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After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

- Luke 10:1-11

I'm told that good leaders always start by sharing their vision. If they want to achieve something out of the ordinary, a leader should motivate people with a compelling image of the change they want to see.

Jesus obviously hadn't read the right leadership books. He sent out the 72 followers to share the good news of the Kingdom not with a vision but with discouragements: a) this task would be too much for these few; b) they'd be like lambs amongst wolves; and c) they would have to go without even basic provisions. On top of this, they're not the elite (the 12 had been sent in Luke 9). All who follow Jesus are sent somewhere or to someone in the end. There are some hands only you can hold.

As always, the Kingdom works in ways no-one would anticipate. It doesn't come when or because its representatives are competent, safe, and well-provisioned. It comes because God is really at work. So Kingdom-commissioned people don't go with expertise or stuff. Instead, they go with authority.

And then discouragement + danger + deprivation = joy for the 72. The demons submit to their authority. Jesus implies that so much more than that is happening: Luke 10:18 - “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven”. One commentator on this passage said this. Whenever the kingdom of God is truly proclaimed, the work of God is accomplished in ways that even its proclaimers are unaware of.

It seems that when faithful Kingdom servants following their orders, even in the most discouraging circumstances, they won't fail. They may never know the impact they have, but no labour in the Lord is ever wasted.