Today we hear the price we must pay for discipleship, from this text of Luke. this week both Paul and Jesus use the language of harvest to describe the mission of spreading the gospel message. Paul reminds readers, " You reap what you so... If you sow to the spirit, you will reap eternal life from the spirit." ( Gal. 6: 7-8). Jesus tells his followers " the harvest is plentiful, but laborers are few. (luke 10:2). In our readings, Jesus and Paul are casting a compelling vision of mission. Just as the farmer sows seed, nurtures crops, and rejoices in the harvest, so is our active involvement in God's own mission required and expected. The expectations Jesus asked: " No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the " Kingdom of God." In this text, Jesus speaks of the mission of the "Seventy" that he appointed with orders to go ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; greet no one on the road, which may cause delay. 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; but if not, it will return to you.
Each Sunday we come to hear the good news. But, the words we hear from time to time is actually saying, " Run with the good news." There was little standing or waiting in reverence. A women at the well went rushing off to say, " come see one who has told me everything." Disciples went rushing away with exciting news that death was not the final answer. The word was let loose from the comfortable, secure intimacy of the little community. The understanding of this Lukan account of a command to run with the gospel is accompanied with some practical suggestions concerning the happenings along the way. The story is simple enough. Crowds had been gathering and now Jesus had sent out 35 teams of at least two person each telling them to run with the good news. It was no action in a vacuum. When they went there it would mean trouble. Not every villager would cheer. Not every community would be delighted. There would be temptations to stay on and be martyrs.
"Shake off the dust of that village and go on to the next." They were to be lambs among wolves. yet, the instructions called for a kind of bravery or elephant- skinned protection against a defeatist sensitivity.
There is a poignant little story concerning the sheep who knew that the magician to whom they belonged wanted their skins, that made them nervous. But he hypnotized and had them believing that losing their skins was good for them. In any case it wouldn't happen right away and that freed them from worrying about it much. In addition, they somehow had the idea that they stayed quietly where until the day came when they found out what nonsense all this was. Jesus is adept at using parables, but this was not one in his repertory. Those he sent out to preach were lambs among wolves.
They were men and women involved in an adventure that posed risks (physical). They were to confront resistance. They were under no illusions. But, they also had power. They had a gospel with which they could run to. Death was not the final answer. The word was let loose from the comfortable, secure intimacy of the little community. The understanding of this gospel account of Luke is the fact of commitment. There would be no hearing without commitment, and no running unless their was a sense of purpose. They listened to his words. They'd been intrigued with his personality. They had come with some sense of understanding of the discussions of the message of amazement, that now, this was their vocation. They had a sense that this was their vocation and their sense of passing the point of no return. It is like watching the great Apollo and hearing the awe-filled voice say, " Ladies and gentleman, the rocket is committed. Nine-eight--seven-six-five-four-three-two-one- we have lift off. The rocket is launched." But with warning. The age of Jesus had no understanding of rockets, but it understood with a clarity, that their was a time when a person is past the point of no return! Commitment is that last resort, an act of courage in the unshakeable conviction. Behind all experiences, however dark, is the voice of one who calls, gathers, and who works with his children for ends to high for their knowing. Jesus is often neglected and overlooked in the homes. The seventy had great success in the beginning and Luke reports at once, and they returned with joy. The report of the disciples was no news to Jesus. In his omniscience he had seen Satan himself., falling from Heaven like lighting. As spirits the devil and his angels. belong to the creatures above, therefore their destruction of the power, their conquest, appears as a fall from heaven. The entire life of Christ, from his birth to his burial, was a victory over Satan, which was passed on, transmitted to the disciples of Jesus. This fact must remain uppermost in a Christian consciousness. It will keep them from putting their trust in their own gifts and works. To those that are wise and prudent in their own conceit, that hope to find a way to a heaven of their own imagination and by wisdom of their own, to these the way of salvation is hidden.
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