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The Mission of the Seventy-Two

¹ After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ² He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. ³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves. ⁴ Do not carry a money bag, a traveler's bag, or sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘May peace be on this house!' ⁶ And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in that town and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come upon you!' ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.' ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town!

¹³ "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴ But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you! ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades!

¹⁶ "The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

¹⁷ Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!" ¹⁸ So he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names stand written in heaven."

²¹ On that same occasion Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. ²² All things have been given to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him."

²³ Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" ²⁶ He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you understand it?" ²⁷ The expert answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." ²⁸ Jesus said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."

²⁹ But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" ³⁰ Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. ³² So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴ He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.' ³⁶ Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" ³⁷ The expert in religious law said, "The one who showed mercy to him." So Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

Jesus and Martha

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me." ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her."