Monday Devotional: June 30, 2025

Bible Reading: Luke 10:1-11 (NRSVUE)

¹ After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. ² He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ ⁶ And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’

The 70 disciples must have felt terrified. Without warning, it seems, Jesus sends them into the world to minister. In some ways, it is what they have desired. Surely some of them have been thinking, I want to be like Jesus. I want to do the things that he is doing. But it is one thing to have those thoughts and another thing entirely to act on them. Now the time to act has come. They can no longer sit in the background, watching Jesus teach and do works of power. It’s their turn to step up. As if that were not enough pressure, Jesus adds a catch: Carry nothing.

We would have a hard time following Jesus’ direction today. In our daily lives, our focus on schedules, plans, and material possessions leaves little space to hear how God wants to use us that day. Or for mission trips, we send out reconnaissance teams to study the mission field and figure out its needs. Then we plan for months, accumulating supplies that will meet any need that the mission team might have or encounter. While necessary for many mission endeavors, imagine the possibility of engaging the mission field and following Jesus’ direction: Carry nothing.

Carry nothing. These words invite us into the moment, to lean into the arms of Jesus who supplies our needs. Carry nothing. It reminds us that our power does not come from possessions or planning but from our faith and trust in the Son of God who holds all power in his hand.

Prayer

Lord of love and light, free us from the entrapments of material possessions and dependence on our own efforts that keep us from leaning into your abundant grace and power. Help us to love and trust you fully and to fully carry that love into the world. Amen.

By Chanequa Walker-Barnes, The Upper Room Disciplines 2016, page 223.