Instructions to the Seventy

In Luke 10:2-16 we have the instructions of the Savior to the seventy that He sent forth “two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.”  One of the phrases that stuck out to me today was this injunction: “Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way” (v4).  The invitation to not take purse or scrip is familiar and seems to have been a special instruction to missionaries to not worry too much about physical necessities—the Lord would take care of them.  But as emissaries for Him, why did He counsel “salute no many by the way” when they were sent to preach His gospel?  The footnote links this command with instructions from Elijah to his servant Gehazi when the latter was sent to administer to the boy who had died: “Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child” (2 Kings 4:29).  In this context the command was related to the urgency of the task—he couldn’t stop to chat with people on the road, but he needed to go immediately to the boy to heal him.  So perhaps the Lord’s direction to the seventy was similar; He surely wasn’t telling them not to talk to people about the message of the gospel but rather was encouraging them to not waste any time chatting on the road with people.  Their mission was too critical to waste any time. 

             A second phrase from the Lord’s instructions to the seventy also struck me as odd, especially given my own missionary experience: “Go not from house to house.”  At first glance this seems like it is saying not to go from house to house preaching the gospel (which many of our missionaries do), but put in context I think it is clear that He was saying something else.  He told them just before this, “And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house… And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire.”  They were to find a place to reside while in a city, and they were to stay there and not go from house to house changing where they were staying.  New Testament scholar S.Kent Brown put it this way about the phrase go not from house to house, “This repetition, phrased differently from ‘in the same house remain,” underscores Jesus’ sharp desire that the Seventy not seek for better lodging, thus potentially offending the original hosts.” It was not that the Savior didn’t want them preaching the gospel from house to house; rather, they weren’t to try to continually improve their physical situation.  Find a house to be your place of residence, and stick with it for the duration of the visit there.  Surely there is symbolism in that counsel for us today as well: We shouldn’t keep constantly looking to improve our temporal well being—rather, get something that works and focus on what is most important—teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.