10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’
In last week's episode of "Sermon Text", the Sons of Thunder threatened to level a village with heaven fire in Samaria. These folks turned Jesus down when he sent a crew ahead to prepare the way. Scroll back to last week’s posts for more details. At that time, Jesus rebuked them. He did the kind of thing usually reserved for demons that were possessing people. Which seems appropriate because what was the motivation behind James and John in this threat? To send the Samaritans to hell?
But that episode feels like a prelude to what we are sharing
this week from Luke. Seventy two
followers of Jesus are being sent, like the glorious song from “Godspell”, ‘Prepare
Ye The Way of the Lord.” For those
unfamiliar, the link below takes us back to the glories of the 1970’s…
https://youtu.be/c1SiaCV26aQ?si=OVCMdixuI327dn8v
But this time, Jesus is far more precise in his instructions. Today, we focus on the ‘exit
strategy’ that Jesus lays out. It is NOT
“nuke ‘em in the name of the Lord.” Rather, Jesus says,
10 But whenever you enter a town and
they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even
the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against
you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’
Maybe another way to say it is, “We don’t like that you have
refused to hear us, but know this: the Kingdom of God has come near.”
It’s not a threat. It’s
not the manipulation of divine intervention.
It’s not even the manipulation of emotional response, like adding a ‘fear-threat’
contingency. That might sound like, “If
you do not give your life to Jesus…”
The moment we do that, seek to ‘help’ the Lord in the
process of sharing God’s Word, we have turned from trusting Him to trusting ourselves.
Notice how Jesus introduces the sending mission to the
seventy two: 2 Jesus 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.”
Salvation is not a 'one-off' received through that one particular witness. See how Jesus describes it in John, “For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you
to reap that for which you did not labor.
Others have labored, and you have entered their labor.” (John 4:37-38).
Paul, the first church-planter, breaks it down even more:
“What then is Apollos?
What is Paul? Servants through
whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the
growth. So neither the one who plants
nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters
have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of
each. For we are God’s servants, working
together; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
(I Corinthians 3:5-9)
So Jesus tells the seventy two to 'sign off' with the promise that the Kingdom of God has come
near. We are sowing the seeds, we may be adding water. Praise Jesus, He provides the growth.
Peace
pastor pete
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