From: Luke 10:1-9
The Mission of the Seventy Disciples
[1] After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on
ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself
was about to come. [2] And He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to
send out laborers into His harvest. [3] Go your way; behold, I send
you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. [4] Carry no purse, no bag,
no sandals; and salute 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 shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall 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.'"
Commentary:
1-12. Those who followed our Lord and received a calling from Him (cf.
Luke 9:57-62) included many other disciples in addition to the Twelve
(cf. Mark 2:15). We do not know who most of them were; but undoubtedly
some of them were with Him all along, from when Jesus was baptized by
John up to the time of His ascension--for example, Joseph called
Barrabas, and Matthias (cf. Acts 1:21-26). We can also include Cleopas
and his companion, whom the risen Christ appeared to on the road to
Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35).
From among these disciples, our Lord chooses seventy-two for a special
assignment. Of them, as of the Apostles (cf. Luke 9:1-5), He demands
total detachment and complete abandonment to divine providence.
From Baptism onwards every Christian is called by Christ to perform a
mission. Therefore, the Church, in our Lord's name, "makes to all the
laity an earnest appeal in the Lord to give a willing, noble and
enthusiastic response to the voice of Christ, who at this hour is
summoning them more pressingly, and to the urging of the Holy Spirit.
The younger generation should feel this call to be addressed in a
special way to themselves; they should welcome it eagerly and
generously. It is the Lord Himself, by this Council, who is once more
inviting all the laity to unite themselves to Him ever more intimately,
to consider His interests as their own (cf. Philippians 2:5), and to
join in His mission as Savior. It is the Lord who is again sending
them into every town and every place where He Himself is to come (cf.
Luke 10:1). He sends them on the Church's apostolate, an apostolate
that is one yet has different forms and methods, an apostolate that
must all the time be adapting itself to the needs of the moment; He
sends them on an apostolate where they are to show themselves His
cooperators, doing their full share continually in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord their labor cannot be lost (cf. 1
Corinthians 15:58)" (Vatican II, "Apostolicam Actuositatem", 33).
3-4. Christ wants to instill apostolic daring into His disciples; this
is why He says, "I send you out", which leads St. John Chrysostom to
comment: "This suffices to give us encouragement, to give us confidence
and to ensure that we are not afraid of our assailants" ("Hom. on St.
Matthew", 33). The Apostles' and disciples' boldness stemmed from
their firm conviction that they were on a God-given mission: they
acted, as Peter the Apostle confidently explained to the Sanhedrin, in
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "for there is no other name under
heaven by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
"And the Lord goes on," St. Gregory the Great adds, "Carry no purse, no
bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road.' Such should be the
confidence the preacher places in God that even if he is not provided
with the necessities of life, he is convinced that they will come his
way. This will ensure that worry about providing temporal things for
himself does not distract him from providing others with eternal
things" ("In Evangelia Homiliae", 17). Apostolate calls for generous
self-surrender which leads to detachment; therefore, Peter, following
our Lord's commandment, when the beggar at the Beautiful Gate asked him
for alms (Acts 3:2-3), said, "I have no silver or gold" ("ibid.", 3:6),
"not so as to glory in his poverty", St. Ambrose points out, "but to
obey the Lord's command. It is as if he were saying, `You see in me a
disciple of Christ, and you ask me for gold? He gave us something much
more valuable than gold, the power to act in His name. I do not have
what Christ did not give me, but I do have what He did give me: In the
name of Jesus Christ, arise and walk' (cf. Acts 3:6)" ("Expositio
Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc".). Apostolate, therefore, demands
detachment from material things and it also requires us to be always
available, for there is an urgency about apostolic work.
"And salute no one on the road": "How can it be", St. Ambrose asks
himself, "that the Lord wishes to get rid of a custom so full of
kindness? Notice, however, that He does not just say, `Do not salute
anyone', but adds, `on the road.' And there is a reason for this.
"He also commanded Elisha not to salute anyone he met, when He sent him
to lay his staff on the body of the dead child (2 Kings 4:29): He gave
him this order so as to get him to do this task without delay and
effect the raising of the child, and not waste time by stopping to talk
to any passer-by he met. Therefore, there is no question of omitting
good manners to greet others; it is a matter of removing a possible
obstacle in the way of service; when God commands, human considerations
should be set aside, at least for the time being. To greet a person is
a good thing, but it is better to carry out a divine instruction which
could easily be frustrated by a delay ("ibid.").
6. Everyone is "a son of peace" who is disposed to accept the teaching
of the Gospel which brings with it God's peace. Our Lord's
recommendation to His disciples to proclaim peace should be a constant
feature of all the apostolic action of Christians: "Christian
apostolate is not a political program or a cultural alternative. It
implies the spreading of good, `infecting' others with a desire to
love, sowing peace and joy" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 124).
Feeling peace in our soul and in our surroundings is an unmistakable
sign that God is with us, and a fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Galatians
5:22): "Get rid of these scruples that deprive you of peace. What
takes away your peace of soul cannot come from God. When God comes to
you, you will feel the truth of those greetings: My peace I give to
you..., peace I leave you..., peace be with you..., and you will feel
it even in the midst of troubles" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 258).
7. Our Lord clearly considered poverty and detachment a key feature in
an apostle. But He was aware of His disciples' material needs and
therefore stated the principle that apostolic ministry deserves its
recompense. Vatican II reminds us that we all have an obligation to
contribute to the sustenance of those who generously devote themselves
to the service of the Church: "Completely devoted as they are to the
service of God in the fulfillment of the office entrusted to them,
priests are entitled to receive a just remuneration. For `the laborer
deserves his wages' (Luke 10:7), and `the Lord commanded that they who
proclaim the Gospel should get their living by the Gospel' (1
Corinthians 9:14). For this reason, insofar as provision is not made
from some other source for the just remuneration of priests, the
faithful are bound by a real obligation of seeing to it that the
necessary provision for a decent and fitting livelihood for the priests
are available" (Vatican II, "Presbyterorum Ordinis", 20).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.