Gospel Reflections 800x800 gold outline

Today's Gospel: Luke 10, 17-24 - St. Therese of the Child Jesus

So often we focus on the small group of the twelve apostles, and we lose sight of the many others who were commissioned directly by Jesus. In fact, Jesus was not at all stingy with spreading the blessings and opportunities to follow him in the Gospels. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” In Luke’s Gospel passage, Jesus appoints seventy people, other than the apostles, to send out before him. The seventy go ahead of him to proclaim the kingdom of God at hand, endowed with gifts of healing and casting out demons. When they return, the seventy are amazed at the authority they had on their commission, even authority over demons!

One thing I love about this passage is how Jesus gives a direct living example of his teaching. He tells the seventy to “rejoice” in the promise of heaven, and “in that same hour” Jesus also rejoices in the Holy Spirit. We are given an actual example of Jesus’ prayer to the Father. A perfect model for our own prayer: thanksgiving, awe, and surrender. He draws the attention of the seventy away from the here-and-now, and into eternity. So what if they are able to cast out demons in the flesh? That has nothing on what is to come in heaven.

Ponder:

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that by your gracious will, we may rejoice with you in heaven.

Pray:

Do we go before the Lord, proclaiming the kingdom of God, and exemplify rejoicing in the Holy Spirit, through laboring the plentiful harvest of the Lord?

 

Copyright 2016 Kimberly Cook

Kimberly Cook is a freelance writer and author of Mommy, Mommy, When You Pray. She holds a Masters in Systematic Theology. Kimberly lives with her husband and children in Virginia. She blogs on Faith, Art, and Motherhood at The Lion of Design.