The Seventy-Two Sent Out
TRANSLATION
(1) After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out two by two ahead of him into every town and place where he was about to go. (2) And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (3) Go! I am sending you as lambs among wolves. (4) Take no purse, no wallet, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. (5) And when you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ (6) And if someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on that person. If not, it will return to you. (7) Stay in that same house. Eat and drink whatever they give you, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. (8) Whenever you enter a town and they welcome you, eat whatever they give you. (9) Heal the sick who are there and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’ (10) But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go into its streets and say, (11) ‘Even the dust from your town that clings to our feet we wipe off as a warning to you. Nevertheless, know this that the kingdom of God has come near.’ (12) I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that town.
(13) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. (14) But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. (15) And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No! You will be brought down to Hades. (16) Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
OBSERVATIONS
To broaden the impact of his outreach, Jesus commissioned seventy-two additional disciples and sent them out in pairs to prepare the area for his personal ministry. In the first paragraph, he gave detailed instructions to supply them with all the information they would need to carry out this assignment successfully. Repeated words included “sent/sending” (vss. 1 & 3), “harvest…laborers” (vs. 2) and “laborer” again (vs. 7), “peace” (three times in vss. 5 & 6), “house” (four times in vss. 5 & 7), “town” (four times in vss. 8, 10, 11, & 12), and “kingdom of God” (vss. 9 & 11).
The twofold use of the phrase, “woe to you,” opened the second paragraph (vs. 13). Also repeated in this segment were the place names, “Tyre and Sidon” (vss. 15 & 16), as well as the phrases, “listens to you/listens to me” and “rejects you/rejects me/him who sent me” (vs. 16).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus appointed seventy-two and sent them out to minister as his representatives. (1-3)
II. Jesus gave them detailed instructions to ensure the success of their mission. (4-12)
III. Jesus pronounced “woe” on those who would reject their message. (13-16)
IDEA STATEMENT
When Jesus sent his followers out to minister, he provided them with everything they needed to serve him effectively.
APPLICATION
Before giving his disciples instructions and sending them out into the region of northern Palestine around the Sea of Galilee to prepare the way for his coming, he gave them this command: “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Why would he require them to pray like this? Three suggestions help us to see that we should be using the same prayer regarding the outreach of the Gospel as we seek to carry out the Great Commission today (Mt. 28:16-20). First, by praying to the Lord of the harvest, we conform our desires to God’s will in requesting that he provide workers to accomplish the work of evangelization. If the harvest is of utmost importance to him as the Lord of the harvest, it should be just as important to us as we look to him to provide the needed workers.
Secondly, this exhortation helps those praying to understand that a successful harvest is God’s work. If the work of those taking part in the harvest is to accomplish anything of lasting value, it must be grounded in God’s enablement. Only when God answers our prayers will we ever see a plentiful harvest with lasting results. Finally, praying the Lord of the harvest helps us see that taking part in this ministry is directly an answer to our prayers and the prayers of countless other believers. Those who pray this way before they attempt to minister have the joy of becoming part of the answer to this prayer. When we consciously express our dependence on the Lord, we will far more readily maintain the balance between two extremes: indifference to God’s work (let others do it) and a sense of self-sufficiency (everything depends on us). Our sovereign God has thus decreed that those who are willing to pray and then go have the privilege of directly participating in the great ingathering of souls he has ordained for this present era.