whatever they set before you,
for workers deserve their pay.
Don’t move from house to house. Luke 10:7
Houses from Kids Map Creator by MaNechaeva on Creative Market
This is essentially what I wrote three years ago in 2022 with a few revisions and changes.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He 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. 3 Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' 6 And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you.
7 "Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 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.'
16 "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" 18 He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
The Original Setting
"After this" in 10:1 refers back to events reported in chapter 9 that include:
• feeding 5,000+ people with five loaves and two fish
• Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah
• Jesus' Transfiguration (reported in 9:31 "They spoke about Jesus' departure or exodus, which he was about to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem")
• casting out a demon
• Jesus' exceptionally radical call to discipleship that excludes expected human activities of burying the dead, saying goodbye before leaving.
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven (ascendancy, authority, Lordship), Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 9:51
Particularly in Luke's and Mark's gospels, Jesus' journey to Jerusalem is relentless and incessant. Jesus mostly grew up and lived in small town Nazareth in semi-remote Galilee; Jerusalem was the center of religious power and the seat of Roman imperial control. Jews considered the J-Temple the axis mundi or conduit between heaven and earth.
Where We Live
The Lord sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. Luke 10:1
Much of scripture reveals God already has been at work in a particular setting before God leads (sends) us there—God has been to our future! In addition, I've heard many contemporary real-life testimonies of that fact, as likely you have, too.
Similar to what Luke 9:1-6 reports when he sent out the original twelve, Jesus gives instructions for going into the world as itinerant missionaries. We all need this direction because like Jesus and his first followers, all of us itinerate from one place to another, from one ministry to another, often within a single day.
Paralleling Moses and the seventy elders, Luke's Jesus picks up on the number 70 (72 in some versions). Seventy combines seven, the number of perfection and ten, the number of completion in Hebrew numerology. He wisely advises everyone to travel in pairs.
Comments and Questions
Travel light! Why? Always? Is that a good idea for us today? Why does he say "Greet no one on the road"? Are these guidelines only for less-developed countries or remote rural communities? Maybe for short-term high school and college mission trips to nearby places (Habitat for Humanity Houses, for example) or across the international border? Or can they apply elsewhere?
The very first thing is to speak Shalom, the fullness of God's loving, merciful, presence to everyone they meet.
• How can we speak peace in words and show peace in our actions?
Church-speak and Christianese are foreign languages to a lot of people. The idea of church or Christianity turns off many people, especially because white supremacy nationalism that excludes most of the human family has become the idea of Christianity for so many.
Accept the hospitality and act as guests of households we visit. Eat whatever people give you!
Local cuisine helps us learn about our hosts. "You are what you eat" – "we become what we eat together." As we enjoy their hospitality and their food, we become the family or individuals that host us.
This scripture presents food and lodging as compensation.
• What's your opinion of pay-your-own-way ministries versus ones that pay in dollars and cents and/or housing and vehicle allowance?
It's a little different, but as an artist-designer, I'm the creative director when I design a project pro bono, which gives me more creative freedom, yet I still need to address client preferences and concerns and the final project needs to meet their needs.
If the people don't welcome and receive us? Shake the dust of that place off your feet! Get rid of the evidence. Try to shake off memories of them? Or maybe not? What's your experience?
Filled with the Spirit of Pentecost, we go everywhere as Jesus' presence. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. Luke 10:16
Discerning when to quit trying to engage an individual, a family, or a group; and deciding it's time to move on to the next place can be full of anxiety.
• How do we learn to leave one setting or a particular type of ministry and try on the next?
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