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Today’s Gospel reading from Luke is one that I remember from my teenage years. In the summer of 1988 I went to London to spend two weeks doing street evangelism in Leicester Square and Covent Garden. Every morning we would do bible study, and this passage was one we used to think about how we should go about trying to introduce Jesus to the people we would meet. Now, nearly thirty years later, I still think that one of Luke’s purposes in writing this passage is to give individual Christians and churches guidance in how to understand how they should go about taking part in God’s mission in his world.
Jesus begins with hope: “the harvest is plentiful” (v2), he says, “but the labourers are few”. Not all are called to be evangelists, but the work of mission is the work of the whole church. Jesus sends not the twelve, but seventy disciples, the whole team. There are people in our communities and in our world who need to get to know Jesus. If we don’t introduce them, who else will?
Jesus tells his disciples to travel lightly and hopefully, and not to worry too much. He encourages them that they will find people of goodwill who will welcome them, and that their needs will be provided for. As we venture out, we should step hopefully, looking for the opportunities and the open minds that are already out there waiting for us. And when we find them, we should stick with them.
At the same time, Jesus says, we shouldn’t be naïve. Not everyone is going to want to hear, not everyone is going to accept the Good News. There are risks involved in taking the Gospel out into a world which is sometimes hostile. And Jesus’ advice is clear: let’s not bang our heads against a brick wall. If someone doesn’t want to receive our message, let’s move on and find someone else who does. Take the opportunities, pass by the closed door. Again and again in the New Testament, the harvest of our mission is not measured by volume, but by quality.
Because ultimately, the success of our mission doesn’t depend on us. Indeed, in one sense it’s not our mission at all. Right at the beginning of the passage is a verse we often pass over. Jesus sends his disciples “to every town and place where he himself intended to go” (v1). The Good News is Jesus himself, and he will do his own work of salvation. It’s not our job to save the world, it is our job to help Jesus do so. Notice that the disciples are not given a message, they are just told to go and make friends, to be the bridge across which Jesus can walk into another life. It’s not rocket science, just basic human relationship. And we can all do that.
Finally, the disciples return rejoicing. They have achieved more than they ever dreamed, even casting out demons. They are buzzing, excited. Jesus rejoices too – the Kingdom of God is growing. But he also reminds them of something important. Introducing people to Jesus matters, but that’s only where the journey begins. Mission and evangelism are essential to the growth of God’s Kingdom, but so too is the long, patient work of growing to become more like Jesus, growing up into a mature faith, becoming ready for the next chapter. The harvest is not measured in how many people begin the lifelong journey of faith, but how many are ready when the Kingdom comes in its fulness. And this, too, is the ministry of the whole church: some of us, like teenage me, are called to introduce people to Jesus. Some, like fifty-something year old me, are called to help them to know him better, deeper and higher. And we are all walking together on that journey.