Greet No One On The Way

Greet no one on the way…

Luke 10:4 “Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.”

The words of Jesus ‘greet no one on the way’ kind of intrigued me, so I set off thinking…

I would like to start off by sharing my testimony, which God reminded me that I did myself, even though I was not a seasoned Evangelist then. I had just got saved, joined back work after pregnancy leave (I had an encounter with Jesus during my second delivery) and I started off my ministry in full swing, while still working for a multinational bank , as an Executive Secretary for the Vice President, young mom of a teenage daughter and my infant son. I wasted no time. No excuses whatsoever…

Happy Women’s day! March 8, 2023! (written on this day)

Jesus sent out a group of seventy-two disciples to "every city and place where he was about to go." (10:1) The disciples were being sent out as Christ's ambassadors. While giving instructions, Jesus clearly warned them: the harvest is huge, workers are few, there are wolves out there, don’t carry your purse , just trust me and no vain greetings… The prohibition of greeting is what we are discussing today. Wow, look at the 70 disciples that Jesus sent out for work, despite the opposition, Jesus had gathered a ‘group’ that was ready to work for Jesus and not mere ‘hallelujah chorus group’, that would leave the church after Sunday service to watch TV rather than lift their little finger for Jesus.

As a novice in the field of evangelism, I had strictly prepared my agenda for evangelism, I had one day allotted during the week for ‘outreach ministry’ which I did alone. I would carry few Bibles, gospel tracts and set off on my scooter during lunch break. It was business trip for the Lord, so I would focus on my job and greet no one. Did you get that? Once during my outreach ministry in a particular Shopping mall, my old friend met me and she was thrilled. She asked me where I was working and I gave her the name of the bank where I worked. She was shocked because it was not that easy to get that job, when she was trying to ask me more questions, I quickly gave her my salvation experience and said, “ I need to go and do my work for the Lord now.” As she watched with dropped jaws and eyes widened, I entered a shop, gave gospel tracts, said goodbye to her and zipped past her. Time was short and I couldn’t afford greetings, this is what Jesus meant as greet no one on the way…..

THIS WAS NO SHOPPING TRIP: THIS WAS MISSION TRIP:

Jesus did not want His disciples to be distracted on the way, satan’s strategy is to pull you away from the plans and presence of God. I once invited a young man to join me during my early morning prayer, he said ok. While he was getting ready to leave his house and come to me, his friend came knocking the door promptly, this young boy should have ignored him and carried on with his work but he did a mistake. He paused, greeted him and spoke with him, within a short span of time, the friend convinced him to accompany him to the gym rather than to come to me for early morning prayers. The sad story is that this young boy never made it for the morning prayers, eventually became a gay, joined a group of movie gang and vanished into the lost world, never to return to me again. I am still looking for him……

There is great depth in Jesus warning His disciples ‘not to greet anyone on the way’…..

A) We read of a wonderful incident in the second book of Kings of how two people handled crisis:

2 King 29:22 She(woman from Shunem) sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”

23 “Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.”

But she said, “It will be all right.”

She spoke no further but said; “It will be all right.”

Women who speak less accomplish more! She did not make arrangements for burial of her dead son but was preparing for his resurrection. Hallelujah!

In the same chapter, Elisha instructed his servant in 2 Kings 4:29

Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don't greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."