‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you’ (Luke 10: 11) … collecting shoes for refugee children from Syria (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Third Sunday after Trinity (Trinity III, 6 July 2025). Later this morning, I am involved in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, leading the intercessions. Later in the afternoon, two of us hope to attend Choral Evensong in Southwark Cathedral.
But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you’ (Luke 10: 11) … about to put my big foot in it, again, in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20 (NRSVA):
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”
16 ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18 He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
Sending out the 70 … the speed limit leaving Venice and crossing the Lagoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflection:
Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem, and a Samaritan village has refused to welcome his messengers in the previous Sunday’s reading where the provisions for Trinity II were used (Luke 9: 51-62).
But Christ has rebuked James and John for their response to this rejection, and in this reading he now sends out 70 disciples on a mission of healing and proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. They are to go ahead of Christ, to the places he is about to travel through on his way to Jerusalem, preparing the way for Jesus’ own mission, and tells them how to respond to both acceptance and rejection.
They are sent out with the understanding that the ‘harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few’ (verse 2).
The 70 are sent out ‘like lambs into the midst of wolves’ (verse 3), defenceless before hostile people. But the image hold within it the promise that Christ is to usher in an era of peace and reconciliation, in which ‘the wolf and the lamb shall feed together’ (see Isaiah 65: 25).
The 70 are to head out immediately and without delay (‘carry no purse …,’ verse 4) and concentrate on the mission (‘greet no one …’). They are to bring peace with them, and when they meet a person of peace, God’s peace will be with that person (verse 6).
They should accept whatever hospitality and food they are offered, and to show by their action, healing people and sharing the promise of the kingdom of God.
Verses 12-15, which are omitted here, tell the Seventy how to handle hostile situations, and to leave rejection to God’s own judgment and God’s own time.
The 70 return, and if they had any misgivings when they were sent out, they now come back surprised and filled with joy. Christ has seen their victory over evil forces, and gives them authority ‘snakes and scorpions,’ then regarded culturally as sources of evil.
But if they have returned with joy, they are not to be joyful in the face of evil. Instead, they are to rejoice in the coming of the kingdom.
We might ask this morning, what is the symbolism of the Seventy?
Naaman is told to wash seven times, and Seventy disciples are sent on a mission into Gentile territory.
The number 70 is assigned to the families of Noah’s descendants (see Genesis 10: 1-32). In Jewish tradition, 70 is the number of nations of the world, and this is repeated in the Book of Jubilees (44: 34), although is not regarded as Biblical in almost every tradition. The Septuagint lists 72 names, and some translations of Saint Luke’s Gospel enumerates the 70 as 72. Do the 70 – or the 72 – represent a future mission to all nations?
In the wilderness, Moses was aided by 70 elders (see Exodus 24: 1, 9; Numbers 11: 16, 24-25).
The Septuagint or Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, takes its Latin name, abbreviated to LXX, the Roman numeral 70, from the Greek name for the translation, Ἡ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα μετάφρασις (ton evdomekonta metaphrasis), ‘The Translation of the Seventy.’
The Letter of Aristeas in the Second Century BCE says the Septuagint was translated in Alexandria at the command of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 BCE) by 70 Jewish scholars (or, according to later tradition, 72 – six scholars from each of the Twelve Tribes) who independently produced identical translations.
Once again, we can see the confusion between the numbers 70 and 72. Is Saint Luke saying the 70 (or 72) represent the true words of God? That they represent the 12 Tribes of Israel, six each?
The Great Sanhedrin is described in rabbinic texts as the Court of 71, although no Old Testament text ever refers to such an institution. It was regarded as the supreme authority in matters religious and civil, including the appointment of kings, authorising offensive wars, punishing idolatry and teaching Torah.
Do Jesus and the 70 represent the new 71, the new Sanhedrin?
However, despite the Gospel references to the Sanhedrin, it is worth pointing out that there are very few rabbinic references that locate a Sanhedrin in the late Second Temple period, the time of Christ and Saint Paul.
Meanwhile, what were the difficulties and the evils the 70 were to face on the way? Where were they going?
We hear more about this in the following passage in this chapter, which is the reading next Sunday (Luke 10: 25-37). This is the story of a man who is attacked on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, and who finds that the one person who comes to assistance is a Samaritan.
The very threats we may face may not be the ones who fear, and those who offer us comfort and support on the way may be those we least expect to offer it. But more about that next Sunday.
‘See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes’ (Luke 10: 19) … a Moroccan snake charmer in Tangier (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 6 July 2025, Trinity III):
The theme this week (6 to 12 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Following in the Footsteps of Saint Thomas.’ This theme is introduced today with a programme update from the Revd Mark Woodrow, USPG Bishop’s Nominee for St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and Parish Priest and Rural Dean in Suffolk. He writes:
Read John 11:1-16
It might seem strange that at the end of this passage Thomas replies: ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’. As someone whose call to ordained ministry was shaped by an extended period of living and working in India prior to ordination, I have been constantly struck by Saint Thomas’ willingness to join Jesus in returning to the dangers of Judea, to put his own life on the line and to follow Jesus even if it meant dying with him.
You may know that Saint Thomas died for his faith in Mylapore, near modern-day Chennai, India, in AD 72, around 40 years after the events in Judea. Tradition holds that he brought Christianity to India 30 years earlier.
For a number of years now, I have led small group trips across India. It has been a great privilege to share with many from the UK an insight into the Christian faith that was being lived out in India long before it arrived in the UK. This was (and in many ways, still is) a faith forced to exist as a minority within a pluralistic society. It is also a place where many Christians, particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, worship in communities that can trace their own faith back through their ancestors to Saint Thomas himself.
It was to these communities I returned as part of my recent extended study leave or sabbatical. Through my conversations and observations with many Priests and lay ministers, I want to share with you some aspects of the ongoing ministry and community challenges and that I commend to you to join with me in prayer.
The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 6 July 2025, Trinity III) invites us to pray:
Gracious God, we thank you for all your faithful servants in India's churches. Bless those who are willing to put aside self, to hear and respond to your call.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear
until we may look upon you without fear;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Additional Collect:
God our saviour,
look on this wounded world
in pity and in power;
hold us fast to your promises of peace
won for us by your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Yesterday’s reflections
Continued tomorrow
‘… whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets …’ (Luke 10: 10) … exit onto the street is possible but no entrance is permitted at Preaching Lane in Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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