Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

Luke 10

After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every town and place where he was about to go. Then he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore y’all ask to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into ʜɪꜱ harvest. Y’all go! I am sending y’all out as lambs among wolves. Y’all shouldn’t bring a money belt or bag or sandals. And y’all shouldn’t greet anyone on the way. Whenever y’all enter a house, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a person of peace is there, y’all’s peace will rest on them; but if not, it will return to y’all. Y’all are to stay at that same house, eating and drinking whatever they give, for the worker deserves their wages. Y’all must not go from house to house. When y’all enter a town and people welcome y’all, eat what is set before y’all. Y’all heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘Empire of God has come near to y’all.’ But when y’all enter a town and they don’t welcome y’all, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust from y’all’s town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against y’all. Yet y’all should know this, that the Empire of God has come near.’ I tell y’all, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in y’all had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for y’all. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades! Whoever listens to y’all listens to me, and whoever rejects y’all rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects ʜɪᴍ who sent me.”

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”

He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Look, I have given y’all authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the enemy’s power. Nothing will hurt y’all. However, y’all shouldn’t rejoice that the spirits are subject to y’all, instead rejoice that y’all’s names are written in heaven.”

In that same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I publicly acknowledge you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in your sight.”

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal ʜɪᴍ.”

Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see the things y’all see, for I tell y’all that many prophets and kings desired to see what y’all see, but didn’t see them, and to hear what y’all hear, and didn’t hear them.”

The Good Samaritan

Now, a legal expert stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord [YHWH] your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’+Deut 6:5 and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”+Lev 19:18

“You have answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this, and you will live.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and then departed, leaving him half dead. By chance, a priest was going down that way, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, when a Levite came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on a journey came up to him and, when he saw the man, he felt gut-wrenching sympathy. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put the man on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

The legal expert replied, “The one who showed mercy to him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “You go and do likewise.”

Martha and Mary with Jesus

As they went on their way, Jesus came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to his word. But Martha was distracted with many deacon-works. She approached him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? You tell her to help me.”

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, and it will not be taken away from her.”