Pt Jude Tâm Trần

TOTAL DEVOTION

Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.  He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand.  I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.

The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

After reading this passage, the first thing that comes to my mind is the number 72. Does the number 72 have any significant meaning in this passage? Let’s see

• The number 72 is the number of languages spoken at the Tower of Babylon (Genesis 11:1-9).
• The number 72 is the number of names that were written on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
• The number 72 is the average heart beat per minute of a resting adult.
• The number 72 is the usual par for an 18-hole golf course, especially those in tournament play.
• The number 72 is the percentage of water in our body and
• The number 72 is the rule in Finance that is used to calculate the number of years to double our money in relationship with the return on our investment. For example, if we like to double our money in 10 years, we take 72 divides by 10 and we get 7.2 which means we have to have an average return of 7.2% per year. If we have an average return of 10% per year then it only takes 7.2 years to double our money because 72 divides by 10 is 7.2.

Actually, the number 72 has no significant meaning in this passage. It simply is the number of disciples that the Lord sent out to preach the good news. So, what is the meaning of this passage?

We note that Jesus sends out the seventy-two in pairs of two. Jesus sends them out two by two because it not only provides companionship for the journey, and the ability to hold up each other when the going gets tough, but it also provides a double dose of faith and wisdom to witness to others. Also, according to Mosaic’s law, two witnesses were required for a testimony to be credible.

I think the meaning of today’s Gospel is the instruction that Jesus gave to his disciples. “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals, and greet no one along the way”. This is the second time the Lord gave the same instruction. The first time is in Luke 9:1-3

And He called the Twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. And He sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.   And He said unto them, take nothing for your journey, neither staff, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats.

The mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God is very important. The disciples must give their full attention to the mission and not be diverted by other lesser things. They must travel light “no money bag, no sack, and no sandals” – only take what was essential and leave behind whatever would distract them – in order to concentrate on the task of speaking the word of God.

I can understand “no money bag, no sack, and no sandals” but I cannot understand “greet no one along the way”. I do have problem with that instruction. Do you? What is harm with greeting someone along the way? Why the Lord is so clear about that?

I think the Lord does not want his disciples to start a relationship with any one even with a simple greeting along the way. Why?

There are two reasons for that: The first reason is there are plenty of people for the disciples to spread the good news and there is no need to form any relationship. We can go back to the reading, The Lord said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few”. The second reason is if the disciple does not have sufficient faith in the instruction, they would not be able to carry on the mission. Starting relationship to anyone could be dangerous. We can go back to the reading again, Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.

Our Lord is very careful because the Lord knows that his disciples are like lambs and the devil enemies are like wolves. To the ancients, the wolf is a deceitful, vicious, and violent animal. The lamb has no chance to fight with the wolf if they do not acquire sufficient faith in the Lord for protection. The instruction “greet no one along the way” is a time and life saving measure that emphasizes the urgency and the importance of the mission. The message echoes Luke 9:57-62: Be single-minded in purpose and do not be distracted!

That reminds me of many Chinese “Kung Fu” novels. Anyone who would like to learn the martial art must go up to the top of the mountain because the martial art Masters are usually located up there. There are two reasons for that. First, the Master want their students isolated from everyone else so they can concentrate solely on their study. Second, it is a strategic location to prevent other masters to attack and take over their school.

After a long period of time, when the master thinks the student is sufficient in his martial art skill, the student will be allowed to leave the mountain life, goes back to the society, and promote his school’s mission. Otherwise, it would be sending the lambs among the wolves.

If the student’s skill is not sufficient, the Master will not allow him to leave the safety net of the school. The main reason is the student would not be able to defense himself and may get killed while trying to carry on his mission. Then the school has a very bad name. If the students want to leave the school without sufficient skill, they have to renounce the school name. If they lose or die in a battle the school does not have a bad name. Renounce his school name is a humiliating act and no one would go through it.

The martial art school used the same instruction given by our Lord in today’s Gospel. The instruction given by our Lord is very clear – travel light and greet no one along the way to avoid as many distractions as possible. The devil, like wolves, knows how to distract the disciples, like lambs, and Jesus just wants to protect them and his mission.

If we do exactly what Jesus instructs us, we will be successful on our mission as his disciples. Luke 10:17-20 confirms the results.

The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.  Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:17-20)

Although the road map to evangelization is done, the instruction given by our Lord is very clear, we do exactly what Jesus instructs us, and we are successful on our mission as his disciples. But, we are NOT DONE yet because Jesus wants to add one more thing to his instruction.

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” We learn from this verse that disciples must guard against being puffed up and “swell head”. The disciples just had their first victory. It’s like the little league baseball team after their first win on their way to Dairy Queen chanting…we’re number one…we’re number one.

We are not to rejoice in the natural abilities God has given to us. Some of us are very good at certain talents and skills and we must not rejoice in those. We rejoice in the acts of God on our behalf and God receives the glory not us.

We MUST be humble and counting on the Lord blessing and I do not think our Lord can be clearer than that. God bless you and your family abundantly.