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Luke 10:16
“The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
In commissioning the seventy-two as gospel heralds, Jesus gave them instructions for ministry conduct as well as teaching on the severe penalty that will fall on those who do not receive the kingdom of God (Luke 10:1–15). Today’s passage records Jesus’ last statement to the seventy-two before they went out on their mission, and His words have application both for our perseverance in gospel proclamation and for our conception of church authority.
Christ told the seventy-two that those who rejected their message rejected Jesus and in so doing rejected the One who had sent Him, God Almighty (Luke 10:16; see John 3:16–17). In addition to conveying the damning consequences of refusing to believe the gospel, this saying provides some encouragement for believers to persevere in telling others about Jesus. One of the biggest hindrances to evangelism and discipleship is our fear of rejection. We have all felt the pain of being rejected, and our very human response to this reality is to endeavor to avoid saying and doing things that will cause others to dislike us. At times, this can lead to our not telling others about Jesus because we do not want to make our relationship with a non-Christian tense or uncomfortable. Christ’s words in Luke 10:16 remind us that the rejection of God’s truth when we speak it does not ultimately constitute a personal rejection of us—provided, of course, that we have not been obnoxious, condescending, or otherwise ill-mannered. Knowing that a rejection of the gospel is not a rejection of us personally can encourage us to keep on proclaiming God’s Word and help lessen the hesitation we may feel to proclaim Christ because we fear being rejected.
Luke 10:16 also has significance for our view of church authority. While Jesus’ statement applies broadly to all Christians, it says something specific about church leaders. When Christ ascended on high, He gave many gifts to the church, including church officers who in the New Testament, depending on the English translation, are variously called shepherds, pastors, elders, or overseers (Eph. 4:8–14; 1 Tim. 3:1–7). These leaders have ministerial authority in the church that is to be obeyed when they exercise it in line with God’s Word by declaring and enforcing Scripture’s teaching (Heb. 13:17). Ecclesiastical authorities cannot bind the conscience where God has left it free or impose their own rules as requirements for salvation. But where they rightly apply the Bible, disobeying them means that we disobey Christ because it is His Word that we are rejecting.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Matthew Henry comments, “They who despise the faithful ministers of Christ, who, though they do not hate and persecute them, yet think meanly of them, look scornfully upon them, and turn their backs upon their ministry, will be reckoned with as despisers of God and Christ.” We cannot reject the legitimate authority of the church’s elders but must follow them insofar as they follow God’s Word.
for further study
- Numbers 11:16–30
- 1 Timothy 3:14–15
the bible in a year
- 2 Kings 23–25
- John 7:1–31
- 1 Chronicles 1–5
- John 7:32–8:11