Luke 9:51 begins Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem. This pericope of this travel through Samaria is unique to Luke’s Gospel. When Jesus began His ministry to Galilee the first detailed description Luke gives is the rejection Jesus received at Nazareth (Lk. 4:16). This is the first mention of Samaria in Luke’s Gospel and once again Jesus finds rejection. The rejection is caused by His determination to go to Jerusalem. The Samaritans and Jews had a long history of mutual hatred for one another.
This pericope begins what is sometimes referred to as the travel narrative in Luke, see 9:51, 53: 13:22; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11; and 19:18. Jesus is going to Jerusalem. Notice in 9:51 that Luke refers to the trip concluding with Jesus being ‘taken up’ which refers to His ascension to heaven. While suffering and death on the cross await Him in Jerusalem, so does glory. Earlier in this chapter Jesus had sent the twelve disciples on a missionary journey with the instruction that when they encountered a town that did not welcome them, they were to shake the dust of the town off their feet (9:5). Now James and John, the ‘sons of thunder’ want to call down fire from heaven, destroying this village and turning it to dust. Jesus rebukes them.
Also unique to Luke’s Gospel in our reading for this week is His sending out a large number of disciples two by two with virtually the same instructions that He had given his twelve disciples earlier, see 9:1. This pericope is found in 10:1-20. Translations will vary about the number of disciples sent out. Some will have 70 while others will have 72 the different numbers is based on the Greek manuscripts the translators are following. The oldest manuscripts have the number 72 dating from about A.D. 200. Those that have the number 70 date from about A.D. 300. Some translations. when they are revised, will change the text they originally used to the other possible number. For example, the New American Standard Bible published in 1995 had 70 in the text and the one just published in 2020 has 72. Does it matter? If Jesus chose the twelve disciples to represent the twelve tribes of Israel did He also have a symbolic reason for the number of disciples chosen here? Some N.T. scholars think so and have pointed out that in Genesis 10 known as the ‘Table of Nations’ there are 70 nations mentioned in the Hebrew Masoretic Text, but 72 nations mentioned in the Greek Version of Genesis 10 known as the Septuagint. Giving a symbolic meaning that Jesus is sending these disciples to all the world. For the symbolism to work the number of disciples sent in Luke 10 would have to agree with the number of nations listed in the Old Testament that the original intended readers used. This could account for the textual variant. Most modern translations will have a foot note giving the other number, indicating they are just not certain which is correct.
There are several other things in this pericope that are interesting. Jesus says the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We read in Matthew 20:1-16 that Jesus told a parable about the vineyard owner who had no problem finding workers to bring in a secular harvest. But workers for spiritual harvest are hard to come by. He also told them not to greet anyone on the road (v. 4). This seems a little uncourteous. Elisha gave similar instructions to his servant Gehazi concerning the Shunammite women’s son in 2 Kings 4:29 where the CSB reads, “So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your mantle under your belt, take my staff with you, and go. If you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him, and if a man greets you, don’t answer him. Then place my staff on the boy’s face.” The task was urgent.
Another thing to notice in this pericope is found in 10:13-16. Here He gives a stern warning to the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida that had the miracles done in them been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago. Tyre and Sidon were Gentile areas and this makes the comparison much worse. In the Old Testament they were seen as enemies of Israel see Zech. 9:2-4. We also learn that Jesus/God knows not only what we do but also what we would do if circumstances were different. This speaks to His Sovereignty and Providence.
This pericope begins what is sometimes referred to as the travel narrative in Luke, see 9:51, 53: 13:22; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11; and 19:18. Jesus is going to Jerusalem. Notice in 9:51 that Luke refers to the trip concluding with Jesus being ‘taken up’ which refers to His ascension to heaven. While suffering and death on the cross await Him in Jerusalem, so does glory. Earlier in this chapter Jesus had sent the twelve disciples on a missionary journey with the instruction that when they encountered a town that did not welcome them, they were to shake the dust of the town off their feet (9:5). Now James and John, the ‘sons of thunder’ want to call down fire from heaven, destroying this village and turning it to dust. Jesus rebukes them.
Also unique to Luke’s Gospel in our reading for this week is His sending out a large number of disciples two by two with virtually the same instructions that He had given his twelve disciples earlier, see 9:1. This pericope is found in 10:1-20. Translations will vary about the number of disciples sent out. Some will have 70 while others will have 72 the different numbers is based on the Greek manuscripts the translators are following. The oldest manuscripts have the number 72 dating from about A.D. 200. Those that have the number 70 date from about A.D. 300. Some translations. when they are revised, will change the text they originally used to the other possible number. For example, the New American Standard Bible published in 1995 had 70 in the text and the one just published in 2020 has 72. Does it matter? If Jesus chose the twelve disciples to represent the twelve tribes of Israel did He also have a symbolic reason for the number of disciples chosen here? Some N.T. scholars think so and have pointed out that in Genesis 10 known as the ‘Table of Nations’ there are 70 nations mentioned in the Hebrew Masoretic Text, but 72 nations mentioned in the Greek Version of Genesis 10 known as the Septuagint. Giving a symbolic meaning that Jesus is sending these disciples to all the world. For the symbolism to work the number of disciples sent in Luke 10 would have to agree with the number of nations listed in the Old Testament that the original intended readers used. This could account for the textual variant. Most modern translations will have a foot note giving the other number, indicating they are just not certain which is correct.
There are several other things in this pericope that are interesting. Jesus says the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We read in Matthew 20:1-16 that Jesus told a parable about the vineyard owner who had no problem finding workers to bring in a secular harvest. But workers for spiritual harvest are hard to come by. He also told them not to greet anyone on the road (v. 4). This seems a little uncourteous. Elisha gave similar instructions to his servant Gehazi concerning the Shunammite women’s son in 2 Kings 4:29 where the CSB reads, “So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your mantle under your belt, take my staff with you, and go. If you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him, and if a man greets you, don’t answer him. Then place my staff on the boy’s face.” The task was urgent.
Another thing to notice in this pericope is found in 10:13-16. Here He gives a stern warning to the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida that had the miracles done in them been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago. Tyre and Sidon were Gentile areas and this makes the comparison much worse. In the Old Testament they were seen as enemies of Israel see Zech. 9:2-4. We also learn that Jesus/God knows not only what we do but also what we would do if circumstances were different. This speaks to His Sovereignty and Providence.
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