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Today’s
text
The
seventy-two came back rejoicing. 'Lord,' they said, 'even the devils submit to
us when we use your name.' He said to them, 'I watched Satan
fall like lightning from heaven. Look, I have given you power to
tread down serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing
shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit
to you; rejoice instead that your names are written in heaven.'
Reflection
The 72 messengers of Jesus did not know why they were happy.
They really didn’t understand. But Jesus did, and it is easy to see him smiling
as he surveyed their innocent ignorance and told them their names are written
in heaven
Truth is that they had already
experienced a tiny bit of heaven, which is what brought them joy. They knew the
joy of giving themselves to the work of life, the labor of God’s Spirit.
They had released the power of
God’s kingdom through their acts of blessing and healing. The wonder of the
Almighty and All-Merciful had flowed through their hands and arms, their words
and hearts.
They had tasted the very essence
of the Absolute, cooperating and flowing in the currents of the Mercy whose
name can never be spoken because none of us will ever really understand.
We understand only the wonder of
the joy that fills and spills from the depth of our being when we share the
blessing and healing and loving that comes from the heart of God.
The messengers of Jesus bubbled
with joy at having cooperated with the Holy One by healing and lessening the
destructiveness that strikes and mars the fullness of life which God intends.
They experienced heaven coming to
the broken through their own hands and mouths, and because they, too, were
broken like every human soul, they also felt its healing power.
And they were happy, happy to
have tasted a little piece of heaven, happy to have carried it to others, happy
to know their names are known in heaven by the One who is Mercy.
They knew this is what life is
about, and nothing else matters half so much.
Pr. David L. Miller
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