NOTES for Luk 10:1-9
Reading closely Luke the Evangelist's account of the sending of the seventy apostles to preach, it is important for us to clarify as precisely as possible the commission with which Christ sends them. The Evangelist conveys in detail the Lord's words that the seventy should not prepare for long and difficult journeys, but, relying on God, should be content with what He will send them on the way. The main thing, the Lord says, is this: where they receive you, stay there; where they do not receive you, move on from there. The essence of what the Lord sends them with is to carry the message of peace and that the Kingdom of God has drawn near to you.
So the task of the seventy apostles, and after them of the whole Church, is to notify people that Christ is already near, close beside them. After the apostles, the Lord Himself will come to these villages and cities, and He will speak the word to those who want to hear and heal those who suffer. In the apostolic ministry of the Church, the main thing is to announce Christ's coming to the world, and according to Christ's word, the key element in this witness is the ministry of peace. Not to lash people's vices and "restructure society," but to bring peace to those who want to receive it.
The Lord says: "if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him." It is important that He says not "My peace," although the prophets had long said that He Himself is peace for people, as the apostle Paul will repeat again: "He is our peace." In order to fulfill what has been entrusted to them, the seventy apostles, and the whole Church after them, must themselves be filled with this peace of God, so that it truly becomes ours.