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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today our Lord Jesus gives us this glimpse of not just what might seem as the apostolic mission to come, but actually the entire mission of the church, the entire church of God, a glimpse of what it will be like and what it is now like to live as a member of Christ’s church, to be a Christian, to be, especially living in this hostile and materialistic world and yet… as we confessed and heard in the rite of holy baptism at 8 a.m. that we are now still separated from the multitude of unbelievers.
Now last week, if you were in early service, you heard pastor preach on Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ. If you were in late service, he preached something totally different. But it was during the early service when he said, you know, this is this moment and Jesus is taking his disciples up there into the area of Caesarea Philippi. And… Jesus is using this time away from the crowds as a time of personal refreshment and kind of individual prayer. But he’s also taking his disciples up there so that he can teach them. And he’s really actually now preparing them for what’s about to come, as we see today.
When he actually told them what was to come, namely that he was to suffer, he was to be rejected by the authorities, he was to be killed, he was to be resurrected. Well, this response that Peter gives him, right, it elicited this rebuke back to Peter where Christ says, not only get thee behind me, Satan, but he says, you are focusing on the things of man. You are setting your mind on the things of man. A little bit earlier in Luke chapter 9, we see the same account of Peter’s confession without the rebuke. But today we have Luke’s account of the 72, which is not.
So first there is kind of this minor disagreement, maybe mild controversy about this number 72. Is it really 72? Some of the old manuscripts and even modern translations say 72. Others say no, it’s 70. And there are people that this really matters to, but for our purposes, I think we simply want to know that this was a bigger group, that Jesus is wanting to build on what has already been done. And Jesus of himself is, of course, on a mission. I think Luke particularly, he really captures this earnestness of Jesus, this dedication to Jesus, because also in chapter 9, he says that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Now, we hear very similar words from the prophet Ezekiel where the Lord told him, set your face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them. Set your face against the daughters of Israel, of your people, and prophesy against them. Set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel. So I think it’s more than just Jesus turning, making a right turn and heading south to Jerusalem. It’s that he is now directing his entire effort, his complete obedience and resolve to finishing what it is that the Father has set before him. His desire is for the Father’s will completely.
Jesus, too, is going to prophesy against Jerusalem, and he is going to weep over the city in its coming destruction, and he is going to declare judgment to all those who reject it. So things are getting serious, and the time is drawing near, but there’s still much work to be done, the work that Jesus is now directing these 72 to go and do. Now we know from previously in Luke that the disciples were sent into Galilee and others were sent into Samaria. But now these 72, they’re about to get in on some of this action. And it’s not really clear exactly where they’re being sent, perhaps into Samaria, perhaps back into Galilee, maybe down into Perea, east of the river. You don’t know for sure, but for sure they are going where Jesus was going to be.
As I said before, this isn’t necessarily an apostolic mission per se, that would definitely come later, but it is definitely a preparatory one where they are going to proclaim that this kingdom of God is near, much nearer than they may know. For Jesus sees this. He sees this bountiful harvest that is ready. And he knows it’s ready because he’s the one who has sown it. And now all he needs is helpers. These 72 are but to go and gather it. And oh yes, they are to pray that there will be more workers to bring in the sheep.
Jesus gives them very clear and specific instructions about how they are to conduct themselves because he doesn’t want them to waste any time. He says Jesus sends them out in pairs and says, most likely, that there is some kind of accountability between the two who are going out, accountable to the message that they are sharing. But there could also be this idea that more than one witness should be there, this old law provision that more than one witness must be there to declare judgment. Maybe there’s something to it about safety in numbers, where Jesus does warn them that I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. So maybe two lambs are better than one.
They are to travel light. They are to forego all their possessions. They aren’t to worry about how they are going to be sustained on this mission. They aren’t even to adhere to this Jewish custom of greeting fellow travelers on the road. There’s no time for that. Jesus says they are only to stay in the places that receive them as messengers of the Lord, the ones who reciprocate this message of peace. And it’s not just this casual peace greeting like Shalom or something like that. It’s this peace of God that comes with this kingdom—the peace of God, as we say, that passes all understanding.
They are to eat whatever is given them. They are to remain in the same place and they are to labor from that house. They are to be content with whatever it is that they’re given. They’re not to look for a better place to live, to stay. In fact, this is actually kind of groundbreaking, that they are now not adhering to the ceremonial laws. They are, again, to eat whatever is given them. And it’s important because it’s not these laws that save. In fact, they are stumbling blocks to the gospel. We see this happening well before Acts, well before these controversies. They’re going to come up later with this coming mission to the Gentiles after Jesus has ascended.
In all these places, when they are received, they are to heal the sick. They are to bring the good news of the one who is near—this Christ the Messiah. Right? And also, in the towns that they are rejected, they are not to just kind of wipe their hands and say, fine, have it your way. And they kind of sneak out. They’re to make it known publicly that this will bring judgment. This rejection brings the judgment of God. They are to say, even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. For on that day, the day of judgment, Jesus will say, I never knew you. Moreover, for them, the judgment that comes to them will be severe, more so than that of Sodom, which was the most wicked of the pagan cities. And yet they are still to leave proclaiming that the kingdom of God is near.
That forgiveness does yet still await those who believe and repent. Jesus’ words about the wrath that will come upon Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum are certainly a stern warning, and they are called to repentance. But Jesus also utters these words with some level of sincerity, sorrow, and pity, lamenting that even as the people in these places, they’ve witnessed all these miracles that He has worked in the name of the Father, they did not respond in fear and trembling. So now the rejection of these men that he sends is not just a rejection of mortals; it is a rejection of him. The rejection of him is the rejection of the Father.
So they should not doubt the seriousness of their own mission, this life-and-death, this salvation-and-damnation message that they are proclaimed to deliver. Luke tells us that the 72, they return back and they are ecstatic. They come back with joy. They seem ecstatic. They seem quite surprised exactly what all it was they were able to accomplish, although they do give Jesus his credit. They glorify his name as it deserves, but perhaps they kind of wondered at Jesus’ next words when he says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
There’s a little bit of controversy and debate about what Jesus means here. Is he referring to Satan’s rebellion and expulsion from heaven? Is he talking about Satan’s visceral reaction to the incarnation of Christ? Is he talking about his failure to push Jesus into the temptation of the wilderness? Now it seems really Jesus is simply talking here about the power of the gospel, the strength, and the might of the word. Because it is the word being preached that is Satan’s downfall.
So the 72, they were happy to say the least. But what would their attitude have been like if they were rejected? What if they had been like those who went into Samaria and were rejected? Would they, like them, ask to be given the power to call down fire from heaven? Jesus kind of gives them this reality check. Sure enough, they were able to heal the sick and cast out demons as well. But this isn’t what they should be happy about; this isn’t what they should be euphoric about. Jesus tells them, do not rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
So they aren’t to gloat over this power they’ve been given, but over what it has accomplished and what that same word has accomplished in them—repentance and forgiveness and salvation. In the sending of the 72, we see this mission for the church, what the life of the church looks like, how it would then and how it does now grow by the harvest that comes when this word goes out. In Christians, we ought to remember that we are all workers in this field that is ready for harvest.
I think Jonathan really meant to have a different hymn as the hymn of the day, and I don’t know why he doesn’t check with me first. I just thought of it. When we have this text, I’m partial to this hymn: Hark the voice of Jesus crying. If you bear with me, the first verse goes like this: Hark the voice of Jesus crying, who will go and work today? Field your white and harvest waiting, who will bear the sheaves away? Loud and long, the Master calleth; rich reward he offers thee. Who will answer gladly, saying, here am I, send me, send me?
Now I know that we aren’t all necessarily called to do anything, maybe even remotely like what the 72 were called to do. Not everyone is equipped for the work of the ministry. Right. And we do confess this divine and scriptural establishment and mandate of the office of the Holy Ministry. But at the same time, we do proclaim the priesthood of all believers. Therefore, we are all representative of Christ’s church as we daily go out into the world, in whatever location that we’re placed in.
I think I’ve said this before, that we are not to go out these church doors and suddenly become someone else just because we’re not in the church. At least we should. We should leave here and go out all the way, all the time as disciples of Christ. Now, maybe you’re not dedicated to evangelism. It’s not active, but this comes across always in the way that we interact with others and the way we live because you never know who’s watching you, who’s looking at you. Some are waiting for you to mess up and sin and goof up, and so they can call you a hypocrite. There are simply others who want what you have. They want the joy that you have and they want to know how it is that they get that.
Now, perhaps on the other side, perhaps you are active in sharing your faith and you know this, that it’s thankless work. Maybe you’ve been rejected more often than not, but this isn’t something you should take personally. And as Jesus tells us, it’s okay to dust off your feet. He, after all, was rejected in the most brutal way, and many continue to deny him even today. So we shouldn’t keep score because we don’t want to concern ourselves with results, lest we fall into the sin of pride on one hand or the sin of despair on the other.
We should maybe hear St. Paul’s words from this epistle to Galatians when he tells us that we may not see the fruits of our labor today. But he says, in due season, we will reap if we do not give up. We do this labor that the Lord has given us to do in the hopes that everybody that we meet, everybody whose path we come across, will come to faith. We are indeed to do good to everyone. But we are also, especially, to labor for our fellow Christians. We are, as Paul says, to bear one another’s burdens. This causes us, requires us, to be selfless.
Because we have to do what Paul says. We have to crucify the flesh. We have to die to the earthly things and not be preoccupied and obsessed with gaining these things or worrying, even what the world thinks about. Jesus says to Peter, and he says to us, to set our things on the minds of God and not on the things of man. And then, like the 72, the main thing he wants them to do is pray. So he asks us to pray. Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest. So we should pray: Thy kingdom come.
Brothers and sisters, we are like the 72. We are being sent out as lambs in the midst of wolves. That is true. We might not ever suffer some type of personal attack, a verbal attack, or, God forbid, a physical attack. Rest assured that this world is against you. Sometimes I think we’re tempted to not speak up, to not share our faith, to be timid, to keep our head down, and not rock the boat. This is what Satan wants. Satan wants you to not think that you’re ever doing enough either. And the reason he thinks this is because he knows that Jesus has done it all. There’s nothing for you to do.
Brothers and sisters, every time the words of the absolution are spoken, every time, like this morning, when we pour this water in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and every time the gospel is preached from this church, Satan falls like lightning. So we too, we have this authority over Satan, and we ought to proclaim this to the world—a world that is in need of forgiveness. Amen.
So Jesus reminds us, the 72, not to rejoice in what they have done, but in what has been done for them. He tells us also to rejoice that our righteousness comes not through what we’ve done, but through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. He has taken our sin. He has taken all our failures, all our attempted evangelism that have never gone anywhere, and he puts it on himself. He is the reason our names are written in heaven and in the Lamb’s book of life.
As the 72 went out as messengers to prepare the world to receive the kingdom of God, to know that the kingdom of God is near, Christ also sends the Holy Spirit to us. He puts the Holy Spirit in our hearts that we may be ready to receive him in favor. That we may know not just that the kingdom is near, but it is here. Christ has overcome the world. So let us be glad in that. By his victory, Christ has overcome. He has put his name in our hearts. And in baptism especially, he has sealed his name in our hearts. In this, he has given us authority over Satan.
And more so than that, rejoice that your name is written in heaven. Amen.
Now the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.