At this stage, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem – and death. He is in Samaritan territory and some of the Samaritan towns are very much against anyone supporting Jerusalem. These 72 must have been fearful.
But he said to them, “The harvest indeed is large, but the workers are little. Therefore, be begging the Lord of the harvest so that he may dispatch workers into his harvest! Withdraw! Look and see! I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals! And greet no one along the way!”
The 72 are small in number and the task is big. One discouragement looms large – they will be “lambs in the midst of wolves.” But the surprising thing is that they must go out without any visible resources of any kind. Upon what, then, are they to rely? And what will people think was sustaining and motivating them as they went out like this?
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“But whatever house you may come into, first say, ‘Peace to this house’! And if a son of peace may be there, your peace will rest over upon him. But if not, it will turn back upon you. But stay in the same house, eating and drinking the things from them! For the worker deserves his reward. Do not move over from house into house! And whenever you may come into a town and they may receive you, eat the things set before you! And cure the disabled in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you’! But whenever you may come into a town and they may not receive you, coming out into its streets, say, ‘The dust also of your town, clinging to our feet, we wipe off to you. Nevertheless, know this! That the kingdom of God has drawn near.’ I state to you that it will be a more bearable thing in that same day to Sodom than to that same town.”
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The 72 are given one single opening message to say to every “house” which they may come into: - “Peace to this house.” Can you understand why, yesterday and today, that was an attractive message?
The 72 are also given one single closing message to say to every “town” when they move on: - “The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.” That message applied when they would be well received. That message applied (with added emphasis) when they were rejected. “Near.” “Near.”
“Alas to you, Chorazin! Alas to you, Bethsaida! For if the powers that came to be in you had come to be in Tyre and Sidon, they could have changed their minds long ago, sitting down in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, in Tyre and Sidon it will be more bearable in the judgment than in you. And you, Capernaum, you will not be exalted up to heaven. No. You will be cast down as far as the hades.”
These words – immediately above – were spoken to the 72 before they went out. They weren’t spoken to the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. The words therefore indicate Jesus’ strong emotional distress about what lies ahead for those cities. This distress over these people set Jesus on the road to his own death in Jerusalem. It sent out the 72.
“The one hearing you hears me, and the one rejecting you rejects me, and the one rejecting me rejects he who sent me out.”
These messages of “peace” and “the kingdom of God near you” were to be as decisive for the “hearers” and the “rejectors” as if Jesus had personally spoken to them. That heavy burden was upon the 72 as they went out. This was ‘make or break’ for the people with whom they lived.
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But the seventy-two returned with joy, stating, “Lord, even the mini-gods are subject to us in your name!” But he said to them, “I was looking at the adversary, like a lightning-flash from heaven, fallen.”
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When the 72 returned to the Lord Jesus, it was to confirm the wonderful effectiveness of their ministry and testimony. They testified, “mini-gods are subject to us in your name.” People were delivered from their obsessions within. Not only that, Jesus told them, but he “was looking at the adversary ... fallen”. THE spiritual adversary, not just the mini-gods.
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