Jesus sends out 72 disciples

10 After this, Jesus chose another 72 disciples. He sent them out two by two, to every town and village that he would visit soon. ² Before they went, he said to them, ‘Many people are ready to believe God's message. They are like crops in a field at harvest time. But there are very few workers to bring in the crops. So pray to God to send out workers. The field and the plants belong to him.’^[a]

³ Jesus then said, ‘I am sending you out, so go! But listen! You will be like young sheep among wild animals. ⁴ Do not carry a purse or a bag. Do not take extra shoes. When you meet other people on the road, do not stop to say “hello”.^[b]

⁵ In each town, when you go into a house, first say to the people who live there, “We pray that all will be well with you!” ⁶ Someone in the house may accept what you say. If they do, God will bless them. But if nobody accepts your kind words, God will bless you instead of them. ⁷ Stay in the same house there until you leave that town. Accept the food and drink that the people in the house give to you. You are working to help them. So they should give you what you need to live. Do not visit different houses to get food. ⁸ The people may accept you well when you go into a town. Then eat the food that those people give to you. ⁹ Make the sick people well who are there. Give this message to all the people there: “The kingdom of God has now come near to you.” ¹⁰ Sometimes when you go into a town, the people will not accept you. You should then go into the streets of that town and you should say to the people, ¹¹ “There is dirt from your town on our feet. We will clean it off to show that you have not accepted us. God is not happy with you. But listen! You should know that the kingdom of God has come very near.” ¹² One day God will punish the people from that town. Yes, he will punish them more than the people who lived in Sodom long ago.’^[c]

Some towns where people did not believe

¹³ Jesus then said, ‘You people in Chorazin, things will be bad for you! And things will be bad for you, people in Bethsaida. I have done great and powerful things in your cities. If I had done such great things in Tyre and in Sidon, the people there would have changed how they lived. They would have shown that they were sorry for their sins. They would have put on rough clothes. They would also have put ashes on their heads. ¹⁴ Yes, when God judges everyone, he will punish the people of Tyre and Sidon. But he will punish even more you people from Chorazin and Bethsaida. ¹⁵ And what will happen to you people in Capernaum? You think that God will lift you up to heaven, do you? No! He will throw you down to Hades, the place for dead people!’^[d]

¹⁶ Jesus then said to his disciples, ‘Whoever listens to you is also listening to me. Whoever does not accept you does not accept me. And whoever does not accept me does not accept my Father God, who sent me.’

The 72 disciples return

¹⁷ Later, the 72 disciples that Jesus had sent out returned to him. They were very happy. ‘Master,’ they said, ‘even bad spirits obey us. When we use your name, they do what we say.’

¹⁸ Jesus replied, ‘I saw the Devil himself fall from heaven like lightning. ¹⁹ Listen! I have given power to you. You will even stand on dangerous snakes and insects and you will have authority over all the power of the Devil. Nothing will hurt you. ²⁰ But do not be happy because you have authority over bad spirits. God has written your names in his book in heaven. That is why you should be happy.’

Jesus is very happy

²¹ At this moment, the Holy Spirit made Jesus very happy. He said, ‘Father, you rule over everything in heaven and on the earth! People that do not know many things now can understand your message. I thank you for this. But you have hidden these things from other people. Those people think that they understand everything. They think that they are wise. Yes, Father, this is how you wanted it to happen.’

²² Jesus then said, ‘My Father has given me authority over all things. Only the Father knows who I am, his Son. Only I know who the Father is, because I am his Son. I also choose to tell some people about him. Then they also know him.’

²³ Then Jesus turned and he spoke only to his disciples. He said to them, ‘Be happy because of the things that you are now able to see and understand. ²⁴ I tell you this: Many prophets and kings from a long time ago wanted to see these things. But they did not see the things that you are seeing. They wanted to hear the message that you are hearing. But they did not hear it.’

A story about a good man from Samaria

²⁵ A teacher of God's Law stood up. He wanted to see how Jesus would answer his question. So he asked Jesus, ‘Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’

²⁶ ‘What does God's Law say?’ Jesus asked. ‘What do you understand when you read it?’

²⁷ The man replied, ‘It says that we must love the Lord our God with all our mind and with all our strength. We must love him with all that we are and in all that we think. It also says that we must love other people as much as we love ourselves.’^[e]

²⁸ ‘You have told me the right answer,’ Jesus said. ‘If you do this, you will have true life with God.’

²⁹ But the man wanted to show that he had been right to ask a question. So he asked, ‘Who are the people near to me that I must love?’

³⁰ Jesus answered him with a story: ‘A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho town. On the way, some men attacked him. They took away all his clothes and they hit him with sticks. He was almost dead when they left him. ³¹ But it happened that a priest from the temple was going down that road. He saw the man, who was lying there. But he walked past him on the other side of the road. ³² A Levite was also going down the road. He came to the place where the man was lying. He saw him. But he also walked past on the other side of the road.^[f]

³³ But then a man from Samaria was also travelling along the road. And he came to the place where the man was lying. When he saw him, he felt very sorry for him. ³⁴ He went across to him. He poured oil and wine on the places where he was bleeding.^[g] Then he tied those places with clean cloths. After that, he put the man on his own donkey to carry him. They arrived at a small hotel. He took the man in there and he was kind to him.^[h]

³⁵ The next day, the man from Samaria took out two silver coins from his purse.^[i] He gave the money to the man that was taking care of the hotel. “Be kind to this man for me,” he said. “This money may not be enough. When I return, I will pay you for any more that you have spent on him.” ’

³⁶ Then Jesus asked the teacher of God's Law a question. He said, ‘Three men saw the man that was lying on the road. Which of them showed love to him, like a real friend?’

³⁷ The teacher answered, ‘It was the man who was kind to him.’

Then Jesus said to him, ‘Yes. So you should go and do the same for other people.’

Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary

³⁸ Jesus and his disciples continued their journey. They arrived at a certain village. There, a woman called Martha asked Jesus to come into her home.^{[j] 39} Martha had a sister called Mary. Mary sat down near Jesus. She was listening to the things that he was teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was thinking to herself, ‘I cannot do all this work alone.’ So she went to Jesus. She said, ‘Master, my sister is not helping me with the work. She has left me to do it alone. You surely do not think that this is right! Tell her that she should help me!’

⁴¹ The Lord Jesus replied, ‘Martha, Martha, you have troubles in your mind about many things. ⁴² But only one thing is really important. That is what Mary has chosen to do. Nobody will take it away from her.’^[k]