Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 Commentary

These words are utterly familiar and yet so few of us (myself included) actually take up the fullness of the call that Jesus gives to the seventy in this passage. Do we even take it up in part?

Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem and he commissions pairs of his followers to go out “to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Do we read this as just those places that Jesus intended to stop on his way to the holy city? Considering the larger scope of Jesus the Christ, that seems far too small: doesn’t Jesus still intend to go to every town and place? If we believe that Jesus’s message is still active today, then we must understand this intention. The call to be out in the world with the light of Christ continues.

And as Jesus sends his people to work and live as his witness, he tells them to start—and perhaps be in continuous—prayer. Jesus tells them to ask God for labourers, the very thing the people he is speaking to are! They are to ask for more to join in the good that they are doing. I wonder if the prayer request serves another purpose: as they go through the hardships that will inevitably come, as they pray for workers, they will be reminded that they themselves are the answer to that prayer. The practice of praying for workers will re-establish their call.

That reminder is so pivotal when the going gets tough. This is the reason most of us have rejected the audacious call that Jesus sets out here. We do not want to be lambs in the midst of wolves (even though we already are!), we do not like the idea of being uncomfortable and without the ability to provide for ourselves, or to be anywhere near a scarcity lifestyle or the poverty line. The thought of needing to rely on others is a bridge too far. All of these factors go against the very grains of our society and will make us stick out like a sore thumb and struggle.

And yet, how exhilarating are the results of being part of God’s kingdom coming near! The risk of vulnerability is met with provisions from people of peace, being part of a community of sharing, and the ability to say no to mistreatment (workers don’t need to stay where they are rejected: they can shake the dust off their feet and move on).

Jesus describes the seventy’s ministry as part of bringing an end to Satan’s influence and power; the Messiah includes the mission work of his people as part of his Kingdom coming in eternal fullness! Jesus describes to them the kind of power and protection that he gives to his agents of reconciliation and it feels too good to be true. Nothing will hurt us? We have more power than the enemy?

The scariest part of all is that we won’t know the truth of these promises until we have skin in the game. And we also know that it’s not necessarily a literal promise—just look at how Jesus’s own life turned out. No, the promise that nothing will hurt us as we become integrated into the Kingdom and its ways is much bigger than the physical. The promise of protection and power has more to do with being part of the heaven that is coming down to earth than it is about becoming the protected and powerful of earth. It’s an existential vulnerability that expresses itself in a willingness to be detached from all the worldly patterns and powers in favour of ones that look to a reality not yet fully here.

When I consider the lives of the strongest people of faith I know, there is no denying the hurt they have experienced. But that hurt has not stopped their faith and resolve to be part of God’s good purposes. Is that what Jesus means here? These are folks who take seriously Jesus’s words. That when Jesus promises that people will listen to you as though they are listening to Jesus isn’t an invitation to power and influence, but a warning of the gravity of the call to be Christ’s representative, doing Christ’s work. Let us pray to become more like the great cloud of witnesses, trusting that the Spirit is at work in all of this, drawing us closer to Jesus as we carry on in answer to his prayer for workers.

Textual Points

This text may sound familiar. That’s because it’s not the first mission sending Jesus orchestrates. Back in Luke 9, Jesus sent out the twelve with similar instructions. Now, the call has spread to the 70 (or 72). And as we know from the New Testament, it will continue to spread to the whole “body” of Christ!

Some scholars find another parallel to Moses here. Citing Numbers 11.24-25, they see the connection between Jesus appointing these workers to the seventy elders given the spirit of wisdom in order to help Moses lead the people of God.

Illustration Idea

Being sent in the name of someone with authority and therefore representing and expressing their power used to feel like something from a historical tale. Envoys sent to collect taxes from the peasants, army generals leading an army planning to occupy an area on behalf of their sovereign, etc. Perhaps we North Americans have been naïve to these practices in the modern world, but some Americans are beginning to get a taste of what power in the hands of a leader’s followers can do as DOGE employees pummeled their way through the government, and cabinet secretaries completely changed the fundamental makeup of their departments. And yet, the practice has always been true for Christians: we continue to hold the power of Christ for the good of the world. How are we wielding that power? Does it reflect our own sense of awe and appreciation that our “names are written in heaven”?