Luke 10:(1-15)13-16
(10After 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.’ 12I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for
Sodom than for that town. )
13“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to
you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14But
at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
15And 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.”
The readings for today are much harsher than the ones we had
for yesterday. Listed for today are
verses 13-16, which wen taken alone were rough.
Jesus sent seventy appointed out ahead of him, to share the
news of Jesus Christ, to prepare the way.
He told them, I am sending you out like sheep to wolves. I wonder how that method would work with evangelism? But it is true. Not everyone will welcome the message. Some
will be kind about it, others will slam the door. Jesus says to simply move on, dust off your
feet.
When this is the text for worship, verses 12-15 are
omitted. I can see why!
As I read a little more on this, one theologian suggested
that this may be because these verse are not part of the sent’s
proclamation. They are to pronounce the
kingdom of God has come near to you.
However this is one reason that the sent are proclaiming, so that people
may repent, to turn their lives around.
Some churches use this sort of fear tactic to proclaim and “convert”
people to faith. If you were to die
today, would you know where you were going?
I believe that it is really love that is transforming, that
will convert the heart of people. 1 John
is one of my favorite books of the Bible, and the line “there is no fear in
love” is always in my head. I believe
most people wish to live in love. When
the church (which is what we are) lives in joy despite the struggles in the
world, and not in a Pollyanna type way, we live and model a life that I believe
people truly want-a life of purpose, of promise, a life of hope. Each time we share the message of how Christ
has impacted our lives, how Christ is truly near, we plant a seed. Nothing may come of it, but the seed is still
there, germinating.
I do not feel it my place to say woe to you’s….. that is God’s! I choose, with the power of the Holy Spirit
to live in Christ, to the best of my ability and with the Spirit helping me.
So go, tell people about the kingdom, live a kingdom
life. Your life will be the
proclamation!
Sending Lord, you call us to go out and proclaim you as Lord
of the world. You are a God of love, and
all you do is love. Help us to dispel
fear, to bring hope to the hopeless with the power of your name, Jesus the
Christ, our Lord and Savior, who is here and near. Amen
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