In today’s Gospel Jesus sends out “seventy-two other disciples.” Previously Jesus had picked Twelve disciples and sent them out to preach:
“He summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1-2).
In today’s Gospel Jesus commissioned more disciples to prepare the way for him:
“Whatever town you enter and they welcome you…cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’”
Disciples are students. The Twelve, the seventy-two, and all of us as disciples need to learn each day the way of Jesus and the way he views our world. Jesus sees a rich harvest! People are ripe to hear the Word of God and the message of Jesus: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
As disciples we need to see the world as Jesus sees the world. He sees the world as good since it was created good by his Heavenly Father. Jesus recognized the evil and sin in the world in his day and in our day. Nonetheless he also sees the goodness in the world in his day and in our day. We need to learn from Jesus to see not only the evil and sin in our world but also the good in our world. We need to see the deep-seated hunger of people. We need to recognize our own hunger for God in our daily life and help others to recognize the same hunger in their life.
Jesus calls upon us to pray to God for more like the Twelve and the seventy-two: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” God has answered this prayer and sends out each one of us as laborers. Through our baptism we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit and we are sent out as witnesses. In baptism the light of Christ is entrusted to our parents and godparents with the following prayer:
“Receive the light of Christ. Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ. He (she) is to walk always as a child of the light. May he (she) keep the flame of faith alive in his (her) heart. When the Lord comes, may he (she) go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.”
Our baptism has made us disciples of Jesus. Jesus commissions us to follow the example of the Twelve and the seventy-two to show forth the light of the Kingdom of God by our words and by our actions.
Image: “The risen Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room” by Nick in exsilio is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.