First Pass at This Weekend's Bible Lesson: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

[Most weeks, I present as many updates on my reflections and study of the Biblical texts on which our weekend worship celebrations will be built as I can. The purpose is to help the people of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church of Amelia, Ohio, get ready for worship. Most weeks, I hope, it's helpful to others as well, since our Bible lesson is usually one from the weekly lectionary, variations of which are used in most of the churches of the world.]

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’...

16“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

17The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

General Comments:
1. This passage comes shortly after the beginning of a section which starts at Luke 9:51 and continues through Luke 19:27. In it, Jesus moves resolutely toward the Father's will that He die on a cross in Jerusalem. He faces opposition throughout. But also, as in this lesson, we also see foreshadowed the empowerment of Jesus' followers to spread the reign of God that will come to them following Christ's resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost.

2. The more immediate context is that in the narrative immediately preceding the lesson, Luke 9:57-62, three persons, for various reasons, beg off of following Christ. But in our lesson, seventy-two (or seventy) disciples willingly go where they're sent by Him.

3. This passage resembles an incident that occurs in Luke 9:1-6. There, Jesus sends His twelve closest followers--that group of disciples referred to as "the Twelve" or "the apostles"--out on a similar mission of preparation for His arrival. Several commentators suggest that with the sending of the group in this lesson, we see that every follower of Christ is called and deputized to share the life-changing news that all with faith in Christ have new and everlasting life with God. It foreshadows the mission for all His followers which the risen Jesus summarizes for two unsuspecting disciples He meets on the road to Emmaus:

...repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)

[More tomorrow, I hope.]