They were sent two by two as buddy evangelizers. This evangelization strategy Jesus proposes for the seventy-two, the larger circle of disciples, in our time for the lay people. Married couple could be the best buddy evangelizers of our times. It is good to take a few moments to look at our partners who are ready to make the journey with us in life. We are indebted to our buddies in life.
They were seventy-two. That unfamiliar number is like a stone in the shoe. This number must be Luke’s daring theologizing as in the other gospels, the number is only the all-too-familiar scriptural number of seventy. Luke has taken a very special stance on the controversy of the seventy or seventy-two in this text. The text of the seventy-two comes from the book of Numbers (Ch. 11) where Moses was asked to gather 70 elders to take care of the needs of the people since he could not handle the complaints of a large number of people. When the seventy were gathered, Moses put some of his spirit on them, and the seventy started prophesying. Then Eldad and Medad, two who were originally invited to join had not joined the gathering. Two others might have taken their place. But these two started prophesying outside the tent. Joshua was annoyed at this and complained to Moses to stop them. Moses simply questions Joshua, “Are you jealous?” Luke, being the author of the gospel of openness, might have arrived at the seventy-two, adding those prophesying outside the tent. Only Luke can handle such insights.
Let us look into the story of the two by two. This has something to do with the witness of the two in the book of Deuteronomy. Witness of two is considered trustworthy and reliable. The book of Daniel (Ch. 13) has a beautiful story of Daniel catching the two elders who falsely accused Susanna of adultery. Daniel questions the men separately to fact check the accusation and found them guilty of false accusation. Only the united witness of two would be valid. The insistence of Jesus on the two-by-two rule should be from this scriptural and cultural background.
However, there are more significant perspectives to be identified from here. One of the earliest human predicaments the Bible deals with is human loneliness. Adam was found alone and God gave him a companion. Everyone battles with loneliness one time or another in one’s life. If it is not identified in time, it will not take much time for human nature to wither and perish.
One of the basic needs of human beings is social relationship—friendship. Jesus was saddened by the death of Lazarus, the only one mentioned in the gospel as a friend of Jesus. He had disciples and followers, many of them. But only a friend, Lazarus, and he cried at his loss. Jesus had expected this companionship in a crucial moment of his life from his disciples. When he went to Gethsemane, he had taken his closest disciples to be with him. While he was sweating blood, they were sleeping. They failed to be companions to him, not only here but for the rest of the trial as well.
The buddy system of the military is familiar to most of us. They watch the back of each other. One of those stories from an early scout boy’s manual narrates a buddy story. One soldier lay wounded in the fierce battlefield. There was little hope of getting him alive. His buddy asks for permission to pick him from there. The major discouraged him as it was a highly risky operation. It was sure that he would be wounded if not killed. With all the pleading the major permits him and he reaches his buddy. Resting his face in his buddy’s lap, he looked at him with great love and said, “I knew, you would come,” and he breathed his last. We need buddies even as we preach to get us help when we are wounded. An individual ministry might look very quick and fruitful but will not be God’s mission. In that interesting book, Big Panda and the Tiny Dragon, we read that interesting conversation between the duo. The panda asks the dragon, “What is more important: the journey or the destination?” The dragon replies, “The company.” Great journeys are undertaken for the sake of the company. Greater journeys are undertaken with a purpose in company.