The Mission Continues

 Luke 10: 1-9

The Mission of the Seventy

10 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. See, 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 anyone is there who shares in peace, 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.’

We might think that our missionary situation is unique to our time:  not enough missionaries to reach everyone, but see, even in the time of Jesus himself, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Lk 10: 2). Jesus told the people of his time (and ours) to ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.  That we can and must do, but we might ask ourselves, what else can we do?  We don't normally see ourselves as missionaries but it might be time to take another look at ourselves and see the potential missionary who, although late on the scene, might be able to step into this role.  It won't be easy, as it wasn't for the first missionaries, but we have the commission from Jesus himself to go and preach, even if it means being lambws in the midst of wolves.  Again, there is nothing to fear, for Jesus is always with us.

Bro. Rene