Jesus sends out the seventy
1 After this the Lord appoint ed seventy-two other disciples and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place, where he himself was to go.
2 And he said to them, “The har vest is rich, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to his harvest.
3 Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
4 Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know.
5 Whatever house you enter, first bless them saying: ‘Peace to this house.’
6 If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you.
7 Stay in that house eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.
8 When they welcome you in any town, eat what they offer you.
9 Heal the sick who are there and say to them: ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’
10 But in any town where you are not welcome, go to the marketplace and proclaim:
11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off and leave with you. But know and be sure that the kingdom of God had come to you.’
12 I tell you that on the Judgment Day it will be better for Sodom than for this town.
13 Alas for you Chorazin! Alas for you Bethsaida! So many miracles have been worked in you! If the same miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would already be sitting in ashes and wear ing the sackcloth of repentance.
14 Surely for Tyre and Sidon it will be better than for you on the Judgment Day.
15 And what of you, city of Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead.
16 Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.”
Jesus gives thanks to the Father
17 The seventy-two disciples re turned full of joy. They said, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we called on your name.”
18 Then Jesus replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 You see, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the Enemy, so that nothing will harm you.
20 Nevertheless, don’t rejoice because the evil spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.”
21 At that time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and made them known to the little ones.
22 Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. I have been given all things by my Father, so that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said to them privately, “Fortunate are you to see what you see,
24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings would have liked to see what you see but did not, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
The good Samaritan
25 Then a teacher of the Law came and began putting Jesus to the test. And he said, “Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?”
26 Jesus replied, “What is written in the Scrip ture? How do you understand it?”
27 The man answered, “It is written: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
28 Jesus re plied, “What a good answer! Do this and you shall live.”
29 The man wanted to keep up appearances, so he replied, “Who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus then said, “There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
31 It happened that a priest was going along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side.
32 Like wise a Levite saw the man and passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, too, was going that way, and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion.
34 He went over to him and treated his wounds with oil and wine and wrap ped them with bandages. Then he put him on his own mount and brought him to an inn where he took care of him.
35 The next day he had to set off, but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper and told him: ‘Take care of him and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I come back.’”
36 Jesus then asked, “Which of these three, do you think, made himself neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The teacher of the Law answered, “
Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he entered a village and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house.
39 She had a sister named Mary who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to his words.
40 Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving and finally she said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the serving?”
41 But the Lord answered, “Mar tha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things,
42 whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Luke, Chapter 10
• 10.1 See commentary on Matthew 10:5 and Mark 6:7.
Luke reports a mission of the seventy (or seventy-two) after the mission of the Twelve (9:1).
There were twelve apostles, according to the number of the tribes of Israel: this means that, at first, the Gospel was proclaimed to the people of Israel. Then came the mission of the seventy-two (or of the seventy): these numbers symbolized the multitude of pagan nations. This mission, then, is a figure of the task that is the responsibility of the Church until the end of the world: to evangelize all nations (Mt 28:19).
When the Church has been present long enough in a particular place, we tend to believe that everyone has had the opportunity to receive the Gospel: this is an illusion. Even in the best of circumstances, many families, especially the poorest ones, have waited for years for some missionary’s visit.
Do not stop at the homes of those you know (v. 4). The Gospel says: “do not greet anyone.” Missionaries would soon lose their wings if they stayed to chat or asked hospitality from friends who had not welcomed the Kingdom. They should rather count on the Providence of the Father who will open to them the heart and house of one of those who have listened to the Good News.
In visiting homes, the first thing to do is to give peace, that is, to come as a friend on behalf of Christ and his Church, taking time to listen to the people visited and to find out their concerns. Then, and only then, will we be able to give them a good answer and to tell them: the Kingdom has come to you; even though you may have a thousand problems, believe that today God has come closer to you to reconcile you. This is the time to be reconciled with family members and neighbors, to let go of resentments. Begin doing what you can do, and trust that, in his own way, God will solve what is beyond your own power.
Many of the people who welcome the missionaries with joy are not going to persevere: they are not going to enter a Christian community. That does not necessarily mean that the missionaries’ efforts have been wasted. These people will remember this moment of grace from the Lord, and it will help them in living with more faith. In any case, there will be some whose hearts were touched by the Lord at that time and they will become active members of his Church.
The mission helps form the missionaries and also awakens those they visit. Jesus formed his disciples, not only through his teaching, but also by sending them on missions. That is the way he formed the seventy a few months after they met him. Likewise now, the best people for missionary work are often those who have been recently converted.
HEALING THE SICK
• 8. Heal the sick, Jesus says. We have already mentioned that Jesus did not come to bring good health to all the sick people, but rather to bring us salvation. Since we are sinners, our salvation is worked out through suffering and through the cross.
Jesus’ messengers do not try to replace doctors. They do not proclaim faith as a means to be cured: that would cheapen it. They do, however, offer “healing” to the people who have not yet discovered that the kingdom of God and his mercy have come to them.
Wherever there are communities of Christians, they must care for the sick and visit them as a sign of their being concerned for everyone and being everyone’s family. The love shown by a visitor encourages the sick person, gives him joy and arouses gratitude in him, and thus disposes him for an in-depth renewal and for the forgiveness of sins. See also James 5:13.
In his first letter to the Corinthians 12:9, Paul speaks of the various gifts that the spirit gives to the Christian community and he makes a distinction between the gifts to work miracles and to heal the sick. This last gift may correspond to a natural talent the person had before.
Obviously we should encourage those who can pray and lay their hands on the sick. Doctors and health care workers must look on their skillful care of patients as a service done for the sick on behalf of God.
• 17. At first, the person who preaches Christ and works for him is scared. Then follows the joy of having surpassed oneself, and even more the joy of having believed and worked with the very power of Jesus. Jesus gives thanks for the seventy (or seventy-two) and for all those who will follow them.
What are these things (v. 21) that God has revealed to the little ones but the mysterious power of the Gospel to transform people and show them the truth? The apostles marvel at the power coming from the name of Jesus (Mk 16:17). Jesus underlines the defeat of the Adversary, Satan.
The learned and the clever think they know, but do not know what is essential. They speak of a God who is no more than a shadow of the true God as long as they do not recognize him in Jesus. They do not know where the world is heading because they do not see how God’s power is working wherever Jesus is being proclaimed.
The little ones, on the other hand, have understood. Before they saw themselves as a sacrificed generation. For the little ones are used to sacrificing themselves for their children from generation to generation, or they are sacrificed by powers, under the pretext of bringing happiness to their descendants. They did not live for themselves; rather they were preparing a place for others. Now the little ones, namely, the humble believers, have everything if they have Jesus, the Father has given every thing to him.
Little ones live their faith in simple ways but they know that none of their sacrifices are lost. It is Jesus who reveals the Father to us and, knowing him in truth, we also share in his control over events. Our desires and our prayers are powerful because we have come to the center from which God directs the forces saving humankind: because we work for eternity, our names are already written in heaven (v. 20).
To evangelize does not mean to try to sell the Gospel but rather to prove its power to heal people from their demons. We need not become activists in order to accomplish that. We must admit that we have no power in these things and we must give thanks to God who enabled us to see, to hear and to communicate his salvation.
Fortunate are you to see… (v. 23). Stop being envious of famous people, kings and prophets of the past. You who are alive now, and who are neither kings nor prophets, have been given the better part.
• 25. Who is my neighbor? (v. 29). The teacher of the law expected to be given the precise limits of his obligation. Whom was he supposed to look after? Members of his family? People of his own race? Or perhaps everybody?
It is significant that Jesus concludes his story with a different question: Which of the three made himself neighbor? (v. 36). It is as if he said: do not try to figure out who is your neighbor, listen instead to the call within you, and become a neighbor, be close to your brother or sister in need. As long as we see the command to love as an obligation, we do not loving as God wants.
Love does not consist simply in being moved by another person’s distress. Notice how the Samaritan stopped by in spite of it being a dangerous place, how he paid for the expenses and promised to take care of whatever else might be necessary. Instead of just ‘being charitable’ he took unconditional and uncalculated risks for a stranger.
On one occasion, Martin Luther King pointed out that love is not satisfied with comforting those who suffer: “To begin with, we must be the good Samaritan to those who have fallen along the way. This, however, is only the beginning. Then, some day we will necessarily have to realize that the road to Jericho must be made in such a way that men and women are not constantly beaten and robbed while they are traveling along the paths of life.”
With this example, Jesus also makes us see that, many times, those who seem to be religious officials, or who believe they fulfill the law, are incapable of loving. It was a Sama ritan, considered a heretic by the Jews, who took care of the wounded man.
For the Jews, neighbors were the members of Israel, their own people, dignified by sharing the same religion; in fact, this familial relationship came from “flesh and blood.” For Jesus, true love leads one to give up any discrimination.
• 38. Many things seem to be necessary in a family: cleaning, preparing meals, looking after the children. If there is no time to listen to others, what is life worth? Perhaps we do many things in the service of God and our neighbor; only one thing nevertheless is necessary for us all: being available for Jesus when he is present.
Martha is working and worrying and does not have time to be with Jesus. Jesus is peace and the person who does not attend to him in peace does not receive him. There is a way of serving and working feverishly which leaves us empty, whether it is at home or in the community; instead Jesus wants us to find him in our daily work.
Our prayer can also be a way of fidgeting like Martha: when we fret in saying prayers, when we use a lot of words to present our worries to the Lord a hundred times over; when the person responsible for the celebration becomes nervous and overly concerned about the perfection of the singing or the homily.
To pray is to take the time to listen, to meditate in silence on the work of God, it is to slow our desires, so as to pay attention only to God, secretly present, and slip into his will.
How strange that in some non-Christian religions, people learn to bring their minds to peace and silence and reach true serenity. Meanwhile, we enter prayer with our concerns and do not let go of them until the prayer is ended.
Mary sat down at the Lord’s feet. It is the traditional attitude of the disciple, at the feet of her Master. Surely Jesus was not continually teaching, but being himself the Word of God, he brought God to all that he touched. Mary felt it was good to be there and she was aware that her presence was not to displease Jesus.
Mary has chosen the better part (v. 42). She followed only her instinct, but Jesus sees more: he will not be there much longer, and in any case his presence among us is always brief. Mary has been able to take hold of these brief moments when Jesus could be hers, and she is his while listening to him.
If the Mary in this episode were the same as Mary of Magdala who accompanied Jesus (Lk 8:2) we could imagine the following:
Mary is among the disciples who, along with Jesus, are received by Martha, her sister or “relative”. Mary is not in the least concerned about preparing the food and Martha complains. Jesus then praises Mary, not only because she is listening to him, but also because she had already decided to follow him. Like the apostles, Mary has chosen the better part.