Luke 10:1-12
A. INTRODUCTION
1. An Employer’s Dilemma
When an employer is looking for workers, there are a number of issues they need to consider. Issues like: the skills that are required; the training that’s needed; the sort of person who would fit into the existing organisation; how much work there is; whether the person should be employed full time, part time, casually, or permanent; and the ultimate question: what happens if the person that’s put on turns out to be unsuitable?
From an employer’s point of view, it’s not always easy finding the right person for the job. I know, I’ve interviewed people for work myself. And from the perspective of working with the long-term unemployed, I know what it’s like trying to place potential employees.
Of course, in larger organisations the decision about who is employed and who isn’t, isn’t necessarily a task one person has to make on their own—others can be called on for help. But what if you were an employer? What if you were the one who had to decide who to put on?
2. Jesus, the Employer
Well something like that is the situation we find Jesus in, in this passage from Luke’s gospel. Only, in the case of Jesus, he’s not appointing paid employees, but volunteers. And that is even harder still.
Now Jesus knew that his time on earth was short, but he wanted as many people as possible to hear the good news he was proclaiming in the time that he had left. He desperately needed people he could send out to share the good news. But who was he going to send?
Of course, we might think, he needed people like Luke, the writer of the gospel. After all, Luke was a doctor of medicine—a well-educated man, with considerable literary gifts, who later established himself as a fellow worker, with Paul on his missionary journeys. As a consequence, if he’d been around earlier in Jesus’s time, he may have been an ideal person to be selected for the task. And if Jesus could have recruited people like Luke and other well-educated men, people with literary skills—people who were used to public speaking—then he would have had the ideal group of workers to send out.
But that’s not what happened. Because in this episode in the life of Jesus—that Luke wrote down for us to hear and read—it didn’t matter whether the people had qualifications or not. It didn’t matter whether the people were educated. And they didn’t need lots and lots of training either. All they needed was the willingness to go; the willingness to be used by God.
And so, in the story, Jesus (effectively) employed seventy-two people to help him. And their job . . . was to be an advance party. They were to go into the towns and places ahead of him—to prepare the way ahead—with the specific aim of making his remaining time on earth as profitable as it could be.
So, this morning, what sort of employer was Jesus? How did he pick his team? And what sort of training did he give?
B. THE STORY
Well, it may surprise, but many of the methods he used are still used by employers today.
1. He Provided Pre-Employment Training (9:51-62)
Because the first thing to note about this story (before even the selection process began) was that Jesus took a group of interested people—people from all walks of life—and provided some pre-employment training.
In the two preceding stories, Luke firstly described the open hostility and rejection of both Jesus and his disciples as they travelled through a Samaritan Village. And, secondly, he described the continuing trek down the road to Jerusalem, where Jesus exposed at least three people’s commitment to him as being very shallow indeed.
When we get to this passage, then, we can see that the potential candidates had already experienced something of the hostility that they would expect. They would also have experienced the more subtle, but superficial, beliefs of some people who called themselves disciples.
In other words, Jesus had shown them by example, what they could face, what reactions they could expect, and the appropriate responses to those situations.
2. They Were Hand Picked (10:1)
So, having provided some pre-employment training
The second thing that Luke tells us is that each of the seventy-two were handpicked by Jesus, and by Jesus alone.
Now we don’t know how many people Jesus had to select from, but there probably weren’t that many more people around. And we don’t know how capable these people were at carrying out the task. But if they were anything like the inner twelve disciples they would have been a very mixed group indeed. But what we do know, was that before the selections were made (as I said before) at least three people are recorded to have been challenged to the depth of their commitment. And there’s no good reason to think that he hadn’t done the same for others too.
So they may not have been what we might have considered the most ideal group of people. Despite that, they were considered as suitable for the task Jesus had in mind.
3. They Were Told What Was Expected (10:5-12)
The third thing that Luke describes is that Jesus gave instructions on exactly what was expected of them. They were told to go ahead of him into every town and place that he was about to go on his journey. They were told to enter each town, take what was offered them, and to preach the message of the kingdom. They were told to go into peoples’ houses and to give a greeting which, he warned, would not necessarily be received warmly. And they were told that if they were not warmly received, to warn the people that the kingdom of God was near, and to advise them that because of their rejection they would face the judgement of God.
Their instructions were clear cut; they couldn’t have been much simpler.
4. They Were Given the Tools for the Job (10:4)
And fourthly, Luke tells us, they were given all the tools that they needed to do the job (as well as instructions regarding what they didn’t need). ‘Carry no purse or wallet or sandals’ they were told, ‘do not greet anyone on the road’. In other words they were to travel light, and their mission was urgent.
And the tools they were given for the job? Well it was that they were to simply trust God; to trust that he would supply all their needs.
God would provide, when and where provision was required. God would provide shelter, food, and drink (and whatever else was needed) to each of the seventy-two. In other words, they didn’t need any special tools or talents at all. All they needed was faith in God in order to carry out their task.
5. Summary
As you can see, then, Jesus would have made quite an employer. He provided pre-employment training; he handpicked his workers; he gave clear and precise instructions on what they were to do—and not do; and he told them that there was only one tool that they needed for the task: faith in God.
Now, in reality this wasn’t the first time that Jesus had sent people out on a mission. Before this mission, Jesus had sent out the twelve disciples on a similar mission (Luke 9:3-5). He had also sent messengers before him to a Samaritan village (Luke 9:52).
And we also know that whereas in the past not all missions were received well, this one was. Because we know that, this time, the seventy-two ‘returned with joy’ (10:17). Mission accomplished.
But remember . . . those that were sent would not all have been educated or have the gift of the gab. They were ordinary people, who were simply asked to be faithful and to carry out the mission.
6. Future Missions
As a consequence, later down the track, it probably came as no surprise to the early disciples that between Jesus’s resurrection and ascension, when Jesus appeared to them, what did he do? He gave them instructions to go out again.
However, this time they weren’t just to go into the local towns and villages, encouraging people to come and meet Jesus. This time they were instructed to ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to all creation’ (Mark 16:15).
Educated or uneducated, skilled or unskilled, as far as the disciples were concerned, this was par for the course.
It was par for the course when Jesus was alive. And it was par for the course when he was resurrected from the dead. Indeed, after his resurrection, and filled with the Holy Spirit, they went out in the streets and moved out into the world, sharing everything they knew with anyone who would listen. And, having become a Christian, St Luke joined in the mission accompanying the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys.
C. IMPLICATIONS
Now of course the story—the employment of the seventy-two—has tremendous implications for the church today. Because we can see how Jesus employed them for the task in hand. We can see what sort of training and instruction that he provided. And that is particularly relevant to the church given that the task that Jesus gave his disciples—post resurrection—is not yet complete. As a consequence, all Christians are called to be part of that mission.
But are we willing to be picked for the team? Are we willing to go out in to the world, even into our own towns and streets and share the message? Indeed, as modern-day disciples, what are we doing about the later mission that Jesus has given us?
1. We’ve been Given the Training
After all, hasn’t Jesus provided us with that all important pre-employment training?
Now we can read about the negative responses in some of the towns that he went to. We can be aware of the superficial claims that some made to the Christian faith. And we can follow the teaching and example of other Christians. After all, we’ve been given a whole manual to consider: the Bible. And if mission is something we are supposed to take seriously, then learning from the Bible has to be an essential part of our training.
In the Bible we can share the experience of Jesus and his followers. We can see the joys and hardships of God’s faithful people, from the Garden of Eden, until the end of the 1st Century AD. We can read the advice that has been handed down: the sayings of the wise. We can learn from other’s mistakes. And we can clarify just what it is that Jesus expected his disciples to do.
And as Paul wrote to Timothy: ‘All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reprimand, for correction, and for training in righteousness. That way, a man of God can be made complete, fully equipped for every good work.’ (2 Timothy 3:16-17). With the Bible, and the help of other Christians, we cannot excuse ourselves for inadequate training.
2. We’ve been Handpicked
Secondly, Jesus still handpicks each and every one of his followers. And our role . . . is still to perform our unique part in his plan.
As Peter wrote in 1 Peter: ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired by God. He has called you out of darkness into his wonderful light, and it is your role to proclaim his virtues’ (1 Peter 2:9).
If we think we are inadequate, that we haven’t got the talents or abilities to carry out what he asks, then think of that rag tag collection of people that those seventy-two people that Jesus picked must have represented, many of whom probably felt just as inadequate.
As a consequence, one of the things we may have to come to grips with, is the fact that God may know us far better than we know ourselves. He knows our hidden talents and abilities. And despite any feelings of inadequacy, he has chosen us and he knows (with his help) that things we are capable of doing.
3. We’ve been Told What Is Expected
Thirdly, the instructions on what we are supposed to be doing are still very clear. Jesus said: ‘You will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the world’ (Acts 1:8b).
The instructions couldn’t be much simpler. We have a responsibility to share the gospel—and not just to keep it ourselves. We have the duty of taking our part in making sure that everyone has a chance to respond to the message of Jesus.
Now, in that too, Jesus has warned that we won’t always be accepted. On the contrary, like the prophets and the apostles, and even Jesus, himself, we may be rejected, ridiculed, or whatever. But still there should be no doubt about what Jesus wants us to do. And there should be no lack of willingness on our part to carry it out either.
4. We’ve been Given The Tools For the Job
And fourthly, we still have within us all the tools that we need to do the job.
Yes, we still need to depend upon God to supply all our needs. But we’ve also been given the Holy Spirit to encourage, guide, and inspire us in the task we have to perform.
As Jesus, himself, said, ‘When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all truth’ (John 16:13a). And that is all the tools we need to carry out the task of sharing Jesus with the world.
D. CONCLUSION
St Luke, no doubt, was a special person. He was very talented, and no doubt he used his gifts on those missionary journeys with Paul. Not least of which was in recording significant events in the life of Jesus and the early church.
However, even he knew that people don’t have to be educated or well trained for God to be able to use them. Indeed, so passionately was he concerned with the mission of Jesus, that he recorded this and other stories reflecting the very mixed bunch of people that Jesus picked for his mission.
When we consider Jesus’s mission, then, and decide that it’s not for us and that someone else would be far better qualified or able to carry out the task, we need to remember the points of Luke’s story. Because, no matter what our experience, whether we have plenty or are mere novices, we’ve all been provided with the means of training; every Christian has been handpicked for the job; the instructions from Jesus couldn’t be simpler; and the tools of the trade . . . well, all we need is faith. All we need to do is to trust God and to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, doing what Jesus asks can be threatening. And not every mission, even in Jesus’s time, ended up happily. Because, on at least one occasion the twelve disciples returned despondent, confused, and feeling rejected. But they didn’t give up, and neither should we.
If what we’ve received means anything, we will want to share the message of the gospel. And just as Jesus sent out the twelve, the seventy-two, the messengers, the apostles, and the early church, we need to accept our role in being sent out by Jesus too.
Posted: 10th July 2024
© 2024, Brian A Curtis
www.brianacurtis.com.au
