10After 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. (Luke 10:1, NIV)
What do you envision when you picture Jesus doing His God-given work? You might see Jesus announcing the kingdom of God, healing the sick, and casting out demons. Or perhaps Jesus calming a storm and feeding a large crowd from a box lunch. All of the above shows up in Luke’s Gospel as essential elements of Jesus’s kingdom-focused work. But every now and then we see another side of Jesus’s work, one that is more familiar and common, and also surprising. Seeing Jesus working in an ordinary way rounds out our understanding of Him, but it also encourages those of us whose work is rather less dramatic than storm-stilling and crowd-feeding. Luke10 begins with this description of Jesus’s work: “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” (v. 1). Surprisingly, v. 1 reveals that the group following Jesus was quite a bit larger than those in the inner circle: the 12 plus the women who traveled with them (Luke 8:1-3). In fact, Jesus had been building this larger team for quite some time (see Luke 9:57-62), something that would have required quite a bit of intentionality and coordination. Jesus appointed seventy-two (some versions say seventy) of those in the group beyond His inner circle “and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was about to go.” Here are several things about Jesus that might be unexpected. One is that He had crafted a plan for His future travels. Jesus was quite clear about His final destination: Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). But here we learn that Jesus had worked out in detail “where He was about to go.” This enabled Him to send seventy-two of His followers to those specific locations. How did Jesus come up with this plan? Perhaps He worked it out with His Heavenly Father when He spent all night in prayer (see 6:12). Perhaps Jesus also got input from His inner circle, drawing from their knowledge of the surrounding areas.. Perhaps others advised Jesus as well. The point is not to take away from the supernatural ways in which Jesus was guided in His ministry. Rather, it is to emphasize that He took this guidance and formed a plan of action. Sometimes we think of spiritual people as being otherworldly, living in the clouds, far above real human life. But that view does not fit with Jesus, who was the most Spirit-guided person who ever lived. One can be deeply in touch with God and guided supernaturally while making down-to-earth plans. In fact, without translating divine guidance into plans, often what God intends doesn’t get done because of poor execution. We should seek God’s guidance for our daily work, our careers, our families, and every other part of life. Jesus did this, sometimes spending all night in prayer. Yet the example of Jesus, the planner, also encourages us to translate God’s guidance into specific, executable plans. We know that Jesus did many amazing, miraculous things. But Luke 10 shows us another side of Jesus. He was not just a preacher and healer. He was also an organizer, one who developed a solid plan for His messianic work and organized the work of others who would implement His plan. Thus, when we do mundane work, such as organizing stuff, we can do this both in imitation of Jesus and for His glory. Ask the Lord to help you move from inspiration to planning. Comments are closed.
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