Day Seventy-Four -- Rejoice that your names are written in heaven

Luke 10:1 to Luke 20:19

Luke provides us with some stories and parables that are not in the other gospel accounts.  One of these is the mission charge that Jesus gives to the seventy(-two) "others", meaning followers in addition to the original Twelve disciples.  [There is a variant in the ancient manuscripts as to whether the number of "others" sent out was 70 or 72.]   Jesus commissions this wider circle of disciples to "go ahead of him to every town and place where he was to go" (Luke 10:1).  This large advance team might help explain how the word about Jesus was quickly spreading throughout the towns and villages of Galilee and as far as the Mediterranean coastal towns of Tyre and Sidon.  It also shows that Jesus was not limiting his authority to the Twelve, for when the seventy(-two) return they joyfully report to Jesus that "even the demons submit to us in your name" (10:17).  Jesus' response is that their real joy should come from knowing that by their faith their names "are written in heaven" (10:20).

As readers of Luke's account we also have much to rejoice about, including the parables of the Good Samaritan,  the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son (also known as the Prodigal Son).  We also have the stories of Mary and Martha struggling to make the better choice, the healing of the Ten Lepers, and the height-challenged Zacchaeus climbing a tree in Jericho only to be called down by Jesus and brought into the circle of salvation.  The breadth and humanness of Luke's writing enriches our understanding of Jesus and the wideness of God's redeeming love.