Commissioning of the Seventy
Luke 10:1-9 records the commissioning of the next seventy disciples. Most who don't read the Bible, if asked, might say that there were twelve disciples. But in reality, although only twelve were originally commissioned, Jesus picked up serious followers along His course of ministry. By this point, there were seventy additional people who Jesus felt were strongly enough ensconced in what His ministry was about to trust them to go and preach to the surrounding communities as they went.
Think about that for a minute. In Jesus short ministry of around three years, He managed to create a base of one hundred twenty who would remain even after the turmoil of His death and resurrection to meet in the upper rooms in Acts 1:15. While it isn't clear whether the seventy and twelve disciples mentioned here all stayed true through the turmoil (clearly Judas didn't) Jesus raised a nucleus of believers to start His new church.
Never doubt the power of the Holy Spirit in changing the course of people's lives. If Christians don't seem as turned on to witness to others today, the blame doesn't rest with God. The blame is primarily because the church (all of us) aren't seeking the Holy Spirit baptism to have the power to witness [Acts 1:8]. In the time since Jesus had started ministering, these seventy (along with the disciples) had seen the power of God at work through Jesus, and chose to follow Him and spread His message to the best of their ability, aided by the Holy Spirit. Whether some turned completely away from their work or whether some, like Paul, were able to work as the preached, isn't stated. But they all made a decision to go.
If your denomination is having a hard time recruiting missionaries (or even pastors or priests) ask yourselves whether the Holy Spirit is at work in your portion of His church or whether you are letting man's spirit do the controlling. God's power will bring in those who want to work to further God's work (if for no other reason than worrying about Ananias and Sapphira). Man's power will bring in those who want to corrupt and get ahead themselves.
Jesus sent them in pairs so they would not be alone. They would have some immediate support as they worked. The harvest field is even larger today than it was then, but the laborers are still few. He warned them that they would be sent as lambs in a pack of wolves. Think about that analogy as well. Lambs don't survive in a pack of hungry wolves. If you think the way of a missionary is easy, you are wrong. The wolves, being led by Satan, are just as hungry today as they were then.
As when He commissioned the twelve, He encouraged them to let the Spirit lead them to the house they were to stay at, and if received, to stay and minister both to that house and from that house as a base until the Spirit gave them leave to go. He tells them to take food and drink as their pay, as their work was important and was worthy of pay. This hasn't changed over the years. Pastors are still worthy of pay. Whether that should go to astronomic levels as some television evangelists have done is a matter left to their conscience. The work is still important, and to be clear, it is work.
Jesus also commanded those pastors to both spread the message and let the Holy Spirit work through them, healing those who needed healing. If you are a pastor or missionary and the power of God isn't working through you to heal and work wonders in this day and age, then you need to seek God's closeness and direction. Jesus called the seventy to heal. I don't think His plan is to not have that continuing through the centuries.
Warnings Against Rejecting Missionaries
Luke 10:10-16 also records a dire prophecy for those cities and towns who rejected the missionaries He was sending out. He instructed the pairs of missionaries to go out into the streets of such a city and knock the dust off of their sandals or other footwear, declaring that the kingdom of God had come unto them to preach salvation, and they rejected it. They were instructed to tell those cities that rejected the gospel that their city would suffer worse than Sodom had.
If you recall, Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed with fire from heaven [Genesis 13:10-13, 19:1-28] because the people who lived there, outside of Lot and his immediate family, were desperately wicked. When angels showed up to get Lot to safety, the people wanted to have sex with them. It doesn't say much for Lot that he offered his daughter instead. The angels blinded them, and got Lot to safety. It doesn't say if the blindness lasted until the cities were destroyed or temporary. If "permanent" it might have been a blessing that they couldn't see the destruction as it came.
But consider the words of Jesus. It would be more tolerable for those cities on the plain that were consumed with fire and brimstone than a city that rejected the preaching of the gospel. God's grace extends fare beyond what we expect or deserve. But eventually, that grace runs out. How many cities and towns today suffer disaster because they have rejected the message of contemporary missionaries or rejected such missionaries in the past? It makes you think.
When the tribulation comes, and there are earthquakes in diverse places, how many deaths will be there simply because the people rejected Christ when it was freely offered? Many ask how long will God allow injustice and depravity to continue in the world (or in the church)? Eventually, His grace and patience will reach a point that He takes His protection away, and something bad will happen. All to often, at that point, people will switch to asking how could God let that happen? There is no pleasing people. But remember that even during the tribulation, God will be sending His angels to speak in all tongues warning to not accept the mark of the beast and giving everyone the gospel message to try to save them. His love never fails.
Jesus goes on to point out that two towns in Galilee, Chorazin and Bethsaida had seen Him perform great works and teach. Yet at least many there refused to accept Him. He pronounced woe on those two cities in particular. He then went on to say that if two great heathen port cities like Tyre and Sidon had seen the great works of God that the two local cities had seen, they would have repented of their sins in sackcloth and ashes, similar to Nineveh had done in Jonah's day. A similar judgment was passed on Capernaum, which served as Jesus home base but failed to turn to Him.
While I do pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to move and touch lives and do mighty works, I pray for this with the knowledge that as God does work in mighty ways through the Holy Spirit in believers lives, the same warnings that Jesus gave to those cities in His day would also be given to all the cities where the Holy Spirit is working and people refuse to repent. That's a scary thought for the world today. We need to be praying that God will work through us, but we also need to pray that the church will then spread the word so that people have the chance to repent and accept Christ. If a tree falls in a forest, does anyone hear it fall... is also something that the church has been guilty of over the centuries. We need to spread the word about God's work.
The final verse is the reality for rejection. If someone hears the words of a teacher, pastor, priest, missionary, evangelist, and those words come from Jesus, then it is just as if Jesus was speaking directly to them. They are all meant to be His agents to those He cannot reach Himself. If someone despises those people and their words, then it is the same a despising Jesus, and by extension God Himself.
Why to Rejoice
When the seventy returned from ministering [Luke 10:17-24] they were ecstatic. They had not only done what Jesus asked, but the devils themselves were subject to them. They delivered people from demon possession in a manner similar to what Jesus had done. They trusted that Jesus had ordered them to go out in power, and even though He hadn't specifically mentioned deliverance from unclean spirits when they were sent, they knew that Jesus did so, and had faith to try it themselves. Their faith was sufficient. Let our faith be sufficient to trust in God to work through the Holy Spirit in similar manner to how He worked through Christ, and to do greater things because Jesus is ascended to sit on the throne in heaven alongside God.
Jesus told them that He had seen Satan cast down from heaven when Satan rebelled, long before Adam and Eve. He told them He would keep them from accidental harm and gave them a promise that no matter what forces were arrayed against them, they would have an eternal life that could not be shaken by the powers of Satan.
Clearly, most of the disciples and many Christians through history have been martyred for the cause of Christianity. In the midst of many of these trials, God also delivered the disciples from prison at times. It will be interesting to see, one day, whether Christ intended His promise here to be more than just one of eternal life, and a lack of faith in His promises caused needless deaths.
I do know that even the Caesars of Rome couldn't stand against God, any more than the leaders we have today. But I also know that as the Roman empire killed of many Christians who may have been new to the faith and not had much faith to begin with, this would tend to sap the faith of even the most ardent believers. Faith is a tough concept and tend to rise and fall like the tides. Will Jesus find faith when He returns?
Jesus did instruct the seventy, and everyone else around, that celebrating that the spirits were subject to them (or by extension any of the works that God did through them) wasn't what was important in the long run. The important thing was that they were saved, and were going to heaven. We must not lose site of this.
It is important to pray that the Holy Spirit continue to do works and demonstrate the power of God. The world still needs this, and perhaps needs it more now than it did then. But unless these demonstrations lead people to accept Jesus as Savior, they ultimately don't do any good. The angels in heaven don't rejoice when God does a work (or at least it isn't mentioned). They rejoice when someone who was lost turns to God. That is the important thing that Christ was pointing out here.
Jesus then rejoiced Himself. He was glad that these people who were new to the gospel message were seeing and understanding and working for the glory of God. He was glad that the wise and prudent, which were probably a reference to the Pharisees hadn't been chosen of God to carry out these wonders. God had given Jesus the authority to reveal whatever about the future and the kingdom of God He wished to, to whomever He wished. This hasn't changed over the millennia.
A degree from a Bible studies program will help you to understand the word. But you will just be repeating what others have learned about the word during the history of the church. Don't doubt that Jesus can give wisdom to whomever He wishes, even today, with or without a Biblical degree. Just be sure that whoever you listen to and whatever you see or read lines up with the Bible itself. But don't limit yourselves to just those who have a Ph.D in Theology. As a CS/EE major, as I interviewed companies to decide where to work, it got to the place I could tell who had a Masters or Ph.D. Generally, the Ph.D's knew so much about so little that they weren't very useful as interviewers. The same, sadly, is frequently true in the Christian world.
Jesus then blessed the disciples, and told them how lucky they were to live in an age when they could see the kingdom of God being spread out on the earth before them. They didn't live to see what all would happen in the church over time, and most thought Christ would set up rule directly. But I'm pretty sure that if they had visions of the world we live in today, they would have been astounded at how the church has grown, and possibly saddened about the mistakes the church has made. Regardless, we should give the same praise and thanks to God every time we see a miracle or hear a prophecy straight from God. Think of the kings asking Daniel for help. To have the Holy Spirit available to us is awesome compared to what the Old Testament folks had to live through.
How to Be Saved
A lawyer asked Jesus what he needed to do to have eternal life [Luke 10:25-28]. I'd note that we all have eternal life - it is just the destination that varies. He though, was looking for and eternal life with God. Jesus turned the tables and asked Him what the law said about it. And the lawyer answered with the classic answer to love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. In addition to loving God, you should love your neighbor as you love yourself. And Jesus agreed, saying that if he did these things, he would have the eternal life he sought.
But the lawyer, perhaps examining his own heart, and wanting to be sure the fine points were hammered down, since he was a lawyer and argued the law asked who his neighbor was. Have lawyers always gotten a bad rap?
Just because the means for covering sin have changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the reality is that the way to eternal life really still boils down to the statements that the lawyer made once you have accepted that sin covering that Jesus offered on the cross.
Don't have any gods beside God, and love Him. Love Him with everything that is in you because He and Jesus gave so much for you that you can never repay in any way, shape, or form. And loving our neighbor as we love ourselves really encompasses all of the other commandments right there in a nutshell. If you can't love yourself, then maybe you'll have problems properly loving someone else. But if you treat others the way you would like to be treated - the essence of love your neighbor as you love yourself - that will cover most everything if you are a normal human being anyway.
Who is Our Neighbor
Luke 10:29-37 covers the nuts and bolts of Jesus response to the lawyer's question of who was his neighbor. It's known as the parable of the good Samaritan.
A Jewish man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho (literally as Jerusalem is 2,575 feet above sea level and Jericho is 846 feet below sea level). During the journey he was robbed and left half dead beside the road.
A priest came by and shifted over to the other side of the road because he didn't want to be defiled by a dead man. Perhaps he also felt he was on an important mission and didn't have time to stop and help. God's work comes first. A Levite came down and gave him a brief examination, but likewise shifted to the other side and went on his way. He likewise didn't want to be defiled or bothered.
Then a Samaritan came by, had compassion, bound up his wounds, took him to a place where he could lodge, gave the innkeeper money to pay for a room and food and drink and asked the innkeeper to take care of the man who was hurt and he would be repaid when the Samaritan returned from his trip. Realize that as a Samaritan, he would have likely had no interest in helping a Jewish person, and the opposite was also true. The two people groups didn't mix and didn't like each other.
Jesus then asked the lawyer which one of those three men acted as a neighbor to the man who was robbed and beaten. The lawyer was forced to admit that it was the Samaritan, who he probably looked down on from his position as a lawyer and important Jew. Jesus told the lawyer to go and do likewise. Jesus would say the same thing to all the rich and well to do in the world today. Go and do thou likewise. And realize that most anyone in a first world country is rich beyond the wildest dreams of the average person living in a third world country.
I try not to delve into politics to much on the awmach.net site. I generally let that rest on the awmach.com site. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that all Christians in first world countries need to show the compassion of the Samaritan to those who are less fortunate than them. Much of the world is worse off than we are. There are people starving. Many suffer through official or unofficial wars or live in areas where cartels or other non-official militia steal, kill, and rape indiscriminately. Trust in God that showing them mercy and love is the right thing to do. Don't close borders. Let the power and fruit of the Holy Spirit be shown. God will provide jobs for you and them. Put your faith in Him.
Any comments the lawyer might have made aren't recorded. Conviction is like that. If God is convicting your heart of your attitude toward any who are less fortunate than you, be a Christian difference in their lives. Vote for those who will make a Christian difference in their lives and trust in Him.
Service vs. Learning
At the end of the chapter [Luke 10:38-42] records the interaction Jesus had at the house of Mary and Martha, sisters. Martha went about preparing meals and serving Jesus and all of the disciples. Mary sat at Jesus feet and learned from His teaching. Martha was offended because she was doing all the work and Mary wasn't helping. She asked Jesus to order Mary to help.
Jesus told Martha that she was worrying about many things that didn't matter. At that point, it was more important for Mary to take the time to learn than to work.
Clearly, there is a time when each of us must work. If we didn't, civilization wouldn't have reached the place it is now at. Some may debate whether or not that would have been a good thing. But my dad always used to say, "There's one good thing about the good old days. They're gone and they're never coming back." And I would agree that progress is good.
But we also need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit. How many times does a religious experience end up being less than it could have been because the people in charge were so worried about the minute details that they overall work of God was lost in the details? We all need to realize that there is a time to be quiet and learn and listen to what God is telling us. Then, once we have heard God's direction, there is a time to put that direction into practice - to work.
All too often, we go about the work before we have fully heard the direction. And although that doesn't always end badly, it usually only ends well if God has to intervene and fix things for us. It is far better to get clear direction first.
Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. I'm sure that He was praying for the people and His disciples as part of His prayers. But He was also praying for direction and guidance on how to approach each new group of people or situation that He was going to face. While it may be true that for man, no battle plan is effective past the first encounter with the enemy, I'm pretty sure that God's battle plans are well thought out with all possible contingencies accounted for. It is just up to us to wait for the revelation of His full plan for us (or at least as much as we can handle knowing at once).
Mary was making the right choice. There are many Martha's in the church today. They're busy working, sometimes with little thanks or reward. It's easy to criticize the Mary's who don't seem to be doing much other than attending. But we don't know what God's plan is for those Mary's. They may go on to do greater things than we have ever thought possible.
Jesus realized that Mary worked as well, and would work later after He had gone. But He also recognized that at that moment, it was more important for her to sit and learn so that she could work more effectively later. God needs Martha's and Mary's, but realize that there are times when each person should be in each role. Let the Spirit guide you as to what your role needs to be at any time, and do your best to fill that role to its fullest!