The Seventy-Two Disciples, the Good Samaritan, Martha and mary

Chapter VI: The Seventy-Two Disciples

Luke x. 1-42; Matt. xi. 20-30.

His Divinity in no way weakened the force of those human feelings and sympathies which always filled the Heart of Jesus; like us, He delighted to revisit whatever He had loved on earth, His home, His country, the places which had witnessed His labours and His griefs.  By every kindred title, then, Galilee was so much endeared to Him that no ingratitude on the part of its people could wean Him from such longings to return.  Hence it was thitherwards He directed His steps upon leaving Jerusalem.  But He was to encounter the same coldness as before the Feast; only the Apostles and a little bevy of disciples persevered devotedly at His side.  Thus forsaken, the Lord was constrained to bear the Good Tidings elsewhere; so choosing seventy-two Galileans who had remained faithful to Him, He deputed them to go before Him "into every town and into every place without He was to come."

Jesus sends out the seventy-two disciples. J-J Tissot.

Saint Luke notes the fact that these newly elected were not the same as the Twelve first chosen; so too their mission was different, and this the Master indicates by the instructions which He addressed to them, for, out of all the advice formerly given the Apostles, Jesus here repeated, for the benefit of the seventy-two disciples, only such as would presuppose a ministry of short duration.

For them it was to be limited to a few days' labour in the vast harvest fields.  They need have no anxiety for the future, but straightway start forth, without purse, without wallet, shod with only such footwear as they had on; not wasting time along the wayside in overlong greetings, but keeping steadfastly to the appointed end, and once arrived at the city whither He sent them, there fulfill His commissions without delay.

"Do not pass from house to house," so said the Lord, "enter into the first one which opens to receive you, and there remain, eating and drinking whatever they shall set before you."

For one accustomed to the ceremonious forms as observed by the Orientals, these precepts are far from surprising.  Today, when any stranger enters an Arabian village, invitations are proffered him on every hand, and everybody presses him to pass from one friendly board to another.  Jesus warns them not to waste the precious hours in such outward shows of friendliness; these His Evangelists were not commissioned to take part in worldly feastings, but rather to recall men to repentance, to heal the sick, to prepare the ways of the Lord, and to publish far and wide the Kingdom of God.  If any city refused to harbour them, He bade them go into the public squares, and tell the rebellious city: "Against you we shake off even the dust of your town which has cleaved to our feet.  Yet know ye this, the Kingdom of God is nigh!" " I say unto you," added the Lord, "in the day of judgement, Sodom shall be treated more leniently than that city."

Obedient to the orders which they had received, the disciples set out two by two, while Jesus lingered upon the shores of the lake.  As aforetime, so now the Saviour wandered through this border-country but not with the same results, for He found His words resented and slighted, Himself left in solitude, despised and neglected, while through this land so loaded with tokens of His loving kindness He must needs wend His weary way as though He were an alien and a stranger.  Cut to the heart by such ungratefulness, He turned away from the cities of the Lake, and spoke words of bitterest rebuke, for as much as He had loved them better than all the rest:—

"Woe to thee,Chorozaïn!  Woe to see, Bethsaïda!  For if Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles which have been wrought in you, they would have long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes.  But Tyre and Sidon shall be treated more mercifully then you in the Day of Judgment.  And thou Capharnaum, which are at exalted unto Heaven, thou shalt be thrust down even unto Hell."1 

Departing from the lakeside, Jesus took the road going to Perea, so as to rejoin His disciples there.  On the way, He saw them returning to Him overflowing with joy.  In giving them their commission the Master had only spoken of the dangers ahead, of wolves ravening about their path, of doors barred and cities closed against their approach; He had bestowed on them no other powers beside that one of curing the sick, and lo!  At the mere sound of His Name all things yielded to them:

"Master," they cried, "even the devils are subject to us in your Name."

Jesus did not disdain to share their gladness, but it was that perhaps he might lift them up to a conception of nobler things.

Surely there was nothing surprising in that His Name should prove victorious over the hosts of Hell, for, in the very first hour of revolt, the guilty Angel had been brought face to face with the eternal Son of the Father, nor even the then could he brook His glance, but fell from the heavenly heights like a flashing thunderbolt.  The Word when once incarnated had but increased the awful depth of this fall and stripped the Prince of Darkness of his last weapons.  Using the words of the Psalmist, (Psalm xci. 13) the Apostles were to "tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon they should trampl under their feet." Poison, venom, raging beasts, all baneful things of this world, the consequences of sin and and the strength of Satan, had now escaped his foul dominion; the strength of the enemy had been deflowered, and hereafter nothing could harm the disciples of Jesus.

"Nevertheless," added the Master, "do not rejoice in this that the evil spirits are subject to you, but rejoice in this that your names are written in Heaven."

Saying these words, the Savior, wrapped in ecstasy, was absorbed in the bosom of God.

"I praise Thee, O Father," He said, "Lord of Heaven and earth, for that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and that Thou hast revealed them unto little ones.  Yea, Father, thus it is because such hath been Thy will.  All things have been delivered Me by My Father, and no-one knoweth Who the Son is, save the Father, and Who the Father is, save the Son, and he to whom it hath pleased the Son to reveal Him."

What had called forth these rapturous words, whose like have been but seldom heard from Jesus' lips since the day His native land disowned Him?  Evidently it was the eager welcome which ghost towns had given the seventy-two disciples, going before Him to announce His advent.  Overflowing with a strong feeling inspired by His prayer, the Saviour bespoke His disciples:  —

"Come unto Me all you that have laboured and are weighed down with any trouble and I will ease your burthens.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn that I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find," in following Me, "rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burthen light."

Uttering this gracious invitation He broke forth with words of great gladness:—

"Happy eyes which see that which you see!  I say to you many Prophets and kings have desired to see that which you see and have not seen it, and to hear that which you hear and have not had it."

This joy was to be marred very shortly.  There was no region so secluded that the Scribes could not find their way thither; one of them now pushed forward trying to tempt Jesus.

"Master," said he, " what shall I do to possess eternal life?"

The Lord saw his design at a glance, He referred this lawyer to his authorities and asked him:—

"What do you read there?"

Long beforehand Moses had revealed the two great precepts of a Christian Life.  This Jew could only repeat what from century to century the Prophets and Doctors had taught to Israel:—

"Thou shalt love the Lord by God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, with all thy strength and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself."

"You have answered aright," Jesus said to him; "do this and you shall live."

Words which were not likely to satisfy the Scribe, for they humiliated him by exposing the thoughtlessness of his query, and evidence that Jesus was better versed in the Law than himself.  He made shift to quibble and suggest difficulties.

"Who is my neighbour?" he objected.

The hatred which the Jews cherish against foreigners would have prevented the Lord from extorting any righteous response from the mouth of such an adversary; He therefore turned for an answer to the very places lying round about them.

At this time the divine Master was traversing the mountainous stretch of country which extends from Jericho to Jerusalem.  The track which He was following, justly named "the Highway of Blood," climbs up athwart the hills whose white crests gleam on either hand like sea-waves beaten into froth by the fierce winds.  While passing through this wilderness the wayfarer is often attacked by the Bedouins, and left their wounded and in instant peril of death unless some charitable person happens that way and lends him his assistance.

The Good Samaritan. J-J Tissot.

The Lord set one of these oft-told adventures in the form of a Parable; how a man had fallen into the brigands' clutches, who proceeded to plunder his goods, covered him with wounds and left him lying in the road half-dead.  Between the Holy City and Jericho (which is a city of the priesthood), there are always many Levites going and coming.  It so chanced that a priest, on his way down from Jerusalem, noticed the wounded man; taking the other side of the road he continued on his journey.  A Levite came next; he stopped, looked at the bleeding body, and like the priest went his way.  Yet a third traveller came after them,— the offspring of a race which Israel held accursed; he was not withstanding a good Samaritan, and a worthy type of the Saviour.  At sight of the wounded man he was touched with compassion, drew nigh unto him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine; then he put him on his horse, brought him to an inn and there tended him.  The next morning he took two denarii from his purse and giving them to their host: "Take care of him," he said, "and whatever you spend beside, I will repay on my return."

"Which one of these three," Jesus asked, " would seem to you to be the neighbour of them and that fell into the robbers' hands?"

There was no room left him for hesitating; albeit the Scribe was loathe to pronounce even the name Samaritan, saying reluctantly:—

"It would be he who took compassion on him."

Jesus said nothing more to add; by one of those innocent stratagems in which Orientals take so much delight, He had constrained His adversary to explain the nature of true charity.

"Go," He said to the discomfited Doctor of Laws, "go and do you likewise."

Mary at the feet of Jesus. J-J Tissot.

Although the high-road which Jesus was now following leads to Jerusalem, He did not, however, push on as far as the town.  Saint Luke shows us that He rested at Bethany, a village built upon the highlands of Juda, and only separated from the Holy City by the Mount of Olives.  In this small town there lived a family that Jesus loved, Lazarus with his two sisters, Martha and Mary.  The first had always bided in maiden retirement within her brother's house; the second was she who had once been woefully famous under that name of the Magdalen, the wanton woman; but now redeemed by the Christ to the love of her own home-circle. Was it this unhoped for grace which had knit so firm a bond of friendship betwixt Jesus and the little house called act Bethany?  And many we believe that Lazarus left was the charitable Rabbi of whom the Talmud speaks?  Like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, had he listened to Jesus speaking before the Sanhedrin and there recognized in Him the Messiah?  All these conjectures are equally plausible, since the Evangelists do not tell us how Lazarus entered the Kingdom of the Christ; all that they informer us is that he was of high station, a friend of Jesus, and blest in being allowed to offer Him hospitality.  As it chanced on this day, the Master had not been expected at Bethany, for His arrival evidently put the whole house in commotion.  Martha especially was untiring in her efforts to procure everything for their comfort, watching keenly lest anything should be lacking.  Mary, in a calmer mood, had seated herself at the feet of Jesus, listening to catch his words, drinking deep draughts from the Well-spring of life.  Martha was observing her, and her jealousy was at last aroused; addressing Jesus, she asked Him:—

"Lord, do you not see that my sister leaves me to serve alone?  Bid her, then, to help me."

"Martha, Martha," Jesus answered her, "you harass yourself and worry about many things; yet there is one thing needful.  Mary has chosen the better part; it shall not be taken away from her."

Not for having done too much for Him did the Master blame His hostess, but for letting herself be diverted from Him by external cares.  Happier far is that friend of the Christ who is altogether absorbed in Him!  Blest indeed are those contemplative souls, who, after her example, no longer hear the noise and tumult of the world, safe within their quiet cloisters.  Theirs is the one thing needful, the soul that has found peace in love; it is theirs to taste fully the sweetness of this saying of the Master: "Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam