Jesus - sending 72

Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Luke 9 starts with Jesus sending out the twelve disciples, in twos, to preach the gospel and to heal. This chapter ends, after much success by the disciples, with Jesus warning them of the cost of following Jesus. Chapter 10 begins with Jesus choosing and sending another 72 "others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go..." (I don't remember ever noticing this group of 72!)
Verse 17 "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
Jesus told them in verse 20 "....However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Verse 21 records that "At that time Jesus, [was] full of joy through the Holy Spirit..."
I have a couple of thoughts about this. Of course, we cannot be certain of the exact time frame of this. Perhaps Jesus was full of joy because of the success of the 12 then the 72 disciples. Perhaps he was full of joy because this was an abundant time in his ministry, a relatively easy, unharassed time. Perhaps Luke noted this joy because there were times that we so stressful that Jesus' joy was not obvious. This is early in His ministry. I think that He is pleased over the success of the rewarding part of his ministry. Later comes the harder part, when the authorities start to be concerned about "this Jesus". I am awestruck with the thought of Jesus being "full of joy through the Holy Spirit". I can't get my head around it.
Another thought is about the sending of 72 "two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go..." Their success is not something that i have heard much about. We hear about the 12 apostles and about Paul. But think about these 72. They went ahead of Jesus to towns where Jesus was going. They were like the opening band, priming the crowds for Jesus' appearance. What kind of job did they actually do? It must have been a great job. The owner of the colt just handed over the colt for Jesus use when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The owner of the upper room where the last supper took place allowed these "trouble makers" to use the facilities. The wealthy man, Joseph of Arimathea, asked for Jesus' body to be buried in his own unused grave. All of this took place AFTER Jesus was well known and well known as a trouble-maker by some. The 72 had to have done a great job of preparing people for accepting this man, who would later overcome being labeled an undesirable.
Stop and think about the job you are doing for announcing Jesus ministry. I am not doing a very good job. I can't imagine that those I preach to or serve would put their lives on the line for a trouble-maker like Jesus. I have to do better. I have to try to bring joy to Jesus by doing the ministry he wants and deserves.
My Lord, May my preparation of Your coming be acceptable and successful for Your purposes. Amen.

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