Luke 10:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the sending out of seventy disciples, in pairs, into different parts of the country. They were sent to preach the gospel and to work miracles in the places Christ himself planned to visit, so they could prepare people to receive him. The other Gospel writers do not mention this event, but the instructions here are much like the ones given to the twelve apostles.

Notice first their number, seventy. When Christ chose twelve apostles, he seems to have had in mind the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, and the twelve leaders of Israel. Here, he may be looking to the seventy elders of Israel, the same number who went up with Moses and Aaron and saw the glory of the God of Israel (Exodus 24:1, 24:9), and the same number later chosen to help Moses govern the people, when the spirit of prophecy came on them (Numbers 11:24-25). The twelve wells and seventy palm trees at Elim also pointed forward to the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples (Exodus 15:27). Even the seventy Jewish elders used by Ptolemy, king of Egypt, to translate the Old Testament into Greek gave their name to that translation, the Septuagint. The Jewish great council, the Sanhedrin, also had seventy members.

This is a joy to see, because it shows that Christ had many followers fit to be sent out. His work was not wasted, even though he met strong opposition. His kingdom keeps growing. His followers, like Israel in Egypt, may be oppressed, yet they increase. These seventy did not stay as close to him as the twelve did, but they still heard his teaching, saw his miracles, and believed in him. They may even have included those three mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, if they had given themselves seriously to the work. They are likely among the people Peter later described as those who had been with Jesus from the beginning (Acts 1:15, 1:21), and many companions of the apostles in Acts and the Epistles may have come from this group.

We should also be glad that there was work for so many ministers, and listeners for so many preachers. The small mustard seed was beginning to grow, and the leaven was spreading through the dough, moving toward the time when the whole would be changed.

He sent them out two and two so they could strengthen and encourage one another. If one fell, the other could help lift him up. He did not send them to every city in Israel, as he had sent the twelve, but to the places where he himself planned to come (Luke 10:1). They were his advance messengers. We may assume, though it is not recorded, that he later came to those places after sending them, even if he could stay only a short time in each one.

They were told to do two things, the same things Christ did wherever he went. First, they were to heal the sick (Luke 10:9), doing it in Jesus’ name. That would stir people to want to meet Jesus for themselves, since his name carried such power. Second, they were to announce that the kingdom of God was near. They were to tell people, “The kingdom of God has come near to you, and you now have the chance to enter it if you will only pay attention.” It is a mercy to know when God is giving us an opportunity, so we can make use of it. When God’s kingdom comes near, we should go out to meet it.

They were also to begin with prayer (Luke 10:2). In prayer, they were to feel deeply the need of people’s souls, which called for their help. They were to look at the great harvest field and see how many people needed the gospel and were ready to receive it. Many were expecting the Messiah and his kingdom, so the grain was ripe and ready, but there were too few hands to gather it in. Ministers should think of souls as precious and as riches that must be gathered for Christ. They should also grieve that the workers are so few. The Jewish teachers were many, but they were not harvest workers, because they did not bring souls into God’s kingdom. Good ministers want more good ministers, because there is work enough for more. It is common for people in a trade not to care if there are few others in it, but Christ wants workers in his field to see it as a problem when workers are scarce.

They were also to earnestly ask God to send them out. He is the Lord of the harvest, so they should pray that he would send them and others as laborers into his harvest. If God sends them, they may trust that he will go with them and bless their work. So they should be ready to say, as Isaiah did, “Here am I, send me” (Isaiah 6:8). It is a great thing to receive our commission from God, because then we can move forward with confidence.

They were to go out expecting trouble and persecution: “I am sending you like lambs among wolves.” Their enemies would be cruel, like wolves, ready to tear them apart. In threats and insults, they would try to frighten them like howling wolves. In persecution, they would attack like ravening wolves. Yet the disciples were to be like lambs, calm and patient, even when they were easy prey. It would have been very hard to face that without Christ’s own Spirit and courage.

They were not to burden themselves with supplies, as if they were going on a long journey. They were to depend on God and on the kindness of others for what they needed. They were not to take a purse, a bag for provisions, or extra shoes, as he had also told the twelve earlier (Luke 9:3). They were not to stop and greet people along the way. Elisha gave a similar instruction to his servant when he sent him to the Shunammite woman’s dead child (2 Kings 4:29). Christ was not teaching them to be rude or unfriendly. He meant, first, that they should go like people in a hurry, with assigned places and a clear message, without getting delayed by extra ceremony. Second, they should go like people on important business, business that concerns the world to come, and so they should not get caught up in ordinary affairs. A servant of the word must attend to his work. Third, they should go as serious men, and as men of sorrow.

It was the custom of mourners, during the first seven days of mourning, not to greet anyone, as in (Job 2:13). Christ was a man of sorrows, deeply acquainted with grief, so it was fitting that his messengers should resemble him in this and other ways. They should also show that they felt the troubles of the human race, the very troubles they had come to relieve, and that they were moved by them.

They must show, not only their own goodwill, but God’s goodwill, to everyone they came to, and leave the result to him who knows the heart (Luke 10:5, 6). The command given them was this: whatever house they entered, they were to say, “Peace be to this house.” Here they are assumed to be entering private homes, because they were not admitted into the synagogues and had to preach wherever they could find freedom. As their public preaching was forced into houses, so they carried it there as well. Like their Master, wherever they went, they preached from house to house (Acts 5:42; Acts 20:20). At first, Christ’s church was very much a church in the home.

They were told to say, “Peace be to this house,” meaning to everyone under that roof, to the whole family, and to all who belonged there. “Peace be to you” was the ordinary Jewish greeting. They were not to use it casually, like a passing courtesy to people they met on the road. Instead, they were to use it solemnly in the homes they entered. “Do not greet people by the way,” meaning do not use empty compliments, but to those whose houses you enter, say, “Peace be to you,” with seriousness and truth. It was meant to be more than a polite phrase. Christ’s ministers go into the whole world to say, in Christ’s name, “Peace be to you.”

First, they are to offer peace to all. They preach peace through Jesus Christ, proclaim the gospel of peace, the covenant of peace, peace on earth, and invite people to come and receive its benefit. Second, they are to pray for peace for all. They must sincerely desire the salvation of those they preach to and bring those desires before God in prayer. It may also be good to let people know that they are being prayed for and blessed in the name of the Lord.

The result would differ according to the kind of people who heard them and were prayed for. As the people were sons of peace or not, so their peace would rest on the house or not. The quality of the receiver shapes the way the message is received. Some would be sons of peace, made ready by God’s grace, according to his wise purpose, to receive the gospel in its light and love. Their hearts would be soft like wax, ready to take the mark of it. Those who have a true work of grace in them are fit to receive the comforts of the gospel. To such people, your peace will find them and rest on them. Your prayers for them will be heard, the promises of the gospel will be confirmed to them, its blessings will be given to them, and the fruit of both will stay with them, a good portion that will not be taken away.

Others would be entirely unwilling to hear or take in the message, whole houses with not one son of peace in them. In such cases, our peace will not come upon them. They have no share in the matter. The blessing that rests on the sons of peace will never rest on the sons of Belial, that is, wicked people. No one can expect the blessings of the covenant who will not come under its bond. Yet peace will return to us again. That means we will have the comfort of having done our duty to God and kept our trust. Our prayers, like David’s, will return to our own hearts (Psalm 35:13), and we will have leave to keep going in the work. Our peace returns to us, not only for our own comfort, but so we can carry it to the next people we meet who are sons of peace.

They must also receive the kindness of those who would welcome them (Luke 10:7, 8). Those who receive the gospel will receive the preachers too and provide for them. They were not to try to make money or build wealth, but they could depend on a living. They were not to be suspicious of their welcome or fear that they were becoming a burden. They should eat and drink what was given to them, because any kindness shown to them was only a small return for the kindness they brought by delivering the good news of peace. They would deserve it, because “the laborer is worthy of his wages.” A minister who truly labors is worthy of support, and it is not an act of charity but of justice for those taught in the word to share with those who teach them.

They were also not to be picky or fussy about food. They were to eat and drink whatever was set before them (Luke 10:7, 8). They should be thankful for plain food and not complain if it was not prepared with skill. It does not suit Christ’s disciples to crave delicacies. Christ did not bind them to the Pharisees’ strict and man-made fasting rules, and he did not allow the luxury of the Epicureans, people devoted to pleasure. He may also be referring to the elders’ traditions about food, which were so many and so exacting that people who followed them became extremely fussy. You could hardly set a meal before them without some question arising. But Christ would not have his disciples troubled by those things. They were to eat what was given to them, asking no questions for conscience’ sake.

They must also warn of God’s judgment against those who reject them and their message. If they entered a city and were not received, if there was no one willing to listen to their teaching, they were to leave (Luke 10:10). If people would not welcome them into their houses, they were to warn them in the streets. He gives them the same instruction he had already given the apostles: say to them, not in anger, scorn, or revenge, but with pity for their dying souls and a holy fear of the ruin they are bringing on themselves, that even the dust of their city that clings to us we wipe off against you (Luke 10:11). Do not take any kindness from them. It cost the prophet of the Lord dearly when he accepted a meal from a prophet in Bethel (1 Kings 13:21, 22). Tell them you will not carry even the dust of their city with you. Let them keep it, for dust they are.

This would stand as a witness for Christ’s messengers that they had been there in obedience to their Master. Whether they were welcomed or refused, they had carried out their duty. But it would also stand as a witness against those who would not receive Christ’s messengers, not even with water to wash their feet, so that the dust had to be wiped off. Still, they must tell them plainly, and make sure they understand it: the kingdom of God has come near to you. A full offer has been made to you. If you do not benefit from it, the fault is yours alone.

The gospel is brought right to your door. If you shut your door against it, your blood is on your own head. Now that the kingdom of God has come near to you, if you will not come to it and enter it, your sin will be without excuse, and your judgment will be unbearable.

The better the offers of grace and life through Christ are, the more we will have to answer for if we ignore them. It will be more bearable for Sodom than for that city (Luke 10:12). The people of Sodom did reject the warning Lot gave them, but rejecting the gospel is a much greater sin, and it will be punished that way. Christ means the day of judgment (Luke 10:14), but he calls it that day with special force, because it is the last great day. It is the day when we must give account for all the days of this life, and when our eternal state will be settled.

The evangelist then repeats the special doom of the cities where most of Christ’s mighty works were done, the same warning found in Matthew 11:20 and following. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, all near the Sea of Galilee, are the places named here, and Christ spent much of his time among them. They enjoyed greater privileges, because Christ did mighty works there, and all of them were merciful works. In this way they were lifted up to heaven, not only honored, but given a real chance to become blessed. They were brought as close to heaven as outside help could bring them.

God’s purpose in favoring them this way was to lead them to repentance and a changed life, to sit in sackcloth and ashes, both in sorrow for their sins and in humble submission to God’s rule. But they ruined that purpose by receiving God’s grace without benefit. It is implied that they did not repent. All Christ’s miracles did not move them to think better of him or worse of sin, and they did not produce the fruits that should have followed such great privileges.

It is reasonable to think, at least from a human point of view, that if Christ had gone to Tyre and Sidon, Gentile cities, and preached the same message and worked the same miracles there, they would have repented long ago. Their repentance would have been quick, and it would have been deep, with sackcloth and ashes. We must wait for the great day of revelation to understand God’s wisdom in giving the means of grace to some who do not use them, and withholding them from others who would have used them.

The judgment of those who receive God’s grace in vain will be very severe. Those who were lifted up and did nothing with their advantage will be thrown down to hell, with shame and dishonor. They may push and crowd in, as if to enter heaven with the company of professing believers, but it will be useless. They will be thrust down, to their lasting grief and disappointment, into the lowest hell, and hell will truly be hell for them.

On the day of judgment, Tyre and Sidon will fare better. It will be more bearable for them than for those cities.

Christ also gives a general rule for how he will judge those to whom he sends his ministers. He counts himself as treated the way they treat his ministers (Luke 10:16). What is done to the ambassador is, in a sense, done to the one who sent him. The one who hears you and accepts what you say hears me, and honors me in that. But the one who despises you is really despising me, and will be judged as if he insulted me. In fact, he despises the one who sent me.

Those who look down on the Christian faith are, in effect, slighting natural religion, which Christianity completes and brings to fullness. Those who despise Christ’s faithful ministers, even if they do not openly hate or persecute them, but instead think poorly of them, look at them with scorn, and turn away from their teaching, will be treated as despisers of God and Christ.