Luke 10:1-9
“Notice what you notice.” Today’s reading is Luke 10:1-9; then we skip three verses and tomorrow’s reading is Luke 10:13-24. So I looked back and we had read Luke 10:10-12 back in April along with corresponding verses in Matthew and Mark. So I’m changing the listing for the next time we do this and also reading today through verse 12.
Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. (v. 1) Little items are intriguing to me. The little item in this sentence is the word “others”. At the beginning of the previous chapter Luke had Jesus sending out the twelve apostles. Now Jesus sends out 70 (or 72) “others”, presumably disciples outside the twelve. I had always imagined a large crowd traveling with Jesus. This item provides confirmation of that thought. Another item different in this “sending out” is that the disciples were told to go to cities and places where Jesus Himself would be going. Since He is now on His way to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), He may be sending them into Judea – but we don’t know that for sure. What we do know is that Jesus has an itinerary that includes 35 or 36 “cities and places” where He intends to teach. And Luke’s got another ten chapters to fill before we get to Holy Week, so Jesus will be on the move.
In verse 12 Jesus compares unrepentant cities with Sodom, a city that God destroyed back in Genesis 19. He made a similar comparison of Capernaum to Sodom in yesterday’s reading. I’m afraid today’s America is looking a lot like Sodom, a city that has given us the word “sodomy”. I don’t like the comparison.
Slava Bohu!