Jesus Sends Out The 70

IT IS the fall of 32 C.E., a full three years since Jesus' baptism. He and his disciples have recently attended the Festival of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, and apparently they are still nearby. In fact, Jesus spends most of the remaining six months of his ministry either in Judea or just across the Jordan River in the district of Perea. This territory needs to be covered too. True, after the Passover of 30 C.E., Jesus spent about eight months preaching in Judea. But after the Jews tried to kill him there on the Passover of 31 C.E., he spent the next year and a half teaching almost exclusively in Galilee. During that time, he developed a large, well-trained organization of preachers, something he did not have earlier. So he now launches a final intensive witnessing campaign in Judea.

Jesus gets this campaign under way by choosing 70 disciples and sending them out by twos. Thus, there are altogether 35 teams of Kingdom preachers to work the territory. These go in advance into every city and place to which Jesus, evidently accompanied by his apostles, is planning to go.

Instead of directing the 70 to go to synagogues, Jesus tells them to enter private homes, explaining: "Wherever you enter into a house say first, 'May this house have peace.' And if a friend of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him." What is to be their message? "Go on telling them,: Jesus says, "the kingdom of God has come near to you." Regarding the activity of the 70, Matthew Henry" Commentary reports: "Like their Master, wherever they visited , they preached from house to house."

Jesus' instruction to the 70 are similar to those given to the 12 when he sent these out on a preaching campaign in Galilee about a year earlier. Not only does he warn the 70 of the opposition they will face, preparing them to present the message to householders, but he empowers them to cure the sick. Thus, when Jesus arrives shortly afterward, many will be eager to meet the Master whose disciples are able to do such marvelous things.

Next time: Conclusion of Jesus Sends Out The 70

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, 1991