May God's Peace Be on This House.

Time for grape harvest.
Who will pick the fruit?
The workers are few...send more. 

The Lord now chose (seventy) seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Don't take any money with you, nor a traveler's bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don't stop to greet anyone on the road. Whenever you enter someone's home, first say, 'May God's peace be on this house.' If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. Don't move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay. If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. Heal the sick, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.' But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!'" Luke 10:1-11

Meditate. Consider what the Lord was saying to these seventy or seventy-two disciples.

 

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. Will those workers be overworked, or will not all the harvest be brought in? They were sent out as lambs among wolves. Wolves can be ravenous, tearing their prey apart, limb by limb. The lambs are thought to be peaceable and patient, trusting Jesus for protection. These seventy-two were, in some Bible translations, numbered as only seventy, with the other two being followers who disobediently fell away. I did read in a commentary that the twelve disciples were sent to the Jews, whereas these seventy did not include any of the twelve, and they were sent to the Gentiles. I found that to be interesting.

Jesus gave some great advice to this large group of disciples, which He divided up into twos. No one traveled alone or in large groups. Don’t take any money, nor a bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. Offer a blessing: May God's peace be on this house. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality— eat whatever is set before you. Heal the sick, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.' Yes. Good advice to the young travelers sharing God’s good news and healing touch. Jesus would be going to those towns, too, healing and teaching more people. These guys were doing the initial footwork. What a privilege! Jesus knew that people would provide what they needed—food, clothes, sandals. God would take care of them. If the town didn’t accept them, then they were to say that they…wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. The roads were dusty, so of course they had dusty feet—probably dusty clothes and hair, too! But to be abandoned to one’s fate was a scary thought! Their fate will be hell if they reject Jesus!

Imagine yourself as one of these seventy followers sent out to unknown towns to heal and preach. The road is dusty, and it is getting late in the day. Ahhh. Here’s the town, finally. No GPS to navigate there, maybe only a list of towns to visit. Was there a scrap of parchment with a crude map? Well, we’ve arrived. There are men at the city gate, and one is standing up to welcome us. He will take us to his home and provide for us while we are visiting his town. Arriving at his humble dwelling, we give him God’s blessing of peace on this house. He nods. Maybe he knows our God? Oh, he has a sick child, lame from a fall off a donkey. Can you heal him? He has heard of the miracles of Jesus, but we are not Jesus. Can we heal this boy? We will certainly try. Laying our hands on the young man’s head and shoulders, we pray to God in Jesus name for a healing, for strength. Miraculously, he stands up. Healed! We have seen Jesus heal so many people of a variety of diseases and ailments, but we have never healed anyone. God has blessed this family through us. We are overjoyed. Praise be to God the Father! The whole family is rejoicing! The father of the house gives thanks. Now he believes in Jesus. The mother of the boy is hugging him, as are his older sister and brother. The mother tells us of others in the village who need a healing touch. We’ll have work to do for several days—praying and sharing this Good News about Jesus. Is this how you’d envision yourself serving God as one of the seventy?

What do we learn about Jesus from this scripture passage?

 

Prayer – Lord Jesus, thank you that Your power is still available, real, and not just meant for the twelve disciples—but for all Your followers. That means us, too. Times have not changed. The Kingdom of God is near! You are here with us now, just as You were with the seventy disciples, providing all that is needed and a healing touch. Your love is everlasting. I praise You.

Verses of Salvation ~ Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, "It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. For the Lord gave us this command when he said, 'I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.'" When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. Acts 13:46-48 (Underlined for emphasis.)

 

© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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