Cityless, homeless, a man without a country, owning not an obol, not a drachma, not even a household slave." Other statements: "if all the gold, all the silver, all the copper should give out, I would not be injured in the least." "... are you not afraid of the money? ... For by no means does money always profit those who have gotten it; but people have suffered many more injuries and more evils from money than from poverty, particularly when they lacked sense."
2) Prohibition of the beggars bag. Though Cynics were known to carry such a bag, there are many statements by Cynics themselves that encourage the dismissal even of this item from their property.
3) Prohibition of wearing any sandals. Cynics also prohibited footwear.
4) Prohibition of a staff (Matt 10:10). This was considered part of the Cynic property. Its prohibition, like that of the beggars bag, is an intensification of the Cynic practice of self-sufficiency. "I, however, says Diogenes, go by night wherever I will and walk alone by day, and I am not afraid to go even through an army camp if need be, without the herald's staff, and amid brigands; for I have no enemy, public or private, who opposes me."
5) Prohibition of giving greeting anyone. The most famous practioners of silence were Pythagoreans, and Cynics were known for their barking. However, Cynics could be silent, especially when it contradicted established codes of conduct.
In verses 5-11, the peace of God is offered, and judgment is decreed at this very moment, reminding us of the dawn of the rule of God.[6]
In verses 5-7a (Matt 10:11-13), focus on what these traveling missionaries are to expect in the reception or rejection. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' Here is a summary of the content of their message: “peace.” And if a son of peace (Hebraism meaning one who deserves peace, shalom, spiritual and temporal blessing) is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. A worthy home is receptive to the gospel. They are to be content with the deserving house. The blessing promised to those who believe in the preaching of the disciples is a very real quantity: in the disciples’ words God visits people, comes to them, or departs from them. The first message they are to communicate is that of peace, which may be welcomed, in which case they may remain whatever the household provides, but it may also be rejected. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, They are not to move from house to house. They are approaching unfamiliar households with the hope of establishing amicable relationships with the occupants, even though the first impression of the occupant would be that of a beggar or vagrant. The point is how the disciples are to respond to the reception and rejection they will receive as traveling missionaries. Jesus warns the disciples not to shop around for better quarters, but to be content with the hose.
How to deal with rejection was important for Cynic as well. "Diogenes once begged alms of a statue, and, when asked why he did so, replied, 'To get practice in being refuse."' "Ask for bread even from the statues in the marketplace as you enter it. In a way, such a practice is good, for you will meet persons more unfeeling than statues. In addition, whenever they give something to eunuchs and to the authors of obscenity rather than to you, do not be surprised. For each person pays honor to the one who is close to him and not someone far off. Moreover, it is eunuchs rather than the philosophers who pander to the masses. Begging was not just the result of a desperate search for physical survival but formed instead part of a broader strategy of social engagement. These early Christians begged with sophistication, having learned both to discriminate between donors to the cause and to endure the pain of rejection without the inward crush of resentment and remorse. Lacking any guarantee of hospitality, they could anticipate some. Still, life must have remained a perilous existence for these homeless hounds of God. How could it not?
Verse 7b (Matt 10:10 b) for the laborer deserves his wages; a secular single stranded Jewish proverb[7] that in this context becomes instruction for the community.[8] One can do one’s work well, but one also needs to make a positive contribution to human existence.[9]
Verse 7c, Do not go from house to house. Verse 8 (unique to Luke) Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. This relaxes Jewish dietary laws and receiving fully the hospitality extended to them. Hospitality was important in missionary preaching. Luke will emphasize the difficulty of applying this saying to the missionary setting of the early church in that it took a vision to pry Peter away from abiding by the Jewish law regarding clean and unclean foods (Acts 10:9-16). Jesus was accused of eating with non-observant Judeans in this regard (Mark 2:16, Luke 7:34).
Verses 9-11 (Matt 10:14, Mark 6:11) focus upon the message of those sent and the response they will receive. It focuses on the welcome or rejection they will receive. They can expect to face challenge and suffering. The disciples are to heal the sick in it and say to them, identifying a theme of the preaching of Jesus nearness of the rule of God, the eschatological hour of God, the victory of God, the consummation of the world, and therefore God, is extremely near,[10]'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' This relates to their ministry of healing and proclamation that of the nearness of the coming rule of God. The arrival of the rule of God is therapeutic, especially in a culture that lacked medicines. They receive specific instructions for dealing with those who reject the messengers and their message. But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. People will abuse the law of hospitality and refuse them lodging, and since granting hospitality is the concern of a whole village, the whole place may refuse to receive them.[11] This action was a symbolic expression of breaking off all community (Neh 5:13, Acts 13:51, 18:6), where nothing of such a town or locality is to cling to the messengers, even the dust from its streets. The place is delivered to the divine judgment.[12] If the message is rejected, they are to offer a humorous response based upon a prophetic gesture by publicly wiping the dust from their feet in protest. The rabbis suggested such a response to the heathen, for even their dust was polluting. Such a concern for ritual purity is far from the mind of Jesus, but he could have in mind provoking thought in those Jews who reject the message of the nearness of the rule of God. Such a ritual act signifies severance of relations as they leave that town. The symbolic gesture depicted here responds negatively to an entire community's unwillingness to receive the missionaries. Jesus does not promise success or enthusiastic reception. While Christian tradition values the virtue of perseverance, there is a faithfulness to the mission in letting go and moving on as well. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near, identifying a theme of the preaching of Jesus nearness of the rule of God, the eschatological hour of God, the victory of God, the consummation of the world, and therefore God, is extremely near.[13].
They can expect to have a similar reception to the one Jesus just received. Where people receive and embrace the gospel, disciples are to remain; where people reject the gospel, they are to move on. He orders his traveling disciples to quickly create a home base while they are staying in one locale. He prepares them for the inevitable moments of frustration and failure they will encounter. The disciples’ foot-shaking would communicate official separation from a relationship between the household or village and the disciples. By leaving a place with such a symbolic finality, the disciples were proclaiming threat the inhabitants, who were now left to the judgment of God. He inaugurates a sacrament of failure, part of his instruction on how to deal with failure. The evangelist is to be so committed to the story that the listeners’ response is not the sole validation for the telling of the story. There is a time to reach out, to intrude, relentlessly to pursue and persuade. Then there is a time to shake the dust off our feet and move on. Even as Jesus was amazed at the unbelief and rejection by his own people, he moved on to other villages. He encourages his disciples not to linger among those who do not believe, but to move on as well.
As much as the Christian tradition values the virtue of perseverance, is there also faithfulness in letting go? Is there ever a time when the loving thing, the faithful thing is to shake the dust off your feet and move on? There is grace in going the second mile with someone. Nevertheless, there is also grace in knowing when to let go. Sometimes, we let go so that God can come. In other words, Jesus means that the grace of letting go comes after all other reasonable efforts have failed. Disciples do not give up lightly. We say, "There, I've done all I can do. Now, let God take you."
Is there anything, anyone, some situation in my life, some problem for which I need to shake the dust off my feet and let go?
In verse 16 (Matt 10:40) is a church rule in legal style that offers a prescription for the Christian community, an independent saying placed here by Luke, that the reception and refreshment of a little child was reckoned as equivalent to the greatest service that one could render but now applied to the idea that the treatment of his followers affects the risen Lord. It is at home in the Jewish-Christian community and reflects the prophetic self-consciousness of Jesus.[14] It suggests that anything which is simply a hospitable exchange between two persons is an exchange between four - the host or hostess, the disciple, Jesus, and the one who sent Jesus. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. The disciples are divine messengers whose hospitable acceptance is equivalent to being visited by the superior power that first dispatched them. Sayings about welcoming a messenger were common in the Mediterranean world. One’s agent is like himself (Mishnah, Berakhot 5.5). Paul had to rely on this cultural convention to ensure the proper delivery of his messages among his churches (Philippians 2:25). To welcome an emissary was tantamount to welcoming the person who had dispatched the emissary. With the messenger of Jesus, Jesus himself and therefore his Father, enters the love of whoever welcomes the messenger. Jesus explains the inextricable bond between a master and an apostle, the sender and the messenger (John 13:20). To receive the disciple is to receive Jesus, which is also to receive the Father. The magnitude of the authority of the messengers is clear. This saying takes up the established right of the messenger, according to which the messenger is as the one who sends the messenger. Similarly, in the person of the messengers, Jesus comes. The nature of being a messenger is to represent Jesus. The second part of the saying says the Father enters houses with the messengers of Jesus.[15] This means that even in the simplest relationships, the Father is the one who initiates by sending Jesus, and then Jesus sends the disciple. Strangers are not always a threat or a nuisance. Anyone can assume the stance of those who welcome guests into our lives. The ethic behind these sayings is that of reciprocity. In tracing the welcome back to his Father, Jesus stresses that he is not alone. The fact that he has agents or messengers means he can come to all people.[16] Such witnesses enter the gap created through the temporal limitation of revelation.[17] If Jesus truly is the light of life, we can believe this promise today. The Word of Jesus Christ is stronger than the power and hardihood of the mixed and relative secularism that confronts the Christian community in our time.[18]
This chain of senders and sent ones became the backbone of the early Christian idea of “apostolic succession,” which was articulated especially by Irenaeus of Lyons in the second century. In that era, when Irenaeus perceived the threat that unsubstantiated teachings were to the Christian message, he defended and traced an unbroken line of authority from the current bishops back to the apostles, Jesus and God. Thus, we have an important statement for the future of the church in that Jesus sent out and authorized his disciples so that those who heard them also heard him. While the church has often applied this to clergy, it applies to all followers of Jesus.[19]
Verses 17-20 (unique to Luke) describes the response of Jesus to the unexpected success this mission had. The passage expresses in symbolic language the conquest of evil and the dawning of the new world God is forming. Its veiled language is a hint of the mystery to which it points.[20] They address him as Lord (Κύριε). The signs of miraculous healings and exorcisms indicate the nearness of the rule of God. Jesus acknowledges their success and in a prophetic vision recognizes that his own prophetic self-consciousness and mission, shared now with his followers, spells the decisive defeat of all the forces of evil, so in verses 18-20: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (or I watched Satan cast headlong from heaven like lightning[21]). This is the only report of a prophetic-apocalyptic vision by Jesus. It has the character of being a fragment of a prophetic saying of Jesus. It suggests the end of the possibility of accusing before God, losing the ability to harm because of the ministry of Jesus before others and before the Father. Paul in Romans 8:31-33 builds on this idea when he asks that if God is for us, who can be against us God? The reason is that God gave the Son for us, and therefore will not allow any charge to be brought against the elect. Because of Jesus, there is no one left to condemn, since Jesus is interceding for believers. Thus, although Paul does not speak specifically of Satan the way Jesus does, he expresses what that fall means.[22] The saying foretells the end of the rule of Satan.[23] It is a reminder that throughout the ministry of Jesus he struggles with Satan. This presupposes an earlier battle in heaven, like that described in Rev. 12:7-9. This visionary cry of joy leaps over the interval of time before the final crisis and sees in the exorcisms performed by the disciples the dawn of the annihilation of Satan.[24] Here is a sure sign of the impending triumph of good over evil. It refers to the conquest of demons by the disciples on their tour. It is a symbolic way of summing up the effects of the mission of the disciples. In the context of his numerous exorcisms, Jesus sees evidence of the gradual but decisive triumph of the rule of God in his ministry over the powers of evil. We have an expression of the prophetic self-consciousness of Jesus[25] preserved in the Jewish-Christian community as a promise to the missionary work of the Jewish-Christian community[26]: Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, a daily threat in Israel that had become symbols of evil, and over all the power of the enemy, Satan pictured as rule over a kingdom,[27]further showing their defeat in the ministry of Jesus; and nothing shall hurt you. We need to note the similarity with the apocryphal ending in Mark 16:17-18. Paradise is opening in this calming of natural dangers.[28] Yet, the focus shifts from the success of the mission to their heavenly status. It focuses on the preaching of salvation while warning against giving too great an estimation of the miraculous.[29] More importantly, in context, the redeemed stand in the book of life already. It plays down the exorcisms and mighty acts the early community so treasured by guarantee entry into the rule of God.[30] Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names (as persons of individual worth) are written in heaven. The solemn image of the ancient custom of inscribing in a list of citizens, here linked with the idea of the book of life, those belonging to Jesus becoming the inalienable possession of God and citizens of heaven.[31] The ultimate source of joy for a messenger of Jesus, he concludes in his summary of mission activity, is that those who proclaim the rule of God are already members of it. Jesus attempts to turn his returned missionaries' minds away from the dazzling displays of divine power they have participated in and focus them instead on the still-greater miracle that has occurred.
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[3] (see Robert J. Karris, ("The Gospel According to Luke," in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary [Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990]). 701.
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[22] Forester, TDNT, VII, 157.
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[31] Schenck, TDNT, I, 769-70.
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