After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (Luke 10:1-9 ESV)

Here we see Jesus in delegation mode.  He’s spent loads of time with his disciples, teaching them with his words and way of life.   Now, it’s time for them to learn by doing.  They have been in gathered mode, now is time to scatter.  So he sends them out with little…no moneybag, knapsack, sandals.   He sends them with so little they will need to have refrigerator rights in other people’s homes to survive.

He wants them to rely on others.    Full dependence on others, will teach them full dependence on him.

He asks them to find these people of peace by saying “peace on this house”.  It almost sounds like a code word, but this was more about who the people are, and what God has already been doing in their lives to prepare them for the missionary’s arrival, and less about their response to a code word!  If God has been making these people seek the peace of the kingdom of God, a travelling preaching proclaiming that message will be welcomed.

Look how deeply he wants these relationships to go.  He wants them to stay with one family, and not go from house to house.  He wants them to become family, to be vulnerable, completely known and trusted by others.

Question: Describe what you think a person of peace would be like.  How would the disciples’ travels be different if they had more supplies?

Ryan Sim - October 1, 2013

Tuesday - Study It - Acquaintances to Partners

Won\'t You Be My Neighbour?

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:34-40 ESV Spoiler Alert – Stop reading now if you haven’t seen the Internship, and still want to! The premise of the Internship, is that a competition for a Google internship. It essentially comes down to a team of misfits and a pompous rich kid and his team of stars. The bad guy makes it clear he doesn’t have time for anyone but those he thinks are important. This becomes most clear in his interactions with a scruffy headphone guy who is painfully shy, and never listens to music but wears the headphones because it lets him keep to himself. One of the two bumbling protagonists goes out of his way to befriend headphone guy, while the pompous villain makes fun of him. At the final announcement of who won the internship, the pompous guy can’t believe he lost, and interrupts the announcement to say, “lets get someone down here who matters.” Headphone guy appears, is revealed to be the head of a major department at Google, and he’s been listening to the whole thing. He tells the villain – you haven’t shown very much googliness. We learned earlier in the movie, this googliness is all about community and creativity. But the villain says, “what does that even mean?” The headphone guy sums it up, “The fact you don’t even know is why you’ll never work here.” Jesus says this about his kingdom. Compassion is a sign that you get what my kingdom is all about. Its part of kingdomliness. The way you treat those who don’t seem important, is actually very important. Jesus even puts himself in their shoes – says it’s like you’re serving him when you serve others. He goes so far as to say that this is how he sorts out those who want to be in his kingdom, with him, and those who want to take a pass. He says its like separating sheep and goats – the ones who want to be in his kingdom will act like it, and those who don’t, won’t. He says this twice, and I only read one version here, which is the positive describing who gets in, but he also tells the story in the negative, describing who stays out. What becomes clear is that we choose God’s kingdom, or separation from him, not just with words but with actions. We’ll see tomorrow how this applies to our neighbours. Question: How do these six actions benefit the recipient, the doer, and Jesus?

From Series: "Won't You Be My Neighbour?"

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