The mission of the seventy disciples (Luke 10:1-24) - JSS2 Christian Religious Studies Lesson Note
Sometime after the mission of the twelve, Jesus sent out another batch of seventy disciples to win more souls for God. this was because there many, many souls to be saved but few disciples to do the work. Therefore, Jesus said to them:
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few”
Jesus said the seventy should pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers into his harvest. He was sending them out as lambs in the midst of wolves. They should carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. When they enter a house they should pray: “Peace be to this house.”
If a peaceful person was in the house, the peace would stay, if not it shall return to them. They should not go from house to house, but remain in the one house eating food and drinking what is given to them.
When they enter a town and they were well received, they should eat the food given to them, and heal the sick among them and say: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But if they were rejected by a town, they should go outside and say:
“Even the dust of your town that cling to our feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this that the kingdom of God has come near you.”
Jesus said it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than any town that rejected them. Jesus then pronounced woes (judgement) on the chief cities in Galilee where most of his mighty works were performed because they did not repent:
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable in the judgement for Tyre and Sidon, than for you. And you Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be bought down to Hades.”
Jesus ended the charge to the seventy disciples by saying:
“He who hears you hears me, and he, who rejects you, rejects me, and he who rejects me, rejects he who sent me.”
Lessons to learn from call to discipleship and demands of discipleship.
1. No matter our profession we can be called to serve God. Even as sinners, God can still call us. Matthew was a tax collector, a profession Jews hated. To them, a tax collector was a Roman agent of profession, a traitor, a sinner and a profiteer.
2. The first apostles left everything and followed Jesus. Likewise, we should respond to God’s call promptly.
3. We cannot combine the work of God with earthly duties.
4. The work of God demands full concentration and commitment.
5. Serving God may demand abandoning our loved ones, our family, our cherished professions etc.