A Bigger Threat
After this the Lord appointed seventy two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go … But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you” …I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Luke 10:1,10-12
We don’t know the time gap between chapter 9 and this chapter but something significant has happened in between.
In chapter 9 Jesus sends out the 12; here He sends out the 72. His instruction to both groups includes a warning for those who reject the message. To the 12 the warning fits into one verse (9:5). To the 72 the warning takes 7 verses (10:10-16).
Why the difference? Why the greatly enlarged threat if the message is rejected?
This is Jesus’ final journey from northern Palestine down to Jerusalem (9:51-19:35). So this was the final opportunity for the nation to repent and turn back to its God, the nation’s last chance to embrace its Messiah. And if they refused? If they refused they faced destruction. To reject the messengers was to reject the Messenger (10:16). Less than a generation later each town mentioned by Jesus was in fact decimated by the Romans.
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