The PR Crew (Part One)

So, Jesus had been walking in the way. His sights were set on Jerusalem. As he walked, he talked to this or that person – all very casual and relaxed. The beginning of chapter ten must be imagined as nothing is written save the action Jesus took and the words he spoke. For my part, I can imagine more open countryside. I can picture in my mind a time to stop and rest from the march.

I want to look briefly at the first two verses in chapter ten of Luke. Verse one declares an action. Verse two declares a rationale. A rationale is defined as 'a set of reasons or a logical basis for a course of action or a particular belief'.

While verse one precedes verse two, it is verse two that explains or leads into the action. We would not be amiss to assume that all the talk came before the action, that Jesus first sat and talked these matters over with the people before the mobilization of a team some seventy men strong. I can imagine folks lifting their hands to volunteer: “Oh! I'll go! Pick me!”

Let us look first at the second verse and second at the first verse. In other words, let us examine the rallying call that brought together a group of seventy willing volunteers. What was the reasoning that Jesus employed? This is what he said in verse two, this was his summation, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.”

They were sent to gather. That was the purpose of their work. They were an extension of the ministry of Christ, an extension of both his healing and his preaching. These seventy people were not the disciples – obviously, neither were they the first to be sent ahead two by two. The words used to describe these people were “other" and "also.”

Now, let's look at the action. Jesus appointed seventy volunteers to go ahead of him into every village or town that he, himself, would go to on the way to Jerusalem. This group of seventy appointees was divided into pairs. That is exactly thirty-five duos. That would give us an initial estimation of thirty-five preliminary towns and villages.

I would very much like the reader to see this as more than aimless wandering through towns and villages. I want you to hold in mind both the beginning of the task and the completed goal. See them both at the same time, as two sides of one coin. When Jesus finally arrived in Jerusalem, the seventy were already there – along with the fruit of their labors. Or did you think the multitudes just grabbed a handy palm branch and started singing an impromptu Hosanna?

The seventy appointees were a public relations crew of sorts. They had gone ahead of the Lord of the harvest for the sole purpose of gathering his harvest to him. They brought it all together. Initially, Jesus had preached to them the gathering of the harvest. They went two by two into every town teaching what they had been taught. Like a snowball rolling downhill, they were a movement that gathered both momentum and mass. They were the Jesus movement.

In part two of this particular study, we will look at the instructions under which this PR crew operated. We will note the correlation between physical actions and words and actual spiritual fact.