The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs,
To all the towns and places he himself was to visit.
He said to them,
The harvest is rich,
But the labourers are few.
So ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.
Start off now,
But remember,
I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
Carry no purse,
No heather sack,
No sandals,
Salute no one on the road.
Whatever house you go into,
Let your first words be peace to this house.
And if a man of peace lives there,
Your peace will go and rest on him.
If not,
It will come back to you.
Stay in the same house,
Taking what food and drink they have to offer,
For the labourer deserves his wages.
Do not move from house to house.
Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome,
Eat what is said before you.
Hear those in it who are sick and say,
The kingdom of God is near you,
Is very near you.
But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome,
Go out into its streets and say,
We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet,
And leave it with you.
Yet be sure of this,
The kingdom of God is very near.
I tell you,
On that day it will not go as hard with Sodom as with that town.
The seventy-two came back rejoicing.
Lord,
They said,
Even the devils submit to us when we use your name.
He said to them,
I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Yes,
I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions,
And the whole strength of the enemy.
Nothing shall ever hurt you.
Yet do not rejoice what the spirits submit to you.
Rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you,
Lord Jesus Christ.
What a small word is peace.
Yet isn't that almost the one thing that in some way or another we all crave?
Peace.
Yes,
I know we have big dreams we dream of big cars,
Big houses,
Fancy restaurants,
Nice shoes.
But when we are lying in our beds,
I really believe that the inherent yearning that we have is for peace.
Jesus taught us something massive in this part of St.
Luke or the gospel of St.
Luke where he sends out the seventy-two,
Not only the twelve,
But now seventy-two out into the world to share the message of peace.
John the Baptist had the message of confess and be baptized,
Become clean from sin,
But Jesus sent the seventy-two out.
And the first word that they are to speak when they enter a house is the word peace.
I don't think that this is a coincidence.
A blessing of peace to this house.
And if this person,
The head of the household,
Is a person of peace,
Then that peace will rest on the house as a blessing.
But if not,
The peace will come back to you because maybe you need it.
If that person is somehow hurt so much that their version of peace might be spreading violence to others,
Then you need that peace.
How often do we not find ourselves faced with messengers of God,
People who proclaim peace,
Peace to this house?
How do we respond?
Maybe the word peace is translated into something else.
Maybe the word peace is said to you in a sentence.
Please help me.
I am scared.
I am tired.
I don't know what to do.
And so many variations of this.
How many times does a messenger of God not come to our houses,
Into our lives,
With this request,
With the message of peace?
What did we do?
It is easy to say,
Oh sorry,
I'm busy.
It is easy to say,
I'm waiting for Christ.
I'm waiting for the priest.
So many times we're waiting for a holy person and then we expect robes.
But they face us and they come to us wearing rags.
And we want to hear the word peace and we miss the translation of peace in the request for help.
Christ brings peace.
And Christ sends His people into the world.
They weren't wearing special clothes.
In fact I think that many of the disciples tried to be as inconspicuous as possible.
Isn't this what Jesus said?
Salute no one on the road.
Become a normal person,
A human being.
But when you enter that house,
Speak the word peace into this place.
So I don't think that it is really smart of us to wait for somebody wearing something specific.
Somebody maybe with a nice suit,
Somebody with a chasuble.
Because in as much as a chasuble says that a person has dedicated their life to God,
It doesn't mean that God is not in the other person.
That God is not in the person begging for help.
God is not in the person who says,
I am tired.
God is not in the person saying,
I don't know what to do anymore.
Please help me.
So perhaps something to focus on this coming week.
When somebody greets you,
I know we get this,
I ask this many times to recognize God,
But when a person greets you every single time,
Instead of hearing hello or instead of hearing some curse words because you perhaps cut in front of them by mistake or on purpose.
But when you hear somebody from any person hear the word peace and then ask yourself,
Am I accepting that blessing of peace in my house,
In my life,
Or am I going to shunt God away?
Am I going to say,
Wait,
I'm waiting for the priest.
I'm waiting for the minister.
I'm waiting for somebody more worthy.
I'm waiting for somebody that will get me into heaven.
Silly we are as human beings.
Or are we going to say,
I see you Lord.
Thank you.
I can share your love,
The love that's inside of me with another human being,
With somebody who has the Holy Spirit inside of them,
Just as that spirit resides in me.
It's not easy.
I know it's easy for me to stand here and preach,
Love doing it,
But applying it is difficult and remembering it is even more difficult.
So I'm not standing here asking you to do what I do.
Far from it.
I'm asking you to perhaps just listen to the message here and join me in trying.
I'm in.
