Go
your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. Heal the sick who are therein, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
Luke 10:3-12
Luke 9 [62.] But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”
Luke 10 [1.] Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place, where he was about to come. Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. Heal the sick who are therein, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
Luke 10 [13.] “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Meaning:
Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Before him he sends seventy others, two by two, into every town he is about to visit. Having told them to pray for more workers in the great harvest (Luke 10:2), he now gives them their instructions. Earlier he had sent out the twelve with similar words (Luke 9:1-5; Mark 6:7-11). Matthew gathers this mission teaching into one long address (Matthew 10:9-15).
- “Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.”
Jesus does not hide the danger. Lambs have no defence against wolves. The messengers go out weak and exposed, and their safety rests with the Shepherd who sends them. Matthew records a similar warning: “Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
- “Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.”
The seventy were to travel light and in haste. Without money or a travel bag they would depend on God, who would provide through those who welcomed them. Greetings on the road could be long and ceremonial; the instruction is not a call to rudeness but a mark of urgency.
- “Peace be to this house.”
The first word in every home was to be a blessing of peace, the familiar Hebrew greeting shalom. A “son of peace” is someone ready to receive that peace and the message that comes with it. If no such person is there, the blessing is not wasted; it returns to the messenger. The disciples were to stay in one house, eating and drinking what they were given, “for the laborer is worthy of his wages.” Paul quotes these very words to show that those who serve in the gospel may be supported by it (1 Timothy 5:18). Where they were received, they were to heal the sick and announce, “God’s Kingdom has come near to you.” The healing showed what the words proclaimed.
- “Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you.”
Wiping off the dust was a public sign that the town had refused God’s message and was answerable for it. It is a solemn warning, not revenge. Paul and Barnabas did the same at Pisidian Antioch: “But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium” (Acts 13:51). Even then the message is repeated: the Kingdom has come near. Rejection does not change the truth.
- “it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.”
Sodom was the Old Testament picture of a wicked city destroyed. A town that hears the Kingdom message and turns it away faces heavier judgment, because greater light brings greater responsibility. This leads directly into his woes on Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Luke 10:13-16).
The Significance of Luke 10:3-12
- Sent in weakness
Christ still sends his people “as lambs among wolves.” Their strength is not in money or self-protection but in the one who sends them.
- Urgency and focus
The command to greet no one on the way reminds believers that sharing the good news matters more than comfort or ceremony.
- Peace offered to all
The messengers were to offer peace to every house. The gospel is offered freely, and how people respond to it carries eternal weight. Those who carry it can leave the results with God.
Cross-References:
Matthew 10:16: "Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves." Matthew’s account of the same warning.
Mark 6:11: "Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them." The instructions to the twelve.
1 Timothy 5:18: "The laborer is worthy of his wages." Paul applies the words of Jesus to the support of church workers.
Acts 13:51: "But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium." The apostles act on this teaching.
Conclusion: Jesus sends out the seventy as lambs among wolves, with no purse, wallet or sandals, to offer peace, to heal the sick and to announce that God’s Kingdom has come near. They are to depend on the hospitality of those who receive them, and to warn the towns that refuse them. The passage shows the urgency, simplicity and seriousness of carrying Christ’s message.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible