Daily Devotional • October 22
A Reading from Luke 10:1-16
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.3 Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 Indeed, at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
Meditation
Too often, Christians on social media would lead me to believe that Luke 10:2 reads: “The laborers are #winning, but the harvest is hopeless.”
Many Christians follow a convenient checklist from our cultural Christian tribe, ticking most of the boxes without much real sacrifice for Jesus. In corners of the world where Christians are plentiful, the world often doesn’t seem to be getting any better. We conclude that the problem must be the harvest. Non-Christians, Christians of other tribes, and the brokenness of the world are just unwilling to be redeemed. It’s hopeless. The best we can do is survive and pray while the rest of the world spirals. We convince ourselves that God’s plan is for few to be saved. The harvest is meager because He has ordained it so.
Thankfully, Luke 10:2 actually reads: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” The problem is our willingness to say “yes” to the work Jesus wants to do, not God’s eagerness to redeem all of creation or the readiness of the harvest.
Christ wants to send us out, like the 72, to ready the soil “where Jesus himself intends to go.” It will be dangerous and require haste — there’s no time to gather your things or make pit stops! Some will welcome you and others will reject you. Regardless, bring peace, not conflict. Help those in need. Do a little bit to bring forth the kingdom today.
Then pray that Jesus will follow after you, into the hearts of all people and into the world to redeem all of Creation. While Christ’s kingdom will not be fully realized until his bodily return, he is eager to bring forth the kingdom now in meaningful ways. The harvest is plentiful. Will we get to work?
Pieter Valk is a licensed professional counselor, the director of EQUIP, and cofounder of the Nashville Family of Brothers, an ecumenically Christian brotherhood for men called to vocational singleness.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Western Kansas – The Episcopal Church
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, New York
Pieter Valk is a Guest Writer. He is a speaker, author, consultant, and licensed counselor.
