July 6, 2025
Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20
This passage from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 10:1-12) presents to us the sending out of the seventy-two disciples who are to announce the Good News of God in the villages and in the cities of Galilee. We are the seventy-two disciples who come after the Twelve. Who are we as disciples and how do we live out the mission given to us? A disciple is in relationship with their teacher and imitates their teacher – in this case, Jesus. Our mission is to listen to Jesus, to learn from Jesus and to imitate Jesus by putting into word and action his Good News. We listen to Jesus’ call: “Follow Me” and act upon his mission. What is the mission of discipleship and how are we called to respond?
Our response as a community in mission is based in prayer, action and lived as a community. Jesus gave the seventy-two specific instructions that were to display a particular attitude for their work in representing Jesus and His message. First, Jesus tells the them to pray; then he tells them to go and how to go on their mission. They are called to serve, emphasizing the need for laborers in the harvest and the importance of trusting in God’s providence.
This passage emphasizes that the mission of proclaiming the Gospel has the potential for a great harvest, yet there is need for more workers. It highlights the importance of faith, simplicity, and reliance and trust in God’s providence. They are sent two by two as this mission is not individual but needs the support of community to withstand the resistance and rejection they will encounter and it’s the same today. More Christians are being persecuted for their faith today than at any other time in human history, including a strikingly lack of compassion and action towards the needs of so many suffering brothers and sisters across our world. “The harvest is plentiful” is as true today as it was in Jesus’ time “Ask the Lord of the harvest… for what? Peace, a “peace the world cannot give”, the first words of Pope Leo XIV “Peace to all of you” in a world lacking in love and solidarity.
The Reign of God is near as our discipleship calls us to a new model of living together, in simplicity, in communion, in acceptance of the excluded and marginalized. Because we have received the Holy Spirit, every disciple has the capacity to show Jesus’ compassion and kindness by our prayer and action towards those in need.
Luke 10:1-12 encourages a sense of urgency and co-responsibility as we engage in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. Jesus calls us to be laborers in the harvest, trusting in God’s peace and living with simplicity and faith.
What is your vision of the Lord’s harvest for today? Jesus commissioned the seventy-two, and us to a two-fold mission: to speak his Word and to act with his power. Jesus gave them and us instructions to carry out his mission. We must go and serve in prayer and action, full of charity, peace, and simplicity, even if we meet the world’s resistance or rejection. We are disciples, followers of Jesus Christ, who shows us the way through life, death and resurrection.
Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20
At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”
The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Meet Sister Marie Prefontaine, SNDdeN
