Luke 10:1–20

¹After 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. ²And 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. ³Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' ⁶And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. ⁷And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' ¹⁰But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' ¹²I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. ¹³"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. ¹⁶"The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." ¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" ¹⁸And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

"The words of the Preacher, the Son of David, king in Jerusalem. 'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher, 'vanity of vanities! All is vanity.'"

"What does a man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" Nothing! "The sun rises and the sun goes down. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind. All things are full of weariness; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing."

"I gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil."

"Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

What are you working for? What kind of empires are you building? What are your dreams, your goals? You study hard in school to get smarter so you can get a better job. You work hard at your better job and strive to be successful. You have your family and you work to help them be successful in their lives. But in the end "not one stone will be left upon another." Everything that you have worked for, all you have gained, all that you have built, all your dreams and goals will someday lie on the ash heap! "Vanity of vanity, all is vanity."

You came into the world with nothing, and you will leave it with nothing. You close your eyes and your dreams vanish. The world and all its kingdoms, all its riches, all its pleasures, all its comforts will someday burn up and be gone.

Perhaps the hardest thing about growing older is not the deteriorating body, the weakness, the difficulty hearing or seeing. It is not being unable to walk or unable to drive, or even having to move into a nursing home, but it's the realization that the goals you had set for yourselves and all your aspirations are coming to an end, and their skeletons will one day lie at the bottom of a pile of unfulfilled dreams.

That is all the world can offer you, but it is not all that there is. For in Genesis chapters one and two we see the personal and intimate way in which God forms Adam and Eve in a great display of his profound care and goodness. Human life is a remarkable witness to God's goodness. Man and woman are the apex of creation and God's goodness is exhibited by his ordering of all the world, the stars, the sun, the moon, the sea and all creatures for the support and enjoyment of Adam and Eve.

In Scripture we have a portrait of human beings that positions them at the center of the world's story. The entire Bible assumes and displays the centrality of human beings in God's ordering of history. The Scriptural account assumes cosmic significance for man and woman. "There is joy in the heavens over one sinner who repents." Human beings matter because their lives are gifts from the hand of a gracious creator.

Unlike the prevailing assumptions of evolution and secularism that human beings are accidental agents, chance configurations of chemical and biological components, the Scriptures challenge such a reduction of humanity to material forces.

Unlike the assumptions of mysticism that sees all material reality as but an ethereal cloud, a dream in the imagination of a cosmic energy, the Scriptures show a reality based on the creation of a physical and material existence for the sustenance and enjoyment of mankind to whom God gave himself in his image and blessing.

The definitive display of God's care for humans and the gift of himself is the cross of Jesus. Here we see the true value of humans! The story of God's gracious action in creation and in redemption paid for on the cross defines every human being by life rather than by death. Human beings who limit their meaning to pride, power, and pleasure inwardly refute the claim that life is more than the moment.

So if we define our lives by what we accomplish, by what we accumulate, by our successes, our goals, our dreams for the future, we are left with nothing but dust. But a life defined by creation in the image of God and by the cross of Jesus where we were redeemed and purchased to be God's people, gives cosmic and eternal value to mankind.

And that is why Jesus sent out the 72; to proclaim the kingdom of God. Not the kingdom of this world which is a kingdom of sin, death and the devil. But the kingdom of God which is life and salvation forever. Because there is one thing that matters in all of creation; man and woman. There is one thing that is eternal, one that that is significant, one thing that is of value, and one thing that gives meaning to all the rest. That one thing is the human being, created in the image of God.

Your things will end; your castles will burn; your dreams will die, but you are eternal. You were created in the image of God. You were redeemed by God on the cross. You were purchased by the blood of God to be God's very own possession.

"Don't take with you a moneybag, nor a knapsack, nor sandals." "Do not be anxious about your life, what your will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing." "Your heavenly Father knows you have need of these things." Christians remain sinners, but their behavior depends on repentant trust in Christ's saving work and continual prayer that his work might be manifest in their lives. Therefore trust him for the things you need; worry about the one thing that is of worth and value: the eternal salvation of all people.

Go, tell them that the kingdom of God has come near. The calling of Christians is to announce and invite people away from the story of death to the story of life. Away from the story of self-absorption to the story of life in Christ. And this life is born and grounded in Baptism. The Christian life is lived out of God's grace and goodness in Christ rather than according to some calculus of human merit.

The calling of Christians is to proclaim the coming of a kingdom and to be God's agents in bringing that kingdom to all people. Jesus sends you to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is by Baptism that the kingdom comes to people. It is in Baptism that the story of your life becomes the center of a love story; the story of God's love for humanity in the gift of His son. It is the story of those who love God in response. It is the story of those who wish to give their lives to live out the story of God's love and share it with all of the human family.

The follower of Christ, like the 72, turns away from trust in this world. He is turned toward the kingdom of God. He labors and toils in this world and in this life, not to accumulate riches. Not to boost his pride. Not to build castles and kingdoms. Not to find ease and comfort. Rather, he labors to bring all people to life in Christ. His is a calling to life. His is a calling to witness so that in the proclamation of the Gospel and through Baptism all people are delivered out of darkness and into the light.

You have been sent! As the 72 were sent, so Jesus has sent you. In your baptism you were filled with the Holy Spirit who leads you into the wilderness of this world to resist Satan and overturn his kingdom. You have been sent to bring all people to Christ who releases those held captive by sin and the devil and who gives them forgiveness and eternal life.

As the people of God, created in his image and redeemed by his own precious blood, go, say to them, "the kingdom of God has come near to you." It is near. It is wherever Jesus is. Wherever Jesus is proclaimed, wherever Baptism and Holy Communion are administered in his name, there is the kingdom of God.

Amen.

Walk therefore, with a firm faith holding fast to the riches of God's grace and joyfully giving thanks to his mercy forever and ever. Amen.