Priests: Labourers for the Harvest
Gospel Reflection for July 6, 2025 - Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two: and he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come.
And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send labourers into his harvest.
Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves.
Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way.
Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house.
And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you.
And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house.
And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.
And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, going forth into the streets thereof, say:
Even the very dust of your city that cleaveth to us, we wipe off against you. Yet know this, that the kingdom of God is at hand.
I say to you, it shall be more tolerable at that day for Sodom, than for that city.
And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying: Lord, the devils also are subject to us in thy name.
And he said to them: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven.
Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall hurt you.
But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 1:1-12, 17-20 DRA)
The Gospel for this Sunday shows Christ introducing two essential elements of His Church: the conversion of the Gentiles, in fulfillment of messianic prophecy; and the hierarchical nature of the new priesthood, with the seventy-two being the first priests in service to the first bishops, the twelve apostles, as St. Augustine explains:
As also in twenty-four hours the whole world moves round and receives light, so the mystery of enlightening the world by the Gospel of the Trinity, is hinted at in the seventy-two disciples. For three times twenty-four makes seventy-two. Now as no one doubts that the twelve Apostles foreshadowed the order of Bishops, so also we must know that these seventy-two represented the presbytery, (that is, the second order of priests.) Nevertheless, in the earliest times of the Church, as the Apostolical writings bear witness, both were called presbyters, both also called bishops, the former of these signifying “ripeness of wisdom,” the latter, “diligence in the pastoral care.” (Catena Aurea)
This numbering is profoundly biblical, fulfilling imagery from the Old Testament, as St. Cyril of Alexandria points out:
An outline of this ordinance also was set forth in the words of Moses, who at the command of God chose out seventy, upon whom God poured out His Spirit. In the book of Numbers also it was written of the children of Israel, that they came to Elim, which is by interpretation “ascent,” and there were there twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees. (Numb. 33:9.) (Catena Aurea)
Similarly, the seventy-two priests are sent out “two and two,” like the (unclean) animals chosen to enter the Ark of Noe, and in the order of the Mosaic covenant:
Likewise also the twelve were reckoned by two and two, as Matthew shews in his enumeration of them. (Matt. 10:2.) For that two should be joined in service, seems from the word of God to be an ancient custom. For God led Israel out of Egypt by the hands of Moses and Aaron. Joshua and Caleb also, united together, appeased the people who had been provoked by the twelve spies. (Numb. 13, 14. Ex. 12.) Hence it is said, A brother assisted by a brother is as a fortified city. (Prov. 18:19. Vulg.) (Origen, Catena Aurea)
Pope St. Gregory the Great also applies a tropological or moral interpretation to the use of “two and two,” connecting it to the object of the theological virtue of charity which loves God above all things and loves God in and for our neighbor:
He sends the disciples to preach two and two, because there are two commands of charity, the love of God, and love of our neighbour; (and charity cannot exist without at least two;) thereby silently suggesting to us, that he who has not love to another, ought not to undertake the office of preaching. (Catena Aurea)
Our Lord’s words that “the labourers are few” is a call for more men to answer God’s call to enter the priesthood, which in many countries today (especially in Novus Ordo dioceses in the West) are severely lacking. Additionally, St. Gregory adds a warning to these words for priests of the Church, those who are the successors of the seventy-two but who, in the human frailty and proclivity to worldliness which they share with all Christians, often fail to live out their vocation with the fervor and courage it deserves, thus allowing wolves to crawl over the walls of the pasture and steal away the sheep of Christ’s fold:
But not without deep sorrow can we add, but the labourers are few. For although there are who would hear good things, they are wanting who should spread them. Behold the world is full of priests, but seldom is there found a labourer in God’s harvest, because we undertake indeed the priestly office, but we perform not its works. (Catena Aurea)
Who are the “wolves” mentioned by Our Lord? This has been variously applied to the Gentiles who would persecute the faithful, the Scribes and Pharisees of the Jews or to bishops and priests of the Church who betray their calling and lead souls astray through excess severity or false doctrines. St. Ambrose expands on the last by identifying the wolves as heretics:
For wolves are beasts who lay in wait near the sheep folds, and prowl about the shepherds’ cottages. They dare not enter the abodes of men, they pry out sleeping dogs, absent or slothful shepherds; they seize the sheep by the throat, that they may quickly strangle them; ravenous beasts, with bodies so stiff that they cannot easily turn themselves, but are carried along by their own impetus, and so are often deceived. If they are the first to see a man, it is said, they by a certain natural impulse, tear out his voice; but if a man first sees them, they quake with fear. In like manner the heretics lurk about Christ’s sheep folds, howl near the cottages at night time. For night is the time for the treacherous who obscure the light of Christ with the mists of false interpretation. The inns of Christ, however, they dare not enter, and therefore are not healed, as he was in an inn who fell among thieves. They look out for the shepherds’ absence, for they can not attack the sheep when the shepherds are by. Owing also to the inflexibility of a hard and obstinate mind, they seldom if ever turn from their error, while Christ the true interpreter of Scripture mocks them, so that they vent forth their violence in vain, and are not able to hurt; and if they overtake any one by the subtle trickery of their disputations, they make him dumb. For he is dumb who confesses not the word of God with the glory which belongs to it. Beware then lest the heretic deprive you of your voice, and lest you detect him not first. (Catena Aurea)
Our Lord also adds an important point: when the people to whom the Gospel is preached reject it in favor of the darkness of sin, the Church, while still praying for their conversion, should allow them to suffer the consequences for their sins which of itself can work as a correction. Thus Origen says,
By wiping off the dust of their feet against them, they in some sort say, The dust of your sins shall deservedly come upon you. And mark that the cities which receive not the Apostles and sound doctrine have streets, according to Matthew, Broad is the way which leadeth to destruction. (Matt. 7:13.) (Catena Aurea)
Finally, Christ proves His divine antiquity by saying that He witnessed the fall of Satan and his demons from grace. He also uses the opportunity to correct the temptation to pride in His disciples who, by His authority, can cast out demons, but whose mind, as St. Paul said in the Epistle, should focus on Him alone as their joy and salvation, by whom they are written, not in the earth (Jer 17:13) like those who accused the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:6), but in the Book of Life:
Now our Lord, in a remarkable manner, in order to put down high thoughts in the hearts of His disciples, Himself related the account of the fall which the teacher of pride suffered; that they might learn by the example of the author of pride, what they would have to dread from the sin of pride. (St. Gregory, Catena Aurea)
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