Luke 10:1-12

Transcript

00:00:00:23 – 00:00:21:36
Clint Loveall
Thanks for joining us. Sorry about the technical stuff. We’ll continue to work on that, but we’ll be recording this. Some of you may log back in and catch it live. That’s great. Otherwise, we hope you get a chance to see this as we record it. We are in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. An interesting repeat in some ways today.

00:00:21:41 – 00:00:45:36
Clint Loveall
Just read this and then we can circle back to it. So verse ten or verse one, chapter ten after this, the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them ahead of him and pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.

00:00:45:41 – 00:01:11:44
Clint Loveall
Go on your way. See? I’m sending you out like lambs into the middle of wolves, carrying no personal bag, no sandals and greet. No one on the road. Whatever house you enter first say peace to this house. If anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person. If not, it will return to you.

00:01:11:49 – 00:01:40:03
Clint Loveall
Remain in the same house, eating and drinking. Whatever they provide for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome, you eat what is set before you cure the sick who are there and say to them, The Kingdom of God is come near to you. But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome, you go out into the streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.

00:01:40:08 – 00:02:03:27
Clint Loveall
Yet know this the Kingdom of God has come near. I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. So if this sounds familiar, it’s. Well, you have a good memory. Because months ago when we finished chapter nine, we started that chapter with a similar story in which Jesus sends out the 12.

00:02:03:32 – 00:02:28:32
Clint Loveall
Here we have a bigger sending both in terms of the number of those who are sent, that number being either 70 or some translations. Read 72. Your Bible may say 72, or it may have a footnote about 72. And not only are there more people sent six times the number, perhaps they are sent to a broader area everywhere that Jesus intends to go.

00:02:28:37 – 00:03:06:49
Clint Loveall
And this remember that we have talked about the connec ation between Luke and the Book of Acts. The same author clearly writes both. And here we almost have a prefiguring of the work that is done in Acts. This is a very much a kind of missionary type text there sent out there to do evangelism there to take peace into the house there to proclaim goodness for those who believe and a warning against those who don’t.

00:03:06:54 – 00:03:32:24
Clint Loveall
I don’t know, Michael, if Bible scholars know exactly what to do with this text, I think it stands out as unique. The sending of the disciples is more common in the Gospels. This story really sets a kind of pattern, and I think we have to say, for Luke, it is a kind of bridge text between the moments of Jesus on witness and the moments that are coming in the missionary era.

00:03:32:29 – 00:03:54:57
Michael Gewecke
This is a very Luke in kind of theme because you see, and maybe you see it more clearly in Acts than you do in this book, but I think it’s embedded in both really, this kind of movement that’s natural to the telling of this story. So in Acts is very clear because it’s Judea, Samaria ends of the earth, and then that is mirrored in the book.

00:03:55:12 – 00:04:27:05
Michael Gewecke
The first couple of chapters lays out the pattern and then the rest of the book follows that pattern here. You see that movement as Jesus essentially chooses his disciples, and then he trains them and then he teaches them, and then those 12 are sent out. Now, today and importantly, we see the 70 sent out, this being that number of people that continues to grow, that movement is, I think, the thing that we’re supposed to see here, that Jesus is not stagnant.

00:04:27:06 – 00:04:50:40
Michael Gewecke
His ministry is not caught in a particular way. It continues to grow. It continues to be compelling and some of that is what you speak of, that missional nature of the task that Jesus is sending out these 70 who are now going to go be sharing the good news that they found in Jesus Christ. And there’s some really interesting notes in here.

00:04:50:40 – 00:05:12:43
Michael Gewecke
The idea that the Lord of the Harvest is sending out labors. We get this image in a number of the different gospels, but it’s going to be difficult being sent like lambs in the midst of wolves, that there’s going to be struggle and challenge. But they’re not supposed to come with any kind of protection for themselves as they go.

00:05:12:57 – 00:05:34:58
Michael Gewecke
No personal bag, no sandals, the idea of greeting no one. It’s an important task. You should be out on the road. And I think there’s other some really interesting details, things like the house that you enter say peace to this house. We forget that the earliest church was indeed a house, church, church. It was a group of people who met in the homes.

00:05:34:58 – 00:05:58:53
Michael Gewecke
And that’s the places where evangelism happened, and that’s the place where the faith grew. And so even here in Luke’s gospel as the 70 go, they’re not going to Coliseum, they’re not going to huge gathering places. They’re they’re meeting people along the road, literally the towns that they go. And it’s in those encounters that the gospel is spreading, the 12, the 17, these 70 are going to multiply even more.

00:05:59:04 – 00:06:19:52
Clint Loveall
I think that’s an important part of the text. Michael. And a good point. You know, we live in an era where you can drive into most towns and find churches. You know, even in this part of the world, you can drive into even relatively small towns and find two, three, four or five, maybe a half dozen churches in some cases.

00:06:19:57 – 00:06:53:56
Clint Loveall
And it it is hard for us maybe to remember that the movement of Christianity is very much a grassroots movement. It is relational at first. It is people going out and telling others it is very intentional evangelism, not by designated pastors and not by designated evangelists, but by people. Whoever these 70 are, they’re part of a little bit larger community that have been drawn to follow Christ.

00:06:53:56 – 00:07:18:51
Clint Loveall
They’re not in the inner circle. They’re not the 12. But these are believers who are sent out with this idea that they don’t need to take anything, that they are going to rely on God and that they’re going to interact with people where those people are, and that if they can do good, they should do it. And if people will listen, they should stay there and preach and share.

00:07:18:55 – 00:07:59:47
Clint Loveall
And if they can’t, they should move on. They should leave a warning to those people that they stand in need and and they should go on to the next thing. And I think maybe in the era we live in that is so entrenched in Christianity being tied to buildings and churches and denominations, it’s a nice reminder that the essence, the beginning of the gospel is really people sharing good news with other people and I think it’s important to be conscious of that if we’re going to understand both where Christianity comes from.

00:07:59:47 – 00:08:09:51
Clint Loveall
But in some ways, what it was, what it was meant to be, how it grew and how it moved among its its first its first world.

00:08:09:55 – 00:08:35:47
Michael Gewecke
Well, just imagine how uncomfortable of a call this is from Jesus. There’s no built in plan, really, for this other than the plan to move. And so here we have these folks who are going out and the text makes it very clear, remain in the same house, eat, drink, whatever they give. You. Don’t move around when you’re welcomed.

00:08:35:49 – 00:08:57:27
Michael Gewecke
That’s good. And you should stay there. And when you’re not welcome, then it’s for you to get out of town. That’s just admitting from the start that this is going to be a journey of faith, and that is maybe sometimes a lesson that we struggle to internalize when we have church buildings that we like to go to on Sunday.

00:08:57:27 – 00:09:21:12
Michael Gewecke
And in some cases we have a seat within that church building that we return to every week. And there’s a kind of constancy, a repetition to the practice of our faith. And that’s not a bad thing necessarily, but it does keep us from seeing the kind of day to day what’s going to happen for the next meal kind of faith that the earliest Christians couldn’t take for granted.

00:09:21:12 – 00:09:43:31
Michael Gewecke
And it’s the kind of witness and hospitality that we see being lived out by these folks as they’re willing to hear the words of Jesus and they’re willing to go forth and they’re willing to take him at his word. That’s a beautiful expression of faith that’s in our DNA, in the faith. And I think it’s worth returning to and seeing lived out in a text like this.

00:09:43:44 – 00:10:16:12
Clint Loveall
Probably of all the gospels, which all have elements of that and, and would all echo that. Luke is in some ways the most missionary minded. And so we get essentially two versions of this story, one with the disciples and another with this unknown group of 70, which may or may not include the disciples. Doesn’t seem to. It may be in addition to whoever, whoever these people are might be.

00:10:16:12 – 00:10:41:51
Clint Loveall
In addition to the 12, though, if you wanted to argue that that includes the 12, I suppose you could. I would not think that be a very important argument. But one way or another, there is this group that is sent and it is Luke’s purpose that we would remember that there is an inherent centeredness in believing the gospel for all Christians.

00:10:41:51 – 00:11:11:43
Clint Loveall
There is the idea of being missionaries, of a sort of sharing good news of the way that we portray the truth of the gospel. And it is serious. You know, Luke has this text ends with a hard words for the town that turns away the disciple for a town that is entirely uninterested in truth, for a town that will not welcome the gospel we have here.

00:11:11:43 – 00:11:24:31
Clint Loveall
I tell you on that day, more tolerable for Sodom, then for that town, that that’s a strong warning. And I think Luke wants us to know that this is this is serious.

00:11:24:36 – 00:12:05:25
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, it is serious. And it does echo some of the Old Testament texts that we actually do have in which the 70 are salt sent out there. There’s some Old Testament prophetic kind of things happening here, which is more akin to the gospel of Matthew, where prophecy is being fulfilled at each and every turn. But there is the awareness here to Clint that we’re moving into a section where Jesus has some very harsh words for those who don’t believe, and there’s a transition happening in this idea that it’ll be more tolerable for Sodom than that town, that that is a warning of judgment.

00:12:05:25 – 00:12:32:27
Michael Gewecke
And we’re going to see more of this as Luke begins to move us closer to the cross. I think it’s worth noting that there’s a lot at stake in the practice of Christian Witness, and that has been since the very beginning, the idea that Christians are called out into this town to have words to share, to be people who might live in the midst of the hospitality of one home, in one home in that place.

00:12:32:42 – 00:13:01:10
Michael Gewecke
And then what they do and say in that city to be like leaven, to be a force for change that grows by the power of the spirit, that place. This was the earliest Christians call to ministry and when you see stories like this in the gospel, it’s important that you see in them not just an account of what happened, but I think also, Clint, a text like this is supposed to be a ruler for Christians who come after.

00:13:01:10 – 00:13:21:55
Michael Gewecke
Right? It’s it is something that Jesus did. He called these 70 out. But this is also Luke teaching us something about what it means to be a Christian today. It’s supposed to form us as people who recognize that there is something at stake in the way that we live. Because those that reject Christ are on the other side of that judgment.

00:13:21:55 – 00:13:38:15
Michael Gewecke
And those who are within the frame, those those who hear the gospel are moved by it. They’re called to serve and love and go and practice the practices of faith like this text. I just think there’s many, many senses of Luke, including that kind of teaching in this text.

00:13:38:29 – 00:14:26:11
Clint Loveall
Yeah, there there is a great deal here. And, you know, interestingly enough, we mentioned on the outset that the translation here, some of the old manuscripts say 70, probably the the more the more compelling perhaps or the more number say 72. Interestingly enough, 72 was considered to be the number of nations on the earth for Luke. So again, for Luke, this idea of the universality, the the gospel is for the entire world, and that 70 or 72 are sent out into the known world, and that the known world then has to make a decision that disciples present the truth and people have to decide what to do with it.

00:14:26:11 – 00:15:04:44
Clint Loveall
And some will accept it and some will not. So very much a lukan text. This is this has kind of resonance with the Book of Acts, and I think we see in it some of Luke’s key themes. A helpful reminder, I hope to all of us that from its inception, Christianity was a faith that was designed to be shared and an expectation was inherent in the faith and remains inherent in the faith that it’s not something you keep to yourself, that it is for all people to have the opportunity to make a decision about the gospel.

00:15:04:44 – 00:15:07:17
Clint Loveall
And so lots of that here today.

00:15:07:30 – 00:15:42:46
Michael Gewecke
It’s a great summary, and I think the only thing I’d add to it is and also note that there’s absolutely zero surprise in this text that there will be those who reject it. It’s not only true that it will be received and it will grow like a seed, but it will also be rejected. Luke makes it abundantly clear that that is to be expected as part of the process, and that is actually an interesting part of the faith, is to expect that the gospel will not always be heard with positive verse and to know that faithfulness is to still respond appropriately in those cases.

00:15:42:46 – 00:15:58:26
Michael Gewecke
And that’s really a teaser for tomorrow, because Luke is only going to go further down that road with the woes for those that will do the rejecting. So that said, we’re glad that you joined us here today. Sorry for the technical difficulties getting started. We will see you same time tomorrow. Until then, be blessed.

00:15:58:40 – 00:15:59:27
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.