Lambs Among Wolves

 Luke 10: 1-12

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ² And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town."

The longer I live, the more wisdom I see in this passage.  Jesus has sent us on a mission, and that should be our main focus. The apostles went out unencumbered by "things", which in our very materialistic world are so easy to acquire and bog us down.  He sent them out with the basic necessities, and nothing more, a mode of life that is very demanding and difficult, while at the same time, refreshingly freeing.  I am definitely "not there" yet.

He also warned that we would be lambs among wolves, which translates as targets of ridicule, victims of rejection or even violence. There would never be enough of us but he would be there with us to sustain us. If I'm not experiencing the wolves, perhaps I'm not carrying out my mission. Self-examination is the order of the day.

May we hear these injunctions and let them slip deep into our hearts, praying that we might be willing and fitting "laborers for the kingdom" and lambs among wolves.

Bro. Rene