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 10:1-16 contains sayings concerning the mission of the seventy. The basic source is the material common to Matthew and Luke. This text is part of the larger "Travel-Document"- recounting the journey of Jesus and his disciples from the northern region of Samaria to Jerusalem in the south of Israel (9:51-19:27). This journey constitutes the final major episode in Jesus' public ministry of teaching, healing, and religio-political activities. 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 is a "doublet" of the sending of the Twelve.
An important focus of Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 is the ministry of Jesus' disciples, whom Jesus commissions to a powerful ministry in his name.
Here are instructions for the road. Think of it this way. The young riders had three basic tasks to complete during their labor: 1) travel light, 2) do not stop for conversation on the way, and 3) get the word out. From 1860 to 1862, the riders of the Pony Express dutifully carried mail and small freight parcels across present-day states of Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada to California. These faithful young men helped prepare the way for the coming of the transcontinental railroad and the Western Union Telegraph Co.
The early church rooted its own missionary activity in the mission charge of Jesus. The only impediment to this is that they do eventually desert 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.
1After this, Jesus' stern words about the necessity of unwavering resolve for the sake of the kingdom of God - "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (9:62) - sets the context for the commissioning of those who are truly worthy to perform acts of miraculous ministry. Luke deliberately contrasts between those beset by ordinary concerns and those who are able, through firm devotion, to perform extraordinary feats in Jesus' name. Luke emphasizes the difference in language that is stronger than the parallel admonition in Matthew (8:19-22). Luke refers to Jesus as the Lord, a title found in the narratives of Luke and Acts (e.g., Luke 17:5-6; Acts 9:10-11, 15, 17). To the early Christians, accustomed to hearing the same Greek word refer to the God of the (Septuagint) Old Testament, its ascription to Jesus would naturally have signaled his divine nature as one coeval with Yahweh. One can compare the explicit expression of this understanding in Philippians 2:6. The Lord appointed, Luke's vocabulary lending an almost political flavor to this current mission: appointed and sent. Luke's choice of words suggests that Jesus is acting here as would a head of state, with all the authority such a leadership role entails. The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them. Seventy was the number of nations of the world, according to Genesis 10, or 72 in the LXX. It seems apparent that Luke intends the number 70 to represent entire planet, empire wide missions. Ancient reliable witnesses attest to both "seventy" and "seventy-two" as the number appointed, and there is little external evidence on which to decide between them. Moreover, good arguments can and have been adduced to justify both readings on internal evidence. It is assumed, for instance, that the number symbolizes the nations of the earth as tabulated in Genesis 10:2-31; unfortunately, while that number is seventy in the Masoretic (Hebrew) text, it is seventy-two in the Greek (Septuagint) translation, with which the writers of the New Testament would more likely have been familiar. Accepted principles of textual transmission suggest that the more common number of seventy is likely the result of "ecclesiastical normalizing," and that the rarer number of seventy-two here and in verse 17 is more likely original.[1] Seventy is a common representative number in the Old Testament. We might think of the seventy elders chosen to accompany Moses to the revelation on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:1, 9). We might think of the seventy elders deputized by Moses to quell unrest in the wilderness (Numbers 11:16, 24). We might refer to the seventy years of patriarchal maturity before the birth of a noteworthy son (Genesis 5:12, 11:26); the seventy members of the house of Jacob (Genesis 46:27, Exodus 1:5); the seventy palm trees of Elim (Exodus 15:27); and the seventy talents of bronze used to construct the appointments of the tent of meeting (Exodus 38:29). However, the number seventy-two is far less common, appearing only once, to designate the number of cattle set aside for the sacrificial offering (Numbers 31:38). The Lord appointed and sent the seventy on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself 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 (cf. Deuteronomy 19:15, where two witnesses are necessary for valid legal testimony), and an example of the Christian life of harmonious cooperation.[2] 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. As we will see, not only are the 70 outnumbered and out-gunned, they are not even to provide for their own physical well-being.
10: 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. This desperate situation is the time of God's harvest. When people reach the limit of their abilities, God will intervene and perform great deeds. People cannot create the new situation that is necessary; God alone will choose the messengers. Therefore, prayer is needed. The saying of Jesus, however, implies that people, who go out into the world and proclaim the name of Jesus, will begin this angelic harvest. It appears the "harvest" image is eschatological in nature but not necessarily of a moment of end-time judgment. First, the harvest is plentiful - a good sign, a positive image, which suggests that this harvest may be the good things of the kingdom about which Jesus has been preaching and teaching. These "good things" include all the healings and other miracles Jesus has been performing as evidence of the approaching kingdom. Second, this verse points up the problem "the laborers are few." This admission opens the door for selecting and commissioning disciples. More laborers are needed, not to "rescue" a few before judgment descends, but so that more can be exposed to the blessings of the approaching kingdom which Jesus - and now the other "laborers" he will commission to serve alongside him - demonstrates through his ministry.
Jesus has a visceral response to people who are portrayed as damaged goods. Confronting the consequences of failed leadership, he declares it is time to gather up the broken lives of these people — the harvest — and that there is a great need for those who do such gathering — the laborers.
The image of the harvest is common in biblical lore.
Isaiah 27:12-13
12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel. 13 And on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 2:3
Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it were held guilty; disaster came upon them, says the LORD.
Joel 2:3
Fire devours in front of them, and behind them a flame burns. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.
Joel 3:13
Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Romans 1:13
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.
John 4:34-38
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.
The image of the harvest often carries the threat of eschatological judgment. The dispatch of workers, in Christian parlance, meant sending out missionaries to call people to repentance and prepare them for the last judgment. Yet, the image also expresses the notion that masses will gladly heard the good news of the gospel and were ripe for gathering into the burgeoning church. The sending and gathering are both under the aegis of the "Lord of the harvest," who is God. In other words, here is a saying could have been said by a Jew around 30 AD.
There are scholarly disputes over the tone and tenor of this “harvest” imagery. There are biblical precedents for interpreting “harvest” language in at least two distinct ways. A harvest is traditionally seen as an occasion for joy. However, harvest language has also been employed to discuss the picture of the Day of Judgment. Secondly, this verse points up the problem that makes the next section a necessity - the laborers are few. Jesus turns to the image of harvest. It can refer to the blessing of God, or it can refer to divine judgment. It is the context of the missionary call which gives the image its meaning here. The harvest here should be viewed as an eschatological blessing, not a judgment. The image of shepherd and harvest reflect the image of the dawning age of salvation. The harvest Jesus calls for in 9:37-38 is not a harvest of the people, but a harvest of blessing for the people. To distribute this harvest, Jesus first urges his disciples to pray for additional "laborers." The calling of the disciples at this point lifts them to a new stature, investing them with power and authority. Their calling stated in 4:19 will be fulfilled, that they would fish for people. The use of 12 connects the mission of the disciples with the mission to Israel. In giving directions for their mission, Jesus directs them to do precisely what he himself had been doing in chapters 8 and 9.[3]
This text marks a turning point in the establishment of the Christian church, as presented in the gospels. Up to this point in the story of the life of Jesus, Jesus himself has remained the focus of healing, teaching, and controversy; with this passage, the first commissioning of his disciples, others begin to assume some of the responsibility for the new movement that heralds the kingdom of God. That new movement will grow, with increasing diversity, as it extends beyond the borders of Galilee, into the Christian church.
Stories abound throughout history of those who have fully embraced this divine mission that Jesus gave to the Twelve he sent out to show compassion.
For example, around A.D. 369, Basil of Caesarea inherited a ton of money. He decided that the best use of this windfall was to glorify God by creating a place where the sick and the dying could receive care. He built what many call the predecessor to the modern hospital. Basiliad, as it was called, turned into something that looked more like a small city than a building dedicated to curing illness. The complex included facilities that could be compared to modern hospice houses, soup kitchens or infirmaries.
When Charlemagne became emperor of what would be called the Holy Roman Empire, he also made a compelling decree that all cathedrals and monasteries have an infirmary attached to the building. These small hospitals were dedicated to caring for the poor and sick. All of these acts contributed to modern hospitals, many of which continue to be religiously affiliated.
Prayer
Merciful God, you have said to us through your Son, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Upon this divine command, we pray heartily that you would grant your Holy Spirit richly to your servants, to us, and to all who are called to serve your Word, so that the company of us who publish glad tidings may be great, and that we may stand faithful and firm against the devil, the world, and the flesh, to the end, that your name may be hallowed, your kingdom grow, and your will be done. Graciously hear this our prayer, since you have so commanded, taught, and promised, even as we believe and trust through your dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.[4]
10: 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.} A common pastoral scene suggested the image of wolves threatening lambs. It suggests the image of the shepherd taking lambs out to pasture among wolves or wolves invading a herd of sheep. The image was extremely common in biblical and rabbinic lore.
II Esdras 5: 18 Arise then, and take some food so that you may not abandon us like a shepherd who leaves his flock in the power of cruel wolves.”
The band of disciples is not a safe 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. "Sending" was the main way of getting one's message out to others. We should not quickly relate this to the missionary activity of Protestants in the 1700's and 1800's as a missionary enterprise. 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." TDNT refers to such references, but then tries to make a strong difference between the sending in this text and that of the Cynic. 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.
Q10: 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.} The saying forbids the disciples to carry money, take a knapsack, or take extra clothes, sandals, or a staff. Why anyone would have made or repeated such an utterance, were it not that the hearers at one time took it seriously and literally? Many interpreters have softened their impact. Some have given them an eschatological significance. Instead, it outlines a form of asceticism: the profile of a radically impoverished way of life. The rationale we learn in verse 7 is that the laborer deserves to receive food and housing. Poverty gives the disciple the freedom to accept help. Paul’s refusal to accept compensation shows how concerned he was that his message remains credible. This was undoubtedly a common proverb, based on the laws of hospitality in the ancient Near East. They are similar to Mt 6:25-37. The itinerant ministry to which Jesus commissions his disciples bears little resemblance to the settled ministries that arose in Christian centers within a generation or two after Jesus' death. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Paul's ministry, in fact, was its itinerant nature, and the establishment of settled Christian communities with resident leaders is already clearly visible in Paul's correspondence (e.g., Romans 16; 1 Corinthians 16). Indeed, one may discern the nucleus of such settled Christian communities in the households of Peter (Matthew 8:14-15), Mary, Martha and Lazarus (John 11-12), and perhaps Jairus (whose daughter is raised just before the sending out of the disciples, Matthew 9:18-26). Those most directly affected by Jesus' ministry would be most likely to preserve and spread the account of that ministry.
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. 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.
10: 5 Whatever house you enter, first say the usual Judean greeting, ‘Peace (Shalom) 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. 7a Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide. ... 7cDo not move from house to house.} Thus, the first message they are to communicate is that of peace. If the house is worthy, let their peace rest upon it. If not, let peace return to them. Why would anyone in the context of first century Galilee repeatedly approach otherwise unfamiliar households in the first place. It could only be the hope there by of establishing an amicable relationship with the dwelling's unknown occupants. However, the first impression of the one in the home would be that of a beggar, a vagrant. The theme concerns the reception and rejection of traveling missionaries and how the disciples are to respond. Matthew is concerned about the house that is worthy, which means, for him, the house that is receptive to the gospel. The term "worthy" echoes the proverb. Jesus warns the disciples not to move around; they are not to shop around for good quarters, but to be content with the deserving host. The blessing promised to those who believe in the preaching of the disciples is a very real quantity: in the disciples’ words, God himself visits people, comes to them, or departs from them. The content of their message is summarized in the word “peace.”
Cynics begged. 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 possible 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 somewhat perilous existence for these homeless hounds of God. How could it not?
10:7b for the laborer deserves to be paid. The worker is worthy of his hire. One can do one’s work well, but one also needs to make a positive contribution to human existence. [5]
10: 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you.} Jesus counsels relaxing of Jewish dietary laws as part of the marching orders. Luke relates the story about Peter's vision in Acts 10:9-16 about eating non-kosher food, so Luke may have had reason to emphasize this saying. Such a notion would be radical for a Judean world with its strict dietary laws. Jesus himself was accused of eating with "sinners, that is, non-observant Judeans, according to Mark 2:16 and Q in Luke 7:34. Yet, Peter does not seem to be aware of this advice.
10: 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.’ Even curing the sick is to happen as part of their pronouncement of the kingdom. The arrival of God's kingdom was part of a general therapeutic practice. Many groups treated the weak or healed the sick. The appeal of such persons, offering health as heavenly rule in a social context otherwise lacking modern medicine and under foreign occupation, is not hard to imagine. One might have risked a little hospitality to see if what they said were true. They receive specific instructions for dealing with those who reject the messengers and their message. Jesus counsels a more traditionally prophetic gesture - shaking the dust from their feet. 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. When faced with civic rejection, an I will show you how foolish all this is disparagement of those who refused to receive them. Some scholars think of this as an example of humor. Rabbis said the dust of the heathen was polluting. However, this view seems far removed from Jesus, who rejected the concept that ritual impurity could result from contact with lepers, or the dead, or gentiles.
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 were now left to the judgment of God. The symbolic gesture depicted here responds negatively to an entire community's unwillingness to receive the missionaries. When faced with civic rejection, an I'll show you how foolish all this is disparagement of those who refused to receive them. Some scholars think of this as an example of humor. Rabbis said the dust of the heathen was polluting. However, this view seems far removed from Jesus, who rejected the concept that ritual impurity could result from contact with lepers, or the dead, or gentiles. However, Jesus’ inauguration of a “sacrament of failure” does not send the disciples out to fail. His order includes instructions for how to carry on in the face of failure. Hospitality was important in missionary preaching. Shaking the dust off implies they are heathen. It is not a curse. It is a testimony intended to provoke thought. This text concludes by offering a sharp contrast between the environment of faith and the environment of skepticism and rejection. The text is obviously meant to say something to contemporary disciples, sent out by Jesus into an often-rejecting world. Even though he gave them authority, he does not promise his apostles success or enthusiastic reception. 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. Parents worry about children in their thirties. Teachers working with their students. 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. Rather 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?
Christians can learn to forgive themselves and others, and not be afraid to lead "error embracing" lives. We must know when it is time to blow the dust off, roll up our sleeves and start working; and when it is time to shake the dust off, redirect our energies and go on our way. Jesus knew there was a time to get down to work and time to get out and get on.
We need a sacrament of failure. Just as there are ways to live that teach the world about Christ, there are also ways to fail that are uniquely Christian. Nobody likes to hear they are going to have to face failure in life. There is nothing like momentary success to make anyone's fear of failure grow exponentially. As servants of our calling, we must fight against the almost pathological desire and expectation to be liked by everyone.
We need to learn to handle failure and defeat gracefully. We can get back on our feet. We can take a break, put our lives and hold, and do something fun. Defeat or failure is not the end of the world. We can find a friend with whom to talk. We need to remember that we have this one life to lead. It will be better for us to dare mighty and glorious things, even though it will mean failure will be part of our lives. It will be a poor life if we neither enjoy nor suffer much because we have known neither victory nor defeat.[6] Our lives will end. We ought to fear far more that our lives will never truly begin because of our fear to fail.[7]
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” The early missionaries are finally represented as 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. To welcome an emissary was tantamount to welcoming the person who had dispatched the emissary. With the messenger of Jesus, Jesus himself and therefore God, enters the love of whoever welcomes the messenger. Jesus explains the inextricable bond between a master and an apostle, the sender and the messenger (compare Luke 10:16 and John 13:20). In modern parlance, we often use the phrase “Don’t shoot the messenger!” which implies our cultural understanding that messengers should not receive blame (or praised) for the actions of their masters. In the ancient world, however, a messenger or apostle had a closer link to the sender. For example, the Mishnah, the ancient compendium of Jewish law, states that “a man’s agent is like himself” (Mishnah, Berakhot 5.5). In his writing and sending of letters, Paul had to rely on this cultural convention to ensure the proper delivery of his messages among his churches (Philippians 2:25). In the same way, according to Jesus, welcoming an apostle is equivalent to welcoming that apostle’s master. The connection is drawn not only from the apostles back to Jesus (“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me”), but also from Jesus back to God (“whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me”). Thus, while Jesus Christ is the revelation of God, he is not alone. He has witnesses, and can therefore come to all people.[8] Such witnesses enter into the gap created through the temporal limitation of revelation.[9] 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.[10] In the history of the church, it became a way to buttress protocol for the reception of apostles and bishops. 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 Christian message to be threatened by unsubstantiated teachings, 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 actually applies to all followers of Jesus.[11]
Luke 10:17-20 describes the response of Jesus to the unexpected success this mission had.
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” The signs of miraculous healings are indicative of the rule of God.
Jesus acknowledges the success of the mission by his declaration. Q10:18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. Here is a sure sign of the impending triumph of good over evil. Luke understood the text as referring to the conquest of demons by the disciples on their tour. It may be an allusion to the expulsion of Satan from the presence of God, as in Rev 12:7-12. The saying is a symbolic way of summing up the effects of the mission of the disciples. Jesus' outburst ought to be taken in the context of Jesus' numerous exorcisms in this section of Luke, all as evidence of his gradual but decisive triumph over the powers of evil. In the ordinary faithfulness of these ordinary followers of Jesus, something extraordinary is taking place. God's promised reign is appearing, the powers of death and evil are being defeated, and Christ is being enthroned as Lord of all.
Lk 10:19 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. Snakes and scorpions were a daily threat in the lives of Palestinians, but they were also symbols of evil. It is a further explanation of the defeat of evil brought about by the mission. Such signs of power over the enemy are indicative of the rule of God. Yet, such signs are not determinative of that rule. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” The saying suggests a correction of the early church's own missionary activity. It directs attention from their success to their heavenly status. The ultimate source of joy for a messenger of Jesus, he concludes in his summary of Christian mission activity, is that those who proclaim the rule of God - "heaven" - are already members of it. Finally, 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.
One of the worst things that one can say of people is that greatness passed by, and they did not recognize it.
Winston Churchill had just delivered his tremendous "Blood, Sweat and Tears" speech. Harold Nicholson heard it, went home and wrote in his diary: "Winston makes a very short statement, but to the point.”
A newspaper editor in Harrisburg, 35 miles away from Gettysburg, heard Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He wrote in his paper the next day: "We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation, we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they should no more be repeated or thought of."
Producer Irving Thalberg told Louis B. Mayer not to buy the rights to "Gone With the Wind." You are stupid if you do," Mayer warned. "No Civil War picture has ever made a nickel," he reminded him.
In 1836, in the little village of Rushville, New York, Marcus Whitman heard the call of the kingdom in the West - a summons to go to those thousands of Native Americans beyond the Mississippi who had never heard the gospel. Therefore, he packed his belongings and, with his new wife Narcissa, set out as a missionary to the Oregon country, where they were destined to become two of the great figures in the history of the Pacific Northwest. After looking at the old record books of the Rushville church, the pastor reported about the activities of the church in his annual report: "Nothing of any importance ever happens here. We had one addition to the church this year, but he married one of our finest young women, and now they are both gone.”[12]
In the mission work of the seventy disciples of Jesus, Jesus saw the defeat of Satan and the forces of evil. What is preventing us from seeing the rule of God and letting it into our lives? We have become so specialized in our skills that we may become blind and deaf to signs of the rule of God appearing in unexpected places. Our egos are such that we may enjoy ruling our own domains and not see the arrival of the rule of God. The practice of religion can become so rule centered that we are more concerned with following the letter and fail to see the arrival of the rule of God in new ways. Our rigidity can blind us. Our fear of what the rule of God may mean to the way we live may also make us incapable of seeing and hearing its greatness.
In the Epistle to Diognetus, we read a powerful description of the Christians of the second century.
Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of humanity by country or language or customs. They do not separate themselves into cities of their own; they use no special language, nor do they follow an eccentric patter of life. Their doctrine, unlike that of many religious movements, is not based on human ideas or philosophy. Although they live in Greek and barbarian cities, depending on their place of birth, and follow the usual customs of those cities, they never cease to witness to the reality of another city in which they live. They share in everything as citizens, yet endure everything as aliens. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. They marry, like everyone else, and they beget children, but they do not expose their unwanted infants to the elements. They share their board with each other but not their marriage beds. They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the laws of the land but in their own lives go far beyond the laws' requirements. They love all people, and by all people are persecuted. They are put to death, and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, and yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are dishonored, and in their dishonor are glorified; they are reviled, and yet they bless. They are treated by the Jews as foreigners and are hunted down by the Greeks; and all the time those who hate them find it impossible to justify their hatred. To put it simply: What the soul is in the body, that Christians are in the world.
Every time I read this passage; my prayer is that the church today could breathe a bit more of its spirit. If so, the arrival of the rule of God would come in an unexpected and wonderful way.
Jesus may be able to get us to think differently about leadership. Jesus sent them into a dangerous place. One challenge of leadership is to refuse to make the issue about oneself. Leaders are never so big that they cannot bend down to help someone else. They are never so wise that they do not remember who taught them. They are never so gifted that they will not share their skills with others. They are never so fearless that they do not play by the rules and live by the law. They are never such big winners they forget what it feels like to lose.[13]
[1] (See the extensive note on the question by Kurt Aland and the bibliographic reference cited in Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament [London and New York: United Bible Societies, 1975], 151.)
[2] (see Robert J. Karris, "Luke," in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Roland E. Murphy, eds. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990, 701).
[3] In the opinion of Blaine Charette, "A Harvest for the People," Journal of the Study of the New Testament, 38, 1990, 29-35.
[4] – From Luther’s Works, vol. 53, Liturgy and Hymns, Ulrich Leupold, ed., Philadelphia: Fortress, 1965, p. 126
[5] Barth, CD, III.4 [55.3], 530-1.
[6] Theodore Roosevelt: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
[7] Cardinal Newman, in the last year of his life, wrote in his journal: "Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.
[8] Barth, Church Dogmatics I.2 [19.2] 487.
[9] Barth, CD I.2 [19.2] 500.
[10] Barth, CD IV.3 [69.2] 121.
[11] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume III, 366, 372, 375, 396.
[12] Eugen M. Austin, The Harvest of Spirit, 1943, 87.
[13] Denis Waitley, The New Dynamics of Winning, 1993, 145-146. At a benefit dinner a few years before, actor Jimmy Stewart gave a speech in which he tried to define leadership.
No comments:
Post a Comment