Jesus Sends

July 6, 2025, First Lutheran Church, Throggs Neck, Bronx, N.Y.

This Sunday the Gospel reading offered by the Revised Common Lectionary is Luke 10:1-11. At the close of his earthly ministry, Jesus sends 72 of his followers, two by two, into villages to preach the Kingdom of God.

There is so much to glean out of these eleven verses, so much going on.

We have known since our earliest days in Sunday School that Jesus had twelve disciples and many of us memorized their names. We think of these men as a merry band, trudging the hot, dusty roads of Palestine, sometimes arguing among themselves, sometimes raptly tuned in to the words of Jesus, sometimes understanding his parables but more often not. The twelve are fixed in our minds as the basic unit of Jesus’ ministry.

In fact, the number twelve has special significance in bible stories.

There were twelve tribes of Israel.

Solomon had twelve administrators.

In Hebrew, twelve signifies God’s divine order.

Twelve can refer to completeness of the people of God.

Twelve is the number of lunar months in the year.

And, a bit more obscurely, in numerology the number twelve represents growth from the physical to the spiritual realm, and vice-versa.

We’ve become so accustomed to the twelve that we’ve got to wonder: where did 72 others come from? 

We numbers crunchers should pause, of course, to note that 72 is divisible by 12. Six times 12 is 72.

But apart from that, who are these 72? It’s obvious that large crowds of people were following Jesus around during his three years of ministry. And they were doing more than auditing his sermons. They were taking them to heart, accepting them as God’s truth from God’s messiah, turning their backs on their past lives, and being born again into the life to which Jesus is calling them.

Even more than that, these 72 missionaries have been elevated to complete partnership with Jesus and the twelve. Jesus has commissioned them to cure the sick, to speak with authority about the coming of the Kingdom of God. “Whoever listens to you listens to me,” Jesus tells them, “and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” (Lk 10:16)

The only resource Jesus is sending them with is their faith. “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals … eat and drink what is set before you.” These are 72 bold, courageous people of faith, sent on a great adventure.

I can never read this passage without remembering being sent to Baptist churches throughout the country with a compelling message, not necessarily the imminence of the Kingdom of God but the need for churches to support the programs and salaries of their national staff.

I did this dozens of times over my twenty years as a denominational communicator and it was always an adventure. We were dispatched into the hustings via creaking prop planes or - as the number crunchers preferred - Greyhound bus. I remember one late night in Iowa when the bus driver and I (the only persons on the bus) pointed a dim flash light at a hand-drawn map hoping to find a small church hidden amid the cornfields. Accommodations at the churches were often in the homes of ministers and on more than one occasion I displaced one of the pastor’s kids to sleep on a rubber-sheeted lower bunk.

Surely the 72 were sent on a mission that required more faith than I was able to muster

And there are many more tidbits of fascinating information to mine from these passages.

We can’t read this story without realizing Jesus has more abilities, more expertise, more aplomb than we have noticed. He is demonstrating an astonishing aptitude as an executive level manager, as an organizer of a complicated plan.

“This is an enormous operation,” writes Richard W. Swanson, professor of religion emeritus at Augustana College. “The storyteller seems to imply that these messengers go out, one pair per village. That is a lot of villages. And that is a lot of messengers. The storyteller does not imagine that Jesus is traveling incognito, appearing in a town, creating a scene, and moving on. Jesus in Luke’s story does not say, “I think our work is done here, Peter,” and then ride mysteriously off into the sunset. 

“Jesus in Luke’s story sends a mob of messengers ahead of him and tells them, no matter how they are received, to say that the “kingdom of God” (whatever that is, exactly) has come so near.”

What does it mean to you that the Kingdom of God has come near?

Perhaps it will become clearer to us if we look at the instructions Jesus is giving the intrepid 72. And what he is saying is important for us modern Christians as well.

“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’”

Jesus doesn’t ask them to first determine the religious pedigree of the household.

He doesn’t ask them to determine whether this house follows the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or whether this house has kept the law or whether this house is likely to receive the good news Jesus brings,” says Amy G. Oden, a professor and spiritual director. “Jesus doesn’t ask them to do a risk assessment or pre-judge whether this house will be worth their time.”

Regardless of who lives in the house, Jesus urges the 72 – just as he urges us – to wish peace to all who live there. 

“As we engage others, we must first be well-grounded in God’s peace, the peace that passes understanding.” Writes Ogden. “God’s shalom is more than being calm. It is confidence in God’s abiding presence so that we also share that presence with others. Engaging others means not treating them as objects upon which we act, but as sacred others with whom we are called to be fully and peacefully present. If they do not share this peace, Jesus does not advise reactivity, scorn or polemics. Instead, he reassures his followers that their peace is not diminished and cannot be taken away from them: “it will return to you” (verse 6).

These are words worth reflecting on and praying about in the divisive, contentious environment in which we live. 

On occasion I’ve used these words – “Peace on this house” – in various settings. I’ve used them in village offices where we’ve been asked to pay a fine. I’ve used them in my podiatrist’s office. I’ve used them in Tim Horton’s when I buy my coffee. I’ve used them in gas stations and body shops and Home Depot and Costco.

Usually I get a nice response, often in the stimulates a feeling of peace to those who hear it, perhaps not. But it does instill a feeling of peace in my own heart, and it reminds me what it means to say God’s kingdom is near.

Jesus does not ask us to check one another out before we express God’s peace. God’s shalom is for all God’s creatures:

For the neighbor who complains to police because your trees are too tall.

For the chronically nasty people you can’t seem to avoid.

For your boss who works you overtime but hates to pay you for it.

For the aggressive person who cuts in front of you at the DMV.

For the thoughtless person who plays heavy metal at a deafening volume in the adjoining apartment.

For Democrats.

For MAGA.

We are going to have to live with all these people.

But when we do have to interact with them, our first reaction should not be how we feel about them, whether we like them, or whether we agree with them.

Our first thought should be to wish them God’s shalom. And if there is peace within their hearts it will be returned to you. And you will know that God’s Kingdom is near.

Peace on this house, and God’s peace be with you always.