To send one’s emissaries out on such a mission against “wolves” equipped with nearly nothing—no money, no extra clothes, no shoes—seems either insane or cruel. How are they to convince people to follow a Messiah who sends beggars to announce His coming? How are they to accomplish their mission so poorly equipped? Even young David had his staff and sling with which to guard the flock against lions! Yet notice the mission: they are to be as lambs among those wolves. They are meant to pose no threat, to be somewhat innocuous, even vulnerable, such that only those who are not wolves—those who are like lambs themselves—will notice them, welcome them, listen to them. For Jesus says elsewhere that He has His own mission: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24).
So He releases seventy-two lambs of His flock into the wild, having equipped them not with weapons and armor, not with security, but with faith, hope, and charity, that they may share in His mission to pursue the lost, gathering “in his arms . . . the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, leading the ewes with care” (Isa 40:11).