7/16/2023 0 Comments Take time out forjesusThe NIV says there were 72 and the NRSV says there were 70. I looked up the answer myself because last Monday, when I started working on this sermon, I used a commentary that has the New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version side by side. Why did the preacher say there were only 70?” That’s a fair question. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, NRSV).īefore we go any further let’s settle the question of how many disciples were sent out because I see some of you looking in the pew Bibles and wrinkling your brows. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and nothing will hurt you. The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person but if not, it will return to you. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals and greet no one on the road. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. He 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. On the contrary, the radical demands of discipleship require that every potential disciple consider the cost, give Jesus the highest priority in one’s life, and, having committed oneself to discipleship, move ahead without looking back.” Which makes me want to ask: are you still with me? Are you ready to continue this journey? If you are, then let’s move on into chapter 10, and the mission of the seventy.Īfter 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. In his commentary on that passage Alan Culpepper writes: “Therefore, one should not rush into discipleship with glib promises. Last week we looked at the end of chapter 9, where three would-be followers of Jesus were warned that the journey wasn’t going to be an easy one and we were reminded that it never is. Some may choose to stay with him while others will fall away, but again, in my imagination, the church is a big, happy crowd of people following along behind Jesus and the only time it gets in trouble is when it stops and builds a building, because then it has to decide who’s in and who’s out.īut for the duration of this series let’s imagine that we are on the road with Jesus, journeying toward Jerusalem, watching everything he does, listening to everything he says, and trying to learn everything we can in this lengthy section of Luke’s Gospel called the Travel Narrative, which extends from chapter 9, verse 51, through chapter 19, verse 27. Some aren’t really part of the crowd at all, but they’re curious enough to follow along for a while and listen to what Jesus has to say. Some are helping those who have stumbled to get back on their feet again, while others are calling to those who have wandered off the path. Others are following along at a distance, just happy to be part of the crowd. Some are as close to Jesus as they can get, trying to hear every word he says. But in my imagination that’s how it is: Jesus up front, in the lead, and a whole crowd of people following along behind. It could just as easily be a street in the inner city. And that seems perfect, because for some time now I’ve been imagining the church of Jesus Christ as a big crowd of people following along behind him down some dusty country road. Today we continue a series called “On the Road with Jesus” from a section of Luke’s Gospel where Jesus’ disciples are-literally-on the road with him. A sermon by, Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., July 7, 2013
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