I must admit that I have not heard much about the Gospel lesson for today in terms of the specifics of the appointment of seventy-two additional disciples that Jesus sent ahead of him to places he intended to visit. I wondered why that was the case. So, I did a little internet searching about those guys. Sure, they were most likely to have been men, but they could have just as well have been women. Why don’t we know their names? Why didn’t they leave behind their journals for us to read like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did? What I found out is that their stories were not about them, they were about Jesus. And so, their stories could be about any one of us.

Jesus sent them out just like he sends us out. He sent them out to teach, to heal, and to proclaim the living Christ in their midst in every town and place Jesus intended to visit. Like these disciples, we too are to proclaim the good news and do the work of Christ wherever we go. And, like them, we must be prepared to not have an easy job of it. We will not always be well received. Yet, while it will be difficult, we do not have to go alone. Jesus tells us that we will have companions to accompany us, and we will have partners along the way who will provide us with what we need. Further, we do not have to stick around anyplace where we are not well received. We can do this. We can all be disciples.

In fact, if we read the Psalm for today, we find some bold language that we can apply to our attitude. As we set out on our way, we can be stouthearted and courageous. And would not it be great if we left behind a few journals of our faith journeys for our loved ones to read some day. We just need to be sure that they are not just stories about us, and how God uses us, but stories focused on the glory of Jesus. Well, that might be more difficult, but we can do this.