Luke 10:1–4:
“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. 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. Go! I’m sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves. Do not carry a money bag, a traveler’s bag or sandals, and greet no one on the road.’”
I’ve been on this passage for the last few days, and now I’m on verse 4, which says, “Do not carry a money bag or a traveler’s bag or sandals, and greet no one on the road.”
You might wonder why Jesus would talk like this. When you look at this passage, you begin to think: He is really trying to impress on the people the urgency of the moment. He is not saying, “Be people who never greet anyone.” That is not what He is saying. And He is not saying, “Never carry anything with you” or “Never prepare when you are travelling.” He is communicating a message.
When you carry a money bag or a traveler’s bag, it means you have a plan. He is saying, “No—you do not have a plan where you are going. You do not have your own set of plans.” “Don’t carry sandals” in this context means you have already mapped out how long you will stay there, as if you want to go and settle there and establish roots. No. Go with only the mission in mind, with only the divine priority in mind.
Do not have any economic aim in mind. “Do not carry a money bag” so that you do not get distracted and say, “Let me focus on myself a little bit. Let me take care of myself.” No. You have only one agenda in mind, one mission in mind, and that is His mission.
All these verses tell you how massive, critical, urgent, and totally consuming the mission is. You see Him appointing seventy‑two and sending them, and saying, “Ask the Lord of the harvest…” He is the One sending, yet He says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest.” He is the Lord of the harvest, which means He is the One who gives you direction, details, protocol—how you should do it.
You are not supposed to come up with your own plan. You are not supposed to come up with your own agenda, because He is the One overseeing the entire harvest. So you listen to His instruction, and you execute it. We see that here. The first instruction is: ask the Lord of the harvest.
Everyone going on the mission for God is not just supposed to have instructions; you are also supposed to prioritize prayer. “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers…”
He then says, “I’m sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves.” He knows it is not going to be rosy. Verse 4 now focuses on economic and social entanglements. It is, in my opinion, a stand‑in for economic entanglement and social entanglement—mixing the mission with the love of the world (1 John 2:15-17).
Look at what Paul said about Demas: “Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present age” (2 Timothy 4:10). Look at what Jesus is saying here: “Do not carry a money bag.” Do not do it for your own gain. Do not think of it as a way of making money. Do not look at it as a way of “making it.” If you carry a money bag, you introduce delay—complications. You will start competing against someone else with a bigger money bag. It delays the promptness of obedience because you are thinking about the money bag: “How do I make sure everything is okay, perfect, before I go? How do I plan ahead?” Jesus is saying: you cannot pre‑plan all this. You have to go step by step.
A traveler’s bag means you have your stuff, you are ready for any eventuality. Only God knows how He is sending you and how He will help you moment by moment, as you express complete, total dependence on Him. Because He is the Lord of the harvest, there has to be that dependence on your part as a worker, and His lordship as the Lord of the harvest.
All these things—money bag, traveler’s bag, spare sandals—are our human ways of thinking about “readiness.” “I need to be ready.” You are thinking about readiness in terms of human parameters. But the One who is sending you has already decided you are ready. Paul wrote, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service” (1 Timothy 1:12). Look at the circumstances of Paul’s life. Humanly speaking, would you say he was “ready”? But God says, “Go now. I am sending you.” So you may not feel ready in your mind, but you are ready as far as God is concerned, because dependence on God and obedience to God are key parts of being on mission for God.
“And greet no one on the road.” This is about social entanglement. Someone might distract you on the road. There might be something “important” someone wants to tell you on that road.
Every moment counts. “Go fast, go fast; go on mission.” Someone may say, “You did not greet me on the road.” Sorry for that—but this is more critical than any social connection, any social entanglement, any social interaction.
Someone said, “I want to go and bury my father first,” and Jesus said no: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59–62).
All these things are very, very serious kingdom issues.
God bless you.