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Grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s sermon text is the gospel read earlier. Please be seated. A trinity of twelves. Moses called seventy elders to assist him, but in Luke’s gospel, Jesus, the second Moses, calls seventy-two. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. He sent them in teams of two. The Lord tells us that by the testimony of two or more witnesses, all things will be made certain. So, 72, broken into teams of two each… comes up to 36 preaching teams, three twelves, a trinity of twelve.
There’s so much in this text we might overlook, so much we might confuse, if we don’t listen carefully or clearly to what the text is actually saying to us. For example, verse 2 often sends us off down a dangerous and wrong-headed path. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few.” We know it by heart. Immediately we think, poor Jesus. There are so many people that need saving and so few laborers gathering people into the church and ultimately into God’s heavenly kingdom. Clearly Jesus needs our help. He’s practically begging us to come help him.
In fact, if we don’t step up to the plate, start telling people about Jesus and that the kingdom of God has come near, then many will perish eternally. Seriously, does that at all sound like the rest of Scripture? Does Jesus ever teach us that our salvation depends on us? Or even worse than that, that someone else’s salvation depends on us stepping up to the plate and saying the right words? “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” What else can it mean but that Jesus can’t possibly do it without his thirty-six teams?
Now listen carefully again. After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. See, Jesus didn’t need those 72. He himself was going to go to every town and place where he sent them ahead of him. In fact, listen to Matthew’s account. “And Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.'”
Matthew tells us that Jesus went to all the cities and villages. He taught in all the synagogues. And he didn’t heal some or most of the diseases and afflictions. Rather, he healed every disease and every affliction. He’d already done it all by himself. He didn’t need the 72. In fact, what Jesus literally says is, on the one hand, “The harvest is plentiful,” and on the other hand, “The workers are few.” He laid out the situation before his disciples.
But Jesus wasn’t crying for help. Rather, he was inviting us to believe that there was room for us in his mission and in his ministry. He doesn’t have to have us in order to bring salvation to all. But dear Christians, he doesn’t want to work in any other way than through you and me. He doesn’t cry out, “Please help me, it’s too much. I can’t do it all alone.”
Let’s listen again. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest.” He isn’t asking for us to help. He’s telling us to ask the Lord to do more, to send more workers. Ask the Lord to let more people help in proclaiming his kingdom and bringing more into his church.
In fact, later in Luke’s Gospel, during Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ disciples were hailing him as the son of David. And we hear some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” You see, if we don’t proclaim God’s word to the world, he would cause stones to cry out. God will see to it that his kingdom is proclaimed to all the world if he has to do it all himself.
But today he invites us to believe that there’s plenty of room for us in his mission and that he wants us to participate in his mission. Ask the Lord, pray to the Lord to send workers into his harvest field and be prepared that that someone he sends might be you. See, mission is never ours. It is never our burden. It isn’t something we’ve got to do, but something we get to do. Something the Lord lovingly invites us to be part of, to be used by Him in whatever way He has gifted you.
Throughout Luke’s Gospel, we have seen and will continue to see that everything we are called to do is to be done as a response to God’s mercy and grace to us. We aren’t trying to earn or bring about God’s favor, but we are responding to the fact that he has already done everything for us and given us salvation and eternal life freely. Jesus sent out his 72, perfectly reflecting their faith in him alone.
He says, “Go your way. Behold, I’m sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you and remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide.” They were in his hands and under his protective care. He called them. He sent them. He spoke through them. He performed miraculous healings through them. He fed and clothed and housed them and provided everything they needed in this life just as He had provided for their eternal life.
Because things don’t tend to end well for lambs living among wolves. And what really is our part in this mission of the Lord’s to save others as He saved us? The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore, pray. Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest.
Therefore, pray. His burdensome command that is laid upon our shoulders that others might be saved is to ask. Ask the Lord for help. Ask the Lord to send a worker into his harvest field. Dear Christians, it is not upon your shoulders that the Lord has laid His mission to save the world from sin. You are God’s mission. God sent His one and only Son to save you. And He called twelve disciples, and today we rejoice that He sent three more twelves to proclaim Him and His kingdom to the world.
And many heard the good news and believed and welcomed Jesus and His disciples into their home, and a house church was formed. Perhaps you remember the same thing happening in your life, or your parents, or your grandparents. For me, it was my grandparents from Missouri. A pastor was sent to start a new church, and they opened their home to him, and their home was used as the church until a larger building was built.
First, the Holy Spirit calls us to faith through the Word, and we continue to be nourished in that faith through Word and sacrament. And suddenly we find ourselves using our gifts and talents to serve a mission greater than ourselves or our earthly endeavors. And our seemingly secular jobs don’t just feed, clothe, and house our family. Rather, they are gifts from God that fund the Lord’s mission through our offerings.
Our service in the choir, on a board, encouraging and caring for Pastor Knuckles, whom we asked the Lord of the Harvest to send to us, are all ways the Lord is using us to accomplish His mission. Coming to church in Bible class to continue to receive the Lord’s Word and sacrament is what equips us to invite a neighbor to church or share with a co-worker something we learned from pastor in Bible class.
We don’t got to; rather, we get to be a part of something enormously larger than ourselves. Just as our parents or someone else first shared God’s word about the free salvation we have in Christ and the Holy Spirit brought us to faith, so also the Lord invites us to believe that He doesn’t have to but he wants to use us to save others.
Not by all of us becoming pastors and going out to new cities and starting churches, but to see in every aspect of our lives that he is open to using us to be part of someone else’s eternal salvation. The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. There’s room for you. However God has gifted you to serve his mission, whether you become a world-renowned evangelist or a quiet servant who sets up the coffee for Bible class, we are God’s mission, and we are His instruments in His mission to reach others.
Jesus said to His 72, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the Spirit submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Christians, your names are already written in heaven. That is the fuel and the motivation for sharing that good news with others. Our part in Christ’s mission first flows and foremost flows from His free salvation bestowed on us.
Praise God. There is room for us in His kingdom. And in his mission. Amen.
May the peace which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, to life everlasting. Amen.