Audio of the sermon is here:

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It’s the same as last week. Last week, we heard how Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem, and then He sent angels in front of His face. “Angel” is just the Greek word for “messenger.” He sent messengers before His face that was set to go to Jerusalem. And here, at the beginning of chapter 10, it’s the same thing: The Lord sent 72 others before His face. 72 other what? Angels, messengers. And they’re all doing the same thing. They’re going to the places He’s about to go. Actually, it’s more accurate to say that wherever they go, He goes. That is, He doesn’t even need to be there so they can see Him for Him to be there. The one who hears you hears Me, He says. And He means it. Wherever the messengers go, Jesus is there.

And what are they saying? Like little John the Baptists, they’re saying the same thing, preparing the way for the King to come. The King is coming! He’s coming here! He’s coming for you! He wants you to be in His Kingdom, under His mercy, rather than in the devil’s kingdom, or your own kingdom, under that tyranny. Of course, in some places, some people do not want Jesus to be their king. They want someone else, or themselves, to be their king. That’s called idolatry, and it’s our default position. There were just protests in various places saying “no kings” in America. And that’s fine. That’s kind of our thing, not to have kings. But sometimes the things that are true about America drift into the Church where they are absolutely untrue. Because we do have a king, only one, and His name is Jesus. Or, when we talk about rights in the United States. That’s fine; we talk about our rights all the time. But sometimes that drifts into the Church, and there it’s not fine. You and I have no rights when it comes to Jesus our King. Everything He does is pure gift, and you can’t have a right to a gift. Otherwise, it’s no longer a gift.

But it is exactly that King and those gifts that the messengers are sent to proclaim. And when they proclaim the Kingdom, they are doing nothing else than proclaiming the King, giving the King to people who would rather rule themselves. And so the Samaritan villages do not receive Him as their king. And in other places, the people do not receive the messengers, which is the same as not receiving the King who sent them. If the King sends a messenger to you, and you reject or ignore the messenger, you are rejecting and ignoring the King. It’s His message and His messenger. It’s not the messenger you’re rejecting; he’s just there on behalf of the King.

So some people do that. But the King keeps sending out the messengers. Pray, He says; pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would sent out workers into His harvest. Which is, of course, exactly what He’s already doing before He even says those words. “The Lord sent 72 others before His face.” The Lord of the harvest sent 72 others as workers into His harvest. That’s what He does. So pray to Him to do what He does. And He might send you. He might send you to be a pastor, or a deaconess, or a missionary. He might do that. But of course those aren’t the only vocations into which Jesus sends people. He gives us all our little places in the fields, our little plot to work. And it’s all good, because He’s the Lord. He’s the Lord of the harvest, which means that not only is the harvest field His; He owns it; He is also the Lord of the harvest, who produces the harvest, who makes it grow. The messengers have no control over that at all. They just go proclaim the Kingdom, the harvesting, the Lord, and the Lord of the harvest does His work.

And what happens when the messengers proclaim this kingdom? What is the sign that the kingdom has come? First of all, Jesus says, say “peace” to that place, and if there’s a son of the Prince of Peace, your peace will rest on that one. If not, it will return to you. Peace goes where the king goes. And then, heal all the sick, and say, The Kingdom of God has come near upon you. Which means, the King who heals the sick is here. Others reject that king, and still: we wipe off the dirt of this place, but know that the Kingdom of God has come near. It will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment than for those who reject the King when He appears among them, healing the sick and bringing His rule.

Finally, when the 72 return, they rejoice that even the unclean spirits are subject to them in the Name of the King. That’s a sign that the Kingdom has come, and that the King is here. And Jesus says that’s good. These are signs of the Kingdom, that the King has appeared in the world. And if you’re like me, things like that make me say, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Come quickly, King Jesus!” Bring the fullness of the kingdom, so we can see it too. Now we shouldn’t underestimate the King. Whenever you get sick or injured, and you get better or you heal, that, too, is the creation-redemption work of your King. It, too, is a sign of the resurrection Kingdom that the King has brought into existence.

But we still haven’t seen the fullness of it. There is still far too much sin in us, too much death everywhere, too much hatred and bitterness and division and ungodliness. But still, I tell you, the Kingdom of God has come near to you. Listen to your King: it is good that the unclean spirits are subject to you. I have all authority in heaven and earth, and I give you authority to trample serpents and scorpions, to proclaim this kingdom, and the end of the reign of death, sin, and the devil. But do not rejoice only in this, that the spirits are subject to you; rejoice even more that your name is written in the heavens. Your name is written where no sin, no death, no devil can touch it. Your name is with the one into whose name you have been baptized. Because the Kingdom of God has come near to you; you’ve been transferred from the kingdom of the devil into the kingdom of the Lord Christ. The Kingdom of God comes near to you every time you hear Him; and you hear Him when you hear “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” You hear Him when you hear “take this and eat it; take this and drink it; this body and blood of your living Lord and King.” It is for your forgiveness; for your life and your salvation. See, the Kingdom of God has come near to you.

Remember, we are praying not in general, for the Kingdom of God to come. He does that before we even pray for it. He sends workers even before we’ve prayed for it. But we pray that this Kingdom would come to and among us. What is the Kingdom? It comes with signs, but it is not those signs. The Kingdom comes whenever the Father sends His Holy Spirit, and by His grace you believe His holy word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity (Small Catechism, Second Petition, LSB 324). See, the Kingdom has come to you! The Father has sent His Holy Spirit to you, and you have, by His grace, believed His holy word, and you lead a godly life here in time, and certainly in eternity. Rejoice! The Kingdom has come, and will come. You will see the King face to face, and then His Kingdom will cover the whole earth, when there is no more crying or pain anymore; no more sick people to be healed; no more dead who need to be raised; no more demons to cast out. No more tears to wipe away. Just the King and His Kingdom, and you with all the others whose names He has written in heaven in His own blood. He will not forget. Rejoice!  

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 7/4/25