The Word Made Fresh
1Soon after this the Lord appointed seventy others to go ahead of him, traveling in pairs to every town and village along his intended route. 2He told them, “There is a plentiful harvest, but few laborers. So, you must ask the LORD of the harvest to send those who can gather it in. 3Listen, I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Don’t take a purse or bag or sandals with you, and don’t speak to anyone on the road. 5When you enter a home, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6If anyone there shares your peace it will rest on him, or if not it will return to you. 7Stay in the same house. Eat and drink whatever is provided for you; workers deserve to be paid. Don’t move from house to house. 8When you enter a town where the people welcome you, eat whatever they offer you. 9Heal those who are ill. Tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 10But if you enter a town and are not welcomed, stand in the street, and tell them, 11‘We shake the dust of your town off our feet as judgment against you. But know that the kingdom of God is at hand.’ 12Believe me, from that day on it will be better for Sodom than for that town.
13“Too bad for you, Chorazin! Too bad for you, Bethsaida! If the things done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago. 14But when the judgment comes it will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15And Capernaum, will you be praised in heaven? No! you will be cast down to Hades. 16Those who listen to you listen also to me, and those who turn you away also turn away the one who sent me.”
17The seventy returned joyfully and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us when we cast them out in your name!”
18Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall from the heavens like a flash of lightning! 19Look, I have given you the ability to trample snakes and scorpions, as well as the ability to resist the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. 20Still, don’t celebrate that the spirits submit to you; celebrate that your names are written in heaven.”
21Then Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I thank you, Father, LORD of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the wise and well educated, and have taught them to babies because that is your good will. 22My Father has handed everything over to me. No one knows the Son but the Father. No one knows the Father but the Son and those to whom the Son reveals himself.”
23Then he told his disciples privately, “The eyes that see what you see are blessed. 24Many prophets and kings would rejoice to see what you have seen, but didn’t see it; and to hear what you’ve heard, but didn’t hear it.”
25About that time Jesus was questioned by a legal scholar, who asked, “Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?”
26Jesus asked him in return, “What does the law say? What have you read there?”
27The man replied, “Love the LORD your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
28Jesus said, “That is correct. Do that and you will have life.”
29The man wanted to demonstrate how justified he was, and asked Jesus, “But who is my neighbor?”
30Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was ambushed by a band of thieves who stripped him and beat him and left him for dead. 31Fortunately, a priest was going down that road. He saw the man, but moved to the other side of the road and walked on by. 32A Levite also saw the man, but ignored him and passed on. 33But then a Samaritan who was traveling along the same road saw the man and was moved with pity. 34He cleaned the man’s wounds with oil and wine and bandaged him, then put him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and made sure he was taken care of. 35The next day he gave the innkeeper the equivalent of two days wages and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return I will repay you if you have to spend more for him.’ 36So, which of these three men do you think was a neighbor to the man who was beaten and robbed?”
37The scholar replied, “The one who was merciful to him.”
Jesus said, “Go do the same.”
38They went on their way, and entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed Jesus into her home. 39Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to him. 40But Martha was busy doing this and that. She asked Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister is letting me do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41But the Lord said, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are distracted by many things, 42but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the most important, and it won’t be taken away from her.”
Commentary
1-12: We have to wonder if the disappointing behavior of the Twelve prompted Jesus to commission seventy others to serve as his advance team in all the towns and villages he planned to visit. Luke is the only New Testament writer to tell of this event. Jesus’ explanation for sending them is that God has provided a bountiful harvest and more workers are needed. Twelve is not enough. Or perhaps these twelve are not enough. The instructions given the Seventy are virtually the same as those given the Twelve (see again 9:1-6), with the same four basic elements: 1) take no provisions with you, 2) do not move about but stay in one place, 3) heal the sick and proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near, and 4) shake the dust off your feet of any town than won’t receive you. The main difference is that Jesus gives the Seventy specific words to speak (verses 5, 9, 11).
13-15: We cannot determine whether Jesus utters these words before the Seventy depart, while they are gone, or upon their return. One of the more enticing theories is that Chorazin (completely unknown except for this reference in Luke and its counterpart in Matthew), Bethsaida, and Capernaum must have rejected the twelve on their earlier missionary journey, thus invoking Jesus’ curse on them. Tyre and Sidon are trading city-states of some importance along the coast of Lebanon. The Jewish towns reject the message, but these pagan cities would repent if they were given such a powerful witness, Jesus says. We recall how Jonah preached in the pagan city of Nineveh, and how the Ninevites repented in sackcloth and ashes (Jonah 3:6-10).
17-24: We have to read this section as the record of how Jesus dealt with the growing crisis among his closest followers, the Twelve apostles. In spite of Jesus’ attempts to teach and mold them, they have lately been revealing some dangerous tendencies which Jesus has to counter. They have argued over who is the greatest among them (9:46). They have tried to make their status exclusive by forbidding anyone else to use Jesus’ name (9:49). They have postured with righteous indignation when a Samaritan village refuses them hospitality, and arrogantly suggested that those villages be destroyed! (9:54). What’s worse, at the center of it all have been James and John, who had seen the Transfiguration and so are among those most trusted by Jesus. Jesus counters by demonstrating to the Twelve that they are not so superior as they might like to believe. He recruits seventy others and sends them out without any of the special training the Twelve had been given. Now they have returned brimming with excitement that even demons submit to them. Jesus responds that he has seen Satan defeated. Remember that at his temptation the devil had left Jesus “until an opportune time.” Perhaps that “opportune time” was the discord that had been growing among the Twelve, and sending out the Seventy has defeated Satan’s attempt to sow discord among Jesus’ closest followers. Note that Jesus is careful to guard the Seventy against the same presumption of superiority that had arisen among the Twelve. “Don’t get excited over being able to cast out demons,” he tells them. “Get excited over the fact that your names are written in heaven.” That is to say, God has taken note of your faithfulness. Using power for self-gratification was one of the temptations Jesus overcame in the desert. The Twelve have failed that test; the Seventy have taught them a lesson.
21-22: “Thank you…for hiding these things from the wise and the educated, and revealing them to infants.” Through the centuries scholars have identified “the wise and educated” with one group or another, but I wonder that in this context the wise and educated might be a reference to the Twelve, and the infants are the Seventy.
23-24: Jesus now moves to reclaim the Twelve. They have seen and heard what prophets and kings have longed to see and hear. Translation: you are more important to God than prophets and kings. There will be no need to refer to the Seventy again.
25-28: The scene has changed. A scribe stands up to address Jesus, which indicates that we are now in a formal setting, perhaps a synagogue. The question he poses, Luke says, is a test, although the question does not seem to be loaded unless “inherit eternal life” is an attempt to get Jesus to side with either the Pharisees, who believe in the resurrection of the dead, or the Sadducees, who do not. Jesus doesn’t answer directly but, in good rabbinic fashion, first asks the man what he thinks. He repeats a popular interpretation of the Law: love God, love neighbor. Jesus replies, “Do this and you will live.”
29-37: Now the scribe feels it necessary to justify himself; after all, his initial question proved to be a simple one, the answer to which he already knew, as Jesus has so deftly demonstrated. So, he continues with another question: “Yes, yes, I know what God requires according to the Law, but how do you define ‘neighbor?’ Jesus answers by telling a story in which a Samaritan is the hero. (Remember those Samaritan villages James and John wanted to destroy?)
38-42: Mary and Martha (and their brother Lazarus) live in Bethany (see John 11:1). The trouble with the Twelve began right after their missionary journey. Do you remember what happened to them when they returned from their mission? Jesus took them to Bethsaida for a vacation, but they didn’t get it. Instead, they were besieged by crowds wanting to hear Jesus. Instead of getting some time alone with Jesus they found themselves organizing a food giveaway for 5000 hungry people. In the story we are considering today, Mary is said to be sitting at Jesus’ feet listening as he taught. Martha is said to be “distracted with much serving.” In other words, Mary is doing what the 5000 people at Bethsaida were doing; sitting down, listening to Jesus, unconcerned about eating or anything else. Martha is doing what the Twelve were doing; fussing over the lateness of the day, the lack of food, their own hunger, etc. The Twelve had arranged for the seating of the crowd, had served the loaves and fishes, and had cleaned up afterward. They had been “distracted with much serving.” What, then, is the message for the disciples in this story of two women followers of Jesus? Relax. You do not have to always be busy. Being busy creates an atmosphere that breeds competition, as we have seen. There is a time for serving, and there is a time for listening, and between the two, right now listening is the most important.
Takeaway
Being a disciple of Jesus does not elevate us to importance in this world. Instead, being his disciple means being humble and loving for others. All others.