A sermon preached by Dr. John Clayton at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on August 3, 2025.
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. 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. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 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. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘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.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.”
“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 will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.”
“The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:1–16).[1]
When we hear of Jesus’ disciples, we may think of the twelve apostles, but there were more disciples than the twelve. For example, on his way from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus “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” (Luke 10:1). There is speculation on the precise number sent and its significance, but the primary focus of the passage is not numerology but missiology. Perhaps most importantly, we should see a foreshadowing of the Great Commission and the necessity that Christ’s church advances the gospel to our neighbors and the nations. Of course, just as the seventy-two were not all of Jesus’ disciples, not every believer is a spiritually-gifted evangelist[2] or called to vocational missions. But each of us is called to live with a missionary mindset, as it were, to be always prepared to make a gentle and respectful defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.[3]
As appointed, the seventy-two were sent to the unnamed towns, where they would serve in word and deed, if received, healing the sick and proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ coming. But not everyone or every town would hear it as good. There has always been and continues to be those who do not believe, despite the gracious message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So, Jesus prepared them for reception and rejection. With those who received the good news, they would stay, enjoying their hospitality and fellowship, but from those who rejected it, they would depart, declaring, “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” (10:11). It was a pronouncement of God’s impending judgment upon all who do not receive and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such a statement, we might presume, would strike the fear of God in those who received it, but such is the mystery of God’s sovereign grace. The responsibility of the missionary, then and now, is not the conversion of the lost, but the proclamation of the gospel. And for this we must faithfully prepare.
Prepare for the Harvest
Prior to sending out the seventy-two, two-by-two, Jesus explained the purpose of their mission, saying, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (10:2a). By analogy, Jesus described their mission like the demands on a farm at harvest. What was planted grows up to full maturity and is ready to be harvested, immediately, requiring many workers. Likewise, in Jesus’ coming, harvest time had come: “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). But adoption does not come apart from faith, and “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). But, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom. 10:14). Answer: They will not, and so laborers must be sent into the harvest, which in the case of the seventy-two began in Israel.
What would such an endeavor entail? How should they prepare? Their mission, Jesus said, must first begin with and continue in prayer: “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2b). They were to pray for themselves, individually and collectively, that God would enable them to carry the gospel to those who had not believed. And so must we, for the laborers are few.
As a church, we financially support national and international missionaries and pray for them regularly, but we are also praying that the Lord of the harvest will raise up missionaries in our midst, that at least one percent of our congregation would answer the call to serve in vocational missions. Is this possible? According to Jesus, only through prayer. Would you commit to pray for this? Would you join me in praying for more and more laborers to send into the plentiful harvest. Let us pray that the gospel of Jesus Christ be advanced to our neighbors and the nations, that churches be planted both near and far, and that God be worshiped among every tribe, tongue, and nation.
So, first pray, and then, Jesus said to proceed, “Go your way” (10:3a). He sent them ahead “into every town and place where he himself was about to go” (Luke 10:1), heralding the king’s coming, so to speak. But with this commission, he included a warning: “behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves” (10:3b). The gospel is not advanced by standing still (But it’s safer to just stay home, and who sends vulnerable sheep out to hungry wolves?). Surely, they would face angry words, violent tempers, even murderous threats. Why even go? Because, the one who sent them, and sends us, is the Good Shepherd, who leads us “through the valley of the shadow of death” to a table of his plentiful provision in the presence of our enemies (Ps. 23:4-5). To stay home, when commissioned to go, is to miss the Lord’s protection and the fulfillment of his promised provision.
For this reason, Jesus sent them without moneybag, knapsack, or a change of sandals. What they had was what they would have. What they wore was what they would wear. In this commissioning, Jesus was not establishing precedent, as he would later commission his apostles to carry provisions. Every calling is different, but not without purpose. Here, Jesus was teaching them to trust the Lord for their needs among the children of Israel, who were taught to be gracious to the sojourner. And through this, it would be providentially revealed who were and who were not children of peace.
Pursue the Peaceful
In every town and place the seventy-two would go, healing the sick by the power of Jesus and proclaiming his message, “The kingdom of God has come near to you” (Luke 10:9). Miracles performed were a sign of the coming kingdom of God, whose king had sent them to perform and proclaim the good news. Those who heard and believed it also received the king’s heralds and in turn received the pronounced blessing, “Peace be to this house!” (Luke 10:5). For, the person who receives the gospel is a child of peace, for there is no peace with God apart from it. But the one who rejects the gospel and its messenger, will neither know the Prince of Peace nor his peace which surpasses all understanding.[4]
This does not mean that the gospel advances only to those of peaceful demeanor. The Holy Spirit can conquer even the most hostile, but it is his work not ours; ours is to proclaim the peace of Christ. As Matthew Henry explains, “We are to propose peace to all, to preach peace by Jesus Christ, to proclaim the gospel of peace, the covenant of peace, peace on earth, and to invite the children of men to come and take the benefit of it.”[5] This is a helpful reminder in an age of division: The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of peace.
Therefore, we must never be an impediment to its proclamation. The seventy-two were instructed not to be distracted from their mission, to not even greet someone on the road between towns.[6] They were to stay in the home into which they were invited, eating and drinking what they would be given. They were to be what I call “low maintenance.” They were not to be demanding but content with what the Lord provided, through the kindness of strangers, mindful of the testimony of their words and actions.
Likewise, this “ought to remind us,” J.C. Ryle says, “of the necessity of simplicity and unworldliness in our daily life. . . . Blessed are they who feel like pilgrims and strangers in this life, and whose best things are all to come!”[7] Each of us should have a missionary mindset, easy to please, grateful for what we are given, and mindful of what we say and how we act. Do the things you say in person or online align with the peace of Christ and the grace of the gospel?
Or have you shamed your enemies and even some of your friends into a disdain of your so-called Christianity? Do your actions reveal a grateful heart for God’s provision through the kindness of strangers? Or do your actions convey a message contrary to the mercy and grace of the gospel of Christ? While God may not commission you and me to be missionaries like the seventy-two, he has sent us on our way with the good news of great joy, for every man, woman, girl, and boy! Don’t let yourself get in the way of the greatest news in all the world.
Proclaim the Kingdom
The seventy-two were responsible to deliver the good news and the bad. Accompanied by the confirming miraculous, the message was simple: “The kingdom of God has come near to you” (Luke 10:9). It was in essence an announcement of Jesus’ coming, which we know moved beyond town to town on to Calvary, where the king of the kingdom laid down his life. On this side of the cross, we know, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). We know, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NASB). And we know that through faith in Christ the King, we are already citizens of the kingdom of heaven awaiting our king’s return. This is of course more than the seventy-two knew or delivered, but what they did know and proclaim, with accompanying miracles, was sufficient to save.
But their message was sufficient to condemn as well, shaking the dust from their feet, as it were, and pronouncing God’s impending judgement. Confirming that not everyone believed, Jesus described the faithlessness of some with a series of “woes”:
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 will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades (Luke 10:13-15).
Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, were the names of towns from the Old Testament and known for their wickedness. Chorazin and Bethsaida as well as Capernaum were towns in Galilee that had witnessed the mighty works and heard the life-giving words of Jesus and yet had not believed on him. Jesus’ point was, as R.C. Sproul explains, “The more light you have been given about the kingdom of God, the more liable you are for your response to that message.”[8] We must not presume that to witness the miraculous or to see Jesus face-to-face resulted in faith. The gift of faith comes only by God’s grace through the proclamation of the gospel: “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
It is his word by his Spirit that does the work, as he told the seventy-two, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). We are simply called to be the King’s heralds, but where the gospel is preached the kingdom is near.
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom. 10:14-15).
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Eph. 4:11
[3] 1 Pet. 3:15
[4] Isa. 9:6; Phil. 4:7
[5] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961), 1446.
[6] Luke 10:4
[7] J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 1 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 266.
[8] R.C. Sproul, “The Folly of Refusing the Light,” Tabletalk 47, no. 5 (2023): 46.
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