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Sermon for the Feast of St. Luke
2 Timothy 4:5-15 + Luke 10:1-9
Our celebration of St. Luke is really just another opportunity to hear and consider the Word of God that has been chosen for this festival, which is the sending of the 70, recorded in Luke 10.
Most Greek manuscripts say 70, but there are some that say 72 were sent out on this occasion. There’s no way to know for sure, but it doesn’t matter at all. The 70 or 72 were sent out two by two ahead of Jesus, into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Who were these men? They are never named in Scripture. We simply notice that they were chosen from among all of the multitudes who had been following Jesus. Not everyone was sent. Only certain men were sent, and given a message to preach, and miraculous power to use, and instructions for how they were to go about their mission.
It’s important that we separate the parts of this sending that were specific to these 70 men on this specific mission from the general principles that apply beyond the 70.
For example, He sent them two by two ahead of Him. Does that mean that every mission must include two missionaries or preachers? No. And yet, the practice of not sending a man alone into a new mission field has been recognized in the Church since the beginning. As St. Paul was sent to new mission fields, where no Christian churches had yet been established, remember how even he, an apostle directly chosen by Jesus, was not sent alone. He was sent, first, with Barnabas, and then with Silas on his other missionary journeys, sometimes accompanied by others. There is wisdom in that, wisdom that came from Jesus as He sent out the 70.
Something very specific about this mission was that Jesus Himself was going to follow these men, was going to appear in all the cities where they would go, making them the heralds of His arrival. That, obviously, is not how men are sent out today. And yet, there is a sense in which it is true. Because part of our preaching is that Jesus is coming soon, not to this city or that one, but to the whole world at once, to judge the world in righteousness. In that sense, Jesus will soon come, both here, and everywhere where His messengers preach His word.
He said to the 70, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” The harvest was truly great in that first century AD, when practically no one in the world had heard the Gospel of Jesus, when the Church was poised to explode in her membership, and baptisms would be performed by the thousands. God knows where His Gospel will be believed. God sees those who will be converted by it, baptized into His name, and harvested into His holy Christian Church. At various times and at various places in history, the harvest has been truly great. At other times, in other places, it has been small, just as a harvest of crops can have good years and bad. But you can be absolutely sure that a harvest still remains, because that’s the only thing preventing Jesus from returning, the only thing that’s still postponing the day of resurrection and the day of judgment.
But just as true today as it was back then, the laborers are few, especially the laborers who are committed to teaching the whole truth of God’s Word, to preaching the Gospel purely and to administering the Sacraments rightly. So the Lord’s command to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest remains just as urgent today as it was back then. We include it in our general prayer almost every Sunday, and you can certainly include it more often than that in your personal prayers.
Of course, sometimes, some of the men who pray for laborers to be sent out will become the fulfillment of their own prayers. Go!, Jesus said to the 70. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Lambs among wolves. Harmless, meek, non-aggressive animals being sent out among vicious, blood-thirsty, aggressive animals. Prey being sent out to live openly among the predators. Is that really what mission work is like? That’s how Jesus describes it, isn’t it? And He was talking, most directly, about what His Jewish missionaries would encounter among their Jewish neighbors in the neighboring cities! Such strong opposition from their own countrymen! How is that possible?
It’s possible because, for as much as Christians may look like and share things in common with unbelievers, we are, in fact, as different as night and day when it comes to our spirit, when it comes to our allegiances, our spiritual beliefs, and our eternal destinies. Believers in Christ are alive. Unbelievers are dead. Believers in Christ are beloved children of God. Unbelievers are still hostile to God, and that often spills over into hostility for the children of God. In the first three hundred years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, both Jews and Gentiles persecuted and killed men like the 70 whom Jesus sent out. In parts of the world still today, Christians are being slaughtered by the tens of thousands, as in Nigeria, where Muslims are the wolves slaying Jesus’ lambs.
And yet, did any of the 70 hear this and say, “No, Lord! If that’s the case, I’m staying home!”? No, not one. Because even if they had been killed for Jesus’ sake, which none of them were, on this occasion, they knew that Jesus held the keys to a kingdom that outlasts this life, and they lived not for peace and comfort here, but for the peace, comfort, and joy of that life beyond this life.
Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. This command was very specific to the mission of the 70. They were to go quickly, because Jesus would be right behind them, and His time on earth was short. They were not to take any provisions or possessions of their own, because, as we’ll see below, they were to rely on God to provide for them through the people to whom they would preach. And, remember, He wasn’t sending them to foreign countries. He was sending them to their fellow Israelites, who were all their fellow church members, too. So this isn’t a permanent prohibition for ministers to own property. It’s a temporary instruction for these Israelites who were to visit their fellow Israelites with tremendous news, and with the expectation that their fellow Israelites would support them in their preaching.
But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. It appears that, two by two, the 70 were to arrive in the cities and villages, explain the reason for their arrival in the public square, and look for a family that was willing to take them in. Jesus gives them, not just a nice saying, but a divine blessing to pronounce upon such a house, “Peace to this house.” God promised to bless that family with His peace and providence, but only if the people of the house welcomed not only the messengers but the message they preached. If they didn’t believe the message, then God’s peace would not rest upon them, because peace with God only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. There are some specific commands here. The missionaries were to stay in someone else’s home until their mission trip was completed. They were to receive their food from what the house provided, and they were not supposed to go door to door, looking for a new place to stay every night. But there is a general principle established here: The laborer is worthy of his wages. St. Paul actually cites this very saying of Jesus when he writes to Timothy in 1 Tim. 5, The laborer is worthy of his wages, and again when he writes to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 9: The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. St. Paul makes clear that this applies to every minister of the Gospel, and to every family or congregation that benefits from a pastor’s preaching, that the hearers should support the preachers, even as you have always done here so willingly for me.
Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. That’s not only a command for the hearers to provide. It’s also a command for the minister to be satisfied with what he’s given.
And heal the sick there. Again, a very specific, limited power, not given to all ministers of all time, but given to the 12 apostles, and also to these 70, to perform miraculous healing in Jesus’ name, and not to be stingy with such healing, but, as Jesus told the 12 when He sent them out, Freely you have received, freely give.
And say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ There’s the message. Just a summary of it, of course, but also the heart of it. The kingdom of God has come near to you. The kingdom of God isn’t a place up there in the sky. It’s every place where God reigns as King. It’s the place where the devil has no more say, no more power. It’s the place where sin and guilt are wiped out, where death is defeated, where God is a Father who cares equally for all the subjects of His kingdom, and where Jesus reigns as King in a person’s heart. It has “come near to you,” the 70 were to say, because the Lord Jesus was right behind them, soon to visit them. And where Jesus is, that’s where the kingdom of God is centered. Where Jesus comes, through His Word and through His Sacraments, where He comes with His righteousness, with His peace, there the Holy Spirit draws people away from stubbornly clinging to sin to repentance, from ignorance of God to the knowledge of God, from unbelief to faith, from death to life.
Now, Jesus was well aware that this message would not be accepted by many. In the following verses, he gives the 70 instructions about how to pronounce a curse upon the towns and cities that wouldn’t receive them. He who rejects you rejects Me, He said. But He also knew that some would receive His messengers, and so He said, He who listens to you listens to Me. When Jesus sends a messenger, a minister, to speak and to act in His name, He will hold the hearers accountable when He comes, for good or for bad.
And how will you know if the messenger was truly sent by God? The 70 had two proofs: the miracles they were enabled to perform, and the fact that their message agreed with the Scriptures. It’s not that much different today. A minister sent by God today has two proofs: the call of Jesus, through the call and ordination of the Church, which can be verified, and the fact that their message agrees with the Scriptures. Where both of these are present, receive them, listen to them, and support them, as you have done and still are doing. And know that, just as Jesus rejoiced when the 70 returned and told Him how many had received them and their preaching, so He will rejoice, and rejoices even now, when sinners are reconciled to God through the ministers whom He has sent, whether it’s the apostle Paul, or St. Luke the Evangelist, or even the one standing before you today. Amen.
