The number of the twelve apostles marked the beginning of the episcopal rank. It is also apparent that the seventy-two disciples, who were also sent out by the Lord to preach the word, signify in their selection the lesser rank of the priesthood that is now called the presbyterate. For the same reason, it is appropriate that these seventy-two figured in the last part of the priestly clothing, as those twelve had been in the first. It was fitting that the type of those who would occupy a higher rank in the body of the High Priest (that is, in the church of Christ) should have a higher place in the typical clothing of the Old Testament high priest.

The names of the apostles of the Savior are clear to everyone from the Gospels,^[1] but no list of the seventy disciples is in circulation anywhere. Some have said, to be sure, that Barnabas was one of them, and the Acts of the Apostles^[2] and Paul writing to the Galatians^[3] have made special mention of him. They say Sosthenes was of these as well.^[4] Together with Paul, he wrote to the Corinthians. Tradition also holds that Matthias, who was listed among the apostles in place of Judas,^[5] and Joseph Justus,^[6] who was honored with him at the same casting of lots, were considered worthy of the same calling among the seventy. They say that Thaddaeus was also one of them, about whom I shall presently relate a story which has come down to us. On observation, you would find that the disciples of the Savior appear to have been more than the seventy. Paul says that after the resurrection from the dead Cephas saw him first, then the Twelve.^[7] After these saw him, he was seen by more than five hundred brothers all at once, some of whom he says had fallen asleep, although the majority were still alive at the time that this account was being composed by him.

He says this to the seventy disciples whom he appointed and sent out in pairs before his face. Why did he send them two by two? Pairs of animals were sent into the ark, that is, the female with the male, according to number, unclean^[1] but cleansed by the sacrament of the church. . . . Those animals are opposites, so that the one eats the other. A good shepherd does not know how to fear wolves for his flock, and therefore he sends those disciples not against a prey but to grace. The forethought of the good Shepherd prevents the wolves from harming the lambs.^[2] He sends lambs among wolves in order that the saying may be fulfilled, Then wolves and lambs shall feed together.^[3]

How then does he command the holy apostles, who are innocent men and sheep, to seek the company of wolves, and go to them of their own will? Is not the danger apparent? Are they not set up as ready prey for their attacks? How can a sheep prevail over a wolf? How can one so peaceful conquer the savageness of beasts of prey? Yes, he says, for they all have me as their Shepherd: small and great, people and princes, teachers and students. I will be with you, help you, and deliver you from all evil. I will tame the savage beasts. I will change wolves into sheep, and I will make the persecutors become the helpers of the persecuted. I will make those who wrong my ministers to be sharers in their pious designs. I make and unmake all things, and nothing can resist my will.

When preaching to people everywhere the Word that he spoke and calling the inhabitants of the whole earth to salvation, he requires them to travel about without purse, bag or shoes. They are to travel rapidly from city to city and from place to place. Let no one say that the object of his teaching was to make the holy Apostles refuse the use of the ordinary articles of equipment. What good or what harm would it do them to have shoes on their feet or go without them? By this command, he does wish them to learn and to attempt to practice that they must lay all thought of their livelihood on him. They must call to mind the saint who said, Cast your care on the Lord, and he will feed you.^[1] He gives what is needful for life to the saints.

He sent them two by two, in his likeness. He sent them preaching without a salary, as he had done. . . .

Behold, I am sending you forth like lambs among the wolves, to show that as long as the Shepherd was with them they would not be harmed. To encourage them, he said, He who receives you, receives me.^[1] . . . He forbid them to take money for fear they would be considered businessmen and not announcers.

Our Lord said to his disciples, Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but, if not, it will return to you. . . .

Since we do not know who is a son of peace, it is our part to leave no one out, to set no one aside, but to desire that all to whom we preach this peace be saved. We are not to fear that we lose our peace if he to whom we preach it is not a son of peace, and we are ignorant of the fact. Our peace will return to us. That means our preaching will profit us, not him. If the peace we preach rests upon him, it will profit both him and us.

Consider it is not only Salute no man, but by the way is not carelessly added. When Elisha sent his servant to lay his staff on the body of the dead child, he also commanded him not to salute any man he met.^[1] He ordered him to hurry to go in order to perform the office of proclaiming the resurrection, lest he be turned from the duty laid upon him by conversation with someone along the way. The zeal of greeting is not taken away here, but an obstacle to the practice of piety is removed. When divine commands are given, human obligations are surrendered for a little while. Salutation is fine, but the performance of duties to God is finer because it is more fitting. Hindrance of these duties has often brought offenses. Even honorable acts are prohibited, for fear that the grace of ceremony deceive and hinder the ministry of the task, delay in which is sinful.

Shake off the dust of your feet^[1] shows that he will require vengeance on those who receive the disciples poorly. The disciples will throw back on these people that very dust which adhered to them from the path. They will return it back on them, so that these might learn that those who pass through their paths will return by them. Since these received the dust of the just, they will merit the vengeance of the just, unless they repent. Only their dust defiled them, not their mire. It will be easier for Sodom,^[2] because the angels who went there did not perform a sign in Sodom but made Sodom itself a sign for creation.^[3] . . .

Move to another city away from whatever town that does not receive you. If they persecute you in that one, flee to another. The Lord did not extend this word to everyone, but only to his disciples because it was the beginning of the new preaching, and these people were few.

He also teaches that those who judged that the gospel should not be followed should be subjected to a harsher punishment than those who thought that the law should be dissolved.

Consider the great authority he gave the holy apostles, how he declared them praiseworthy, and how he decorated them with the highest honors. . . . He that hears you, he says, hears me, and he that rejects you, rejects me; and he that rejects me, rejects him that sent me. O what great honor! What incomparable dignities! O what a gift worthy of God! Although men, the children of earth, he clothes them with a godlike glory. He entrusts his words to them that they who resist anything or venture to reject them may be condemned. When they are rejected, he assures them that he suffers this. Then again, he shows that the guilt of this wickedness, as being committed against him, rises up to God the Father. See with the eyes of the mind how vast a height he raises the sin committed by men in rejecting the saints! What a wall he builds around them! How great security he contrives for them! He makes them such as must be feared and in every way plainly provides for their being uninjured.

Christ gives those who love instruction the assurance that whatever is said concerning him by the holy apostles or evangelists is to be received necessarily without any doubt and to be crowned with the words of truth. He who hears them, hears Christ. For the blessed Paul also said, You desire proof that Christ is speaking in me.^[1] Christ himself somewhere also said to the holy disciples, For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you.^[2] Christ speaks in them by the consubstantial Spirit. If it is true, and plainly it is, that they speak by Christ, how can they err? He affirms that he who does not hear them, does not hear Christ, and that he who rejects them rejects Christ, and with him the Father.

The Lord of all gave the power of the gospel to his apostles. By them, we also have learned the truth, that is, the teaching of the Son of God. The Lord said to them, He who hears you hears me, and he who despises you despises me, and him who sent me.

According to Christ’s declaration, the harvest indeed was great, but the laborers were few. In addition to those first chosen, he appointed seventy others and sent them to every village and city of Judea before his face to be his forerunners and to preach the things that belonged to him.

The authority that they carried to rebuke evil spirits and the power of crushing Satan was not given to them that they might be regarded with admiration. It was given to them so that Christ would be glorified by their means. Those whom they taught would believe that he was by nature God and the Son of God. He was invested with so great glory and supremacy and might, as to be even able to bestow upon others the power of trampling Satan under their feet.

What is Christ’s reply? I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. That is, I am aware of this, because as you set out on this journey by my will, you have conquered Satan. I saw him fall like lightning from heaven. This means that he was thrown down from on high to earth, from overweening pride to humiliation, from glory to contempt, from great power to utter weakness. The saying is true, because before the coming of the Savior, he possessed the world. All was subject to him, and there was no one able to escape the trap of his overwhelming might. Everyone worshiped him. He had temples and altars for sacrifice everywhere and had an innumerable multitude of worshipers. Since the only-begotten Word of God came down from heaven, he has fallen like lightning.

I was looking at Satan, who fell like lightning from the heavens. It was not that he was actually in the heavens. He was not in them when he said, I will place my throne above the stars,^[1] but he fell from his greatness and his dominion. I was looking at Satan, who fell like lightning from the heavens. He did not fall from heaven, because lightning does not fall from heaven, since the clouds create it. Why then did he say from the heavens? This was because it was as though it was from the heavens, as if lightning which comes suddenly. In one second, Satan fell beneath the victory of the cross. Ordinary people were anointed and sent out by reason of their mission and were highly successful in a second, through miracles of healing those in pain, sickness and evil spirits. It was affirmed that Satan suddenly fell from his dominion, like lightning from the clouds. Just as lightning goes out and does not return to its place, so too did Satan fall and did not again have control over his dominion. Behold, I am giving you dominion.

Since we possess the Lord Jesus who has freed us by his suffering, let us always look on him and hope for medicine for our wounds from his sign. That is to say, if perhaps the poison of greed spreads in us, we should look to him, and he will heal us. If the malicious desire of the scorpion stings us, we should beg him, and he will cure us. If bites of worldly thoughts tear us, we should ask him, and we will live. These are the spiritual serpents of our souls. The Lord was crucified in order to crush them. He says concerning them, You will tread upon serpents and scorpions, and they will do no harm to you.

He [Jesus] was not baptized to receive the forgiveness of sins. He was without sin. Being sinless, still he was baptized so that he might give grace and dignity to those who receive the sacrament. Since the children share in flesh and blood, so he in like manner has shared in these,^[1] that we, sharing his incarnate life, might also share his divine grace. Jesus was baptized that we in turn also made here partakers with him, might receive not only salvation but also the dignity.

To rejoice only in the fact that they were able to work miracles and crush the herds of demons was possibly likely to produce in them the desire of arrogance. The neighbor and relative of this passion constantly is pride. Most usefully the Savior of all rebukes the first boasting and quickly cuts away the root that sprang up in them—the shameful love of glory. He was imitating good farmers who, when they see a thorn springing up in their parks or gardens, immediately tear it up with the blade of the pickax before it strikes its root deep.

He sent them, decorated with apostolic dignity and distinguished by the work of the grace of the Holy Spirit. He gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out. Having performed many miracles, they returned, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us in your name. As I have already said, he was full of joy, or rather of exultation because he knew that those he sent had benefited many, and they, above all others, had learned his glory by experience. Being good and loving to humanity and wishing that all should be saved, he found his reason for rejoicing in the conversion of those who were in error, the enlightenment of those in darkness, and the acknowledgment of his glory by those who were without knowledge and instruction.

After we have repented of our sins, renounced our wickedness, and have been purified by baptism, we turn back to the eternal light, as children to their Father. Rejoicing in the spirit, Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, God of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to little ones.’ The Educator and Teacher is naming us little ones, meaning that we are more ready for salvation than the worldly wise who, believing themselves wise, have blinded their own eyes. He cries out in joy and in great delight, as if attuning himself to the spirit of the little ones, Yes, Father, for such was your good pleasure. That is why he has revealed to little ones what has been hid from the wise and prudent of this world.

The proof that the Son knows the Father perfectly rests on the fact that he is the one who is from God. The Son has clear knowledge of the Father, because he is from God. The fact that he is from God is a sign and indication that he knows him clearly. An inferior essence would not be able to have clear knowledge of a superior essence, even if the difference between them were slight.

He also gave the holy apostles power and might even to raise the dead, cleanse lepers, heal the sick, and by the laying on of hands to call down from heaven the Holy Spirit on anyone they wanted. He gave them power to bind and to loose people’s sins. His words are I say to you, whatever you will bind on earth, will be bound in heaven.^[1] Whatever you will loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven. These are the things we see ourselves possessing. Blessed are our eyes and the eyes of those of all who love him. We have heard his wonderful teaching. He has given us the knowledge of God the Father, and he has shown him to us in his own nature. The things that were by Moses were only types and symbols. Christ has revealed the truth to us. He has taught us that not by blood and smoke, but rather by spiritual sacrifices, we must honor him who is spiritual, immaterial and above all understanding.

Anyone who thoroughly understands the mystery of the incarnation may say to the lawyer, If you were skillful in the law and in the meaning of its hidden teaching, you would not forget who he is you try to tempt. You thought that he was a mere man, only man, and not God who appeared in human likeness, knows what is secret, and can look into the hearts of those who approach him. In many ways Emmanuel is depicted to you by the shadowing of Moses. You saw him there sacrificed as a lamb, yet conquering the destroyer and abolishing death by his blood. You saw him in the arrangement of the ark, in which the divine law was deposited. In his holy flesh he was as in an ark, being the Word of the Father, the Son that was begotten of him by nature. You saw him as the mercy seat in the holy tabernacle, around which stood the seraphim.^[1] He is our mercy seat for pardon of our sins. Yes, and even as man he is glorified by the seraphim, who are the intelligent and holy powers above. They stand around his divine and exalted throne.

What is the greatest and first commandment of the law? He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God, and your neighbor as yourself.^[1] . . . All this teaching is held high through the two commandments, as though by means of two wings, that is, through the love of God and of humanity.

With these verses belongs the text that exposes those who seem to themselves to be experts on the law, who keep the letter of the law but disregard its spirit. He teaches that they are ignorant of the law from its very first chapter. He proves this immediately at the beginning of the law. Both the Father and the Son proclaimed and announced the sacrament of the divine incarnation, saying, You shall love the Lord your God^[1] and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.^[2] The Lord said to the lawyer, Do this, and you shall live. He who did not know his neighbor, because he did not believe in Christ, answered, Who is my neighbor? Whoever does not know Christ does not know the law either. How can he know the law when he is ignorant of the Truth, since the law proclaims the Truth?

He says, What is written in the law? How do you read? The lawyer repeated what is in the law. As if to punish his wickedness and reprove his malicious purpose, Christ, knowing all things, says, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live. The lawyer missed his prey. He shot off the mark. His wickedness is unsuccessful. The sting of envy ceased. The net of deceit is torn. His sowing bears no fruit, and his toil gains no profit. As some ship overwhelmed by misfortune, he has suffered a bitter shipwreck.

He [the Lord] teaches that the man going down was the neighbor of no one except of him who wanted to keep the commandments and prepare himself to be a neighbor to every one that needs help. This is what is found after the end of the parable, Which of these three does it seem to you is the neighbor of the man who fell among robbers? Neither the priest nor the Levite was his neighbor, but—as the teacher of the law himself answered—he who showed pity was his neighbor. The Savior says, Go, and do likewise.

Some think that their neighbor is their brother, family, relative or their kinsman. Our Lord teaches who our neighbor is in the Gospel parable of a certain man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. . . . Everyone is our neighbor, and we should not harm anyone. If, on the contrary, we understand our fellow human beings to be only our brother and relatives, is it then permissible to do evil to strangers? God forbid such a belief! We are neighbors, all people to all people, for we have one Father.

Jericho is an image of this world. Adam, cast out from Paradise,^[1] that heavenly Jerusalem,^[2] descended to it by the mistake of his transgression, that is, departing from the living to hell, for whom change not of place but of conduct made the exile of his nature. He was greatly changed from that Adam who enjoyed eternal blessedness. When he turned aside to worldly sins, Adam fell among thieves, among whom he would not have fallen if he had not strayed from the heavenly command and made himself vulnerable to them. Who are those thieves, if not the angels of night and darkness, who sometimes transform themselves into angels of light^[3] but cannot persevere? These first steal the clothes of spiritual grace that we have received and are then accustomed to inflict wounds. If we preserve unstained the garments that we have put on, we cannot feel the robbers’ blows. Beware, for fear that you are first stripped as Adam was first stripped of the heavenly command, defrauded of protection, and divested of the garment of faith.^[4] He received a mortal wound by which the whole human race would have fallen if that Samaritan, on his journey, had not tended his serious injuries.

That extraordinary Samaritan did not himself shun him whom the priest and the Levite had shunned. In the name of a sect, you may not shun him whom you will admire by interpretation of the word. Indeed, guard is signified by the name Samaritan. The interpretation means this. Who is the Guard, if not, The Lord preserves the infants?^[1] Thus, as there is one Jew in the letter and another in the spirit,^[2] so there is one Samaritan in public, another in secret. Here the Samaritan is going down. Who is he except he who descended from heaven, who also ascended to heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven?^[3] When he sees half-dead him whom none could cure before, like her with an issue of blood who had spent all her inheritance on physicians, he came near him.^[4] He became a neighbor by acceptance of our common feeling and kin by the gift of mercy.

One of the elders wanted to interpret the parable as follows. The man who was going down is Adam. Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers. The priest is the law, the Levite is the prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience. The beast is the Lord’s body. The pandochium (that is, the stable), which accepts all who wish to enter, is the church. The two denarii mean the Father and the Son. The manager of the stable is the head of the church, to whom its care has been entrusted. The fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Savior’s second coming. . . .

The Samaritan, who took pity on the man who had fallen among thieves, is truly a guardian, and a closer neighbor than the Law and the Prophets. He showed that he was the man’s neighbor more by deed than by word. According to the passage that says, Be imitators of me, as I too am of Christ,^[1] it is possible for us to imitate Christ and to pity those who have fallen among thieves. We can go to them, bind their wounds, pour in oil and wine, put them on our own animals, and bear their burdens. The Son of God encourages us to do things like this. He is speaking not so much to the teacher of the law as to us and to everyone when he says, Go and do likewise. If we do, we will receive eternal life in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.

Robbers left you half-dead on the road, but you have been found lying there by the passing and kindly Samaritan. Wine and oil have been poured on you. You have received the sacrament of the only-begotten Son. You have been lifted onto his mule. You have believed that Christ became flesh. You have been brought to the inn, and you are being cured in the church.

That is where and why I am speaking. This is what I too, what all of us are doing. We are performing the duties of the innkeeper. He was told, If you spend any more, I will pay you when I return. If only we spent at least as much as we have received! However much we spend, brothers and sisters, it is the Lord’s money.

And bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. That Physician has many remedies with which he is accustomed to cure. His speech is a remedy. One of his sayings binds up wounds, another treats with oil, another pours in wine. He binds wounds with a stricter rule. He treats with the forgiveness of sins. He stings with the rebuke of judgment as if with wine.

The next day, what is this next day, if not that day of the Lord’s resurrection, of which it was said, This is the day which the Lord has made?^[1] He took out two coins, and gave them to the host, and said, ‘Take care of him.’

What are those two coins, unless perhaps the two Testaments that contain revealed within them the image of the eternal King, at the price of whose wounds we are healed? Precious blood redeemed us, that we may avoid the sores of final death.^[1]

Blessed is that innkeeper who can care for another’s wounds. Blessed is he to whom Jesus says, Whatever you shall spend over and above, I will repay you. A good steward is one who also spends over and above. Paul is a good steward, whose sermons and epistles overflow with the knowledge that he received. He followed the moderate command of the Lord with almost immoderate effort of mind and body, so that he raised many from deep sorrow by the stewardship of spiritual exhortation. He was a good keeper of his inn, in which the ass knows his master’s crib^[1] and the flocks of lambs are enclosed. He feared that the way would be easy for ravening wolves howling outside the corrals to attack the sheepfolds.

God our Lord wished to be called our neighbor. The Lord Jesus Christ meant that he was the one who gave help to the man lying half-dead on the road, beaten and left by the robbers. The prophet said in prayer, As a neighbor and as one’s own brother, so did I please.^[1] Since the divine nature is far superior and above our human nature, the command by which we are to love God is distinct from our love of our neighbor. He shows mercy to us because of his own goodness, while we show mercy to one another because of God’s goodness. He has compassion on us so that we may enjoy him completely, while we have compassion on another that we may completely enjoy him.

Since no one is closer than he who tended to our wounds, let us love him as our Lord, and let us love him as our neighbor. Nothing is so close as the head to the members.^[1] Let us also love him who is the follower of Christ, let us love him who in unity of body has compassion on another’s need.