Luke 10:1 ¶
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them
two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would
come. 2 Therefore said he unto them, The
harvest truly is great, but the
labourers are few: pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his
harvest. 3 Go your ways: behold, I send
you forth as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry
neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. 5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say,
Peace be to this house. 6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace
shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. 7 And in the same house remain, eating and
drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go
not from house to house. 8 And into
whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set
before you: 9 And heal the sick that are
therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they
receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
11 Even the very dust of your city,
which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of
this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more
tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. 13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee,
Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have
been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and
ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. 15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to
heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. 16
He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me;
and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
Underscoring what I said in my previous comments on the ending of
chapter 9 that these verses are physically applicable to the Jews that Jesus
was trying to turn to Him we see Him send out seventy people in twos to the
towns. They are now teaching what they have been taught, the way the Medieval
Waldensians of the Alps would work to evangelize Europe, two by two, although
Jesus ordered these Jews not to go from
house to house. He told them to carry nothing for themselves, that the
generosity of people willing to hear would provide. A house in each town would
be enough to sustain them as they were not to be knocking on doors. If the town
rejected them they were to shake the dust off of their feet. He notes that for
those towns it would be better in the judgment for the pagan cities of Tyre and
Sidon than for these Jewish towns. The final things is that those who hold His
messengers in contempt hold Him in contempt.
Certainly, parallels and good preaching can be made out of going
out to witness for Christ and your reception and the consequences of rejecting
Him. You can even bring up the suggestion that there are different degrees of
suffering in Hell. But, for understanding of the text let’s stick with the
text.
The
Jews require a sign and came into being as a people with signs and wonders.
1Corinthians 1:22a For the
Jews require a sign…
Deuteronomy 4:34 Or hath
God assayed to go and take him
a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs,
and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm,
and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in
Egypt before your eyes?
The kingdom of God is
being presented to these Jews in miraculous healings and preaching. These
preachers have nothing with which to commend themselves in dress, appearance,
or provision but only in their acting as a conduit for Christ’s announcement
that the Messiah has arrived. He has come to save His people from their sins
and God’s wrath.
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