Luke 10- The Laborers are Few

The beginning of this chapter is kind of funny to me. Jesus had just made some pretty radical statements about what following him would be like, and in short, it ain't easy or comfortable. He reminded the people that even the most important things in this life would have to become less important than following him. That's hard to hear. What's funny to me is that at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus then says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." Don't you know the disciples were probably thinking, "Well, yeah, Jesus- not many people are gonna stick around when you tell them that it's not easy!" Common sense would say that there was probably no one left standing there ready to follow him after hearing all that- but there were. Luke tells us that Jesus sent out 72 people into the places he was about to go. Seventy-two people stuck around.

What were they, crazy? Some people probably thought so. But I don't think they were. I think they were finally beginning to see something in this crazy world that made sense to them. Maybe it didn't seem logical, maybe it seemed counterintuitive, but God was awakening something in them and they were ready to follow him no matter what the cost.

Jesus immediately reminded them of the cost in a very real way- he sent them out with instructions not to bring money or extra clothes, and to find strangers to live with for the duration of their stay. He wasn't sending them out with a bunch of money and things, with power and prestige- he was sending them out in about as humble of a way as you can get, with nothing extra at all and no place lined up to stay either.

How well do we do this today? How are we humbling ourselves as we go out and live for Jesus? What do we have that we don't need? What are we doing that will turn people away because we appear to be making ourselves out to be well-off and polished and put together? How much of a difference would we be able to make if we would humble ourselves in such a radical way, if we would strip away all the facades and show that we are human, that we are not above anyone else, and that we are ready to serve others?