51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
Jesus, as we know was born in Bethlehem, which makes Him technically, a Judaean. The Jews, knowing He was raised and lived in Nazareth would call Him a Galilean (in a derogatory manor) or a Nazarene. Judaeans loved their heritage and their city of Jerusalem. Many looked down on outsiders from anywhere else in this world (not unlike we look upon ‘outsiders’ or ‘foreigners’ in this present day).
Jesus appoints twelve Apostles, teaches throughout Galilee, Judea and other states (all under Roman government and rule) for three years and sets out to completion of His earthly destination of the Cross in Jerusalem.
He then appoints and sends out not just twelve, but seventy two disciples to go into ALL of the towns and villages along His way to Jerusalem to announce the Good News to ALL (seventy-two evangelists, if you will: advance men for the soon-to-come Messiah, God Incarnate, coming to your very town – He IS sent by God.)
Jesus tells His audiences in these towns, synagogues, and on the mountaintops thousands of stories and hundreds of parables, not all recorded in the Bible (as the Apostle John points out to us.) Imagine for a moment a parable with a familiar ring to it, yet not recorded in the Gospels; even as if in a more familiar context of our twenty-first century life as followers (disciples) of Jesus:
Parable of the Man Who Needed Help
A man had left his hometown on a journey to a new place through a hostile land when he was attacked and robbed. He was left alone in a place where no one from his home or the place to which he was sent would see the extent of his suffering.
Because in this day, when a man may ‘reach out and touch’ anyone, anywhere, from any place (without really touching them or reaching them), the man took out his cell phone and texted five friends. (Jesus often used humor in His stories.)
The man’s text read: Would you pray for me?
Immediately the man’s pastor answered: I will pray for you now.
After a short time, one friend from another church called the man, talked with him and then asked if he and his wife could pray for the man over the phone (for they lived in another town).
A third man texted the next day that his friends had prayed for him in their men’s prayer group the previous day.
A fourth man never called, texted or encouraged him in any way, as also his christian wife had not.
Which of these five, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who needed help?”
Sometimes we do not think of Jesus’ stories or parables in terms of the immediate needs of the people. We might think of His parable of the good Samaritan:
We have cell phones now. That could never apply to me in this twenty-first century. OR
Jesus pointed out that Pharisees, Priests, Levites and the like were not very nice people (even though they were the leaders of the “religious” establishment) and that Samaritans treated people better than the religious people treated their own. BUT that doesn’t apply to me. I have never run across a Pharisee, Levite or Samaritan.
The Bible, and specifically the Gospel, is not just a collection of stories from history of little relevance to us. In fact, the stories and parables of Jesus should always be heard and seen in the light of these times and heard with our heart broken by the Cross of Christ.
Do you see a face you know in the parable? When you have been the man beaten on the road, whose faces do you see pass you by?
When you see the beaten man on the road, which of the five or ten or thousands (or even just three) are you?
Now look to Jesus question: Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man…?
Now look to your neighbor’s and your own face and read the too-familiar parable from Luke 10:
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Note that the good neighbor first saw to the man’s immediate needs. It did not matter to the beaten man who needed help that he was a Samaritan, Galilean, Judaean, American, Englishman, Indian, African or any other. It did not matter what race or perceived station in life was the man who was beaten: the Samaritan man (he was just one man like me or you) just helped him, because the man needed mercy in his present situation.
Secondly, note that the man who was a good neighbor to the beaten man saw to his needs beyond his immediate circumstances. Though the story of the five neighbors remains incomplete in this day, I ask:
Which of you have seen to “take care of him” and has shown the mercy of hope that indeed you will continue your mercy for the man? (“I will repay you when I come back.)
Are you a good Samaritan? Do you show mercy to your neighbor and grace to your loved ones?
Is the Cross of Christ a convenience for you in your weekly life? Or is your cross one of sacrifice of love and compassion for others – a sacrifice of your time and grace for our neighbors along this rough road of a path through unknown times to a reward or a Judgment where He could say: “I never knew you.” – which neighbor are you?
For our Lord has commanded:
Love your neighbor as yourself and love one another as I have loved you.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”