7th August Trinity
Luke 10: 1-20
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others
and sent them two by two ahead of him, before his face, to every town and place
where he himself was about to go. He told them, “An ample harvest, and few
workers! Ask the harvest master, therefore, to send out workers to help with
the harvesting. Go: I hereby send you out like lambs in the midst of wolves. Do
not take a wallet or knapsack or sandals; and do not pause to greet anyone on
the way.
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this
house.’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will alight on him; if not, it
will turn round and come back to you. Stay in that place, eating and drinking
with them, because the worker is worth his wages. Do not move around from house
to house.
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set
before you, and heal the sick and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is close upon
you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and
say, ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we are shaking off (to
your face). Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is approaching ’ I am
telling you, Sodom will be better off than that town on that day.
“The worse for you, Chorazin! The
worse for you Bethsaida! Because if the deeds of the spirit
that occurred in you had had occurred in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long since be sitting in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of
their change of heart and mind. But Tyre and Sidon will be better off on the
day of decision than you. And you, Capernaum, won’t you
be exalted to the skies? You will go down to the depths.
He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects
you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. “
The seventy-two returned with joy and said “Lord,
even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from
the sky. Here, I have now given you authority to trample on snakes and
scorpions and on all the power of the enemy and none of it shall ever hurt you.
But do not be glad that the spirits submit to you; be glad that your true being
is taken up into the world of the heavens (that your names are recorded in the
heavens).
7th August-Sept. Trinity
Luke 10:1-20
We move toward the time of harvest. Grain is severed from
the plant, dies, in order to serve the life of higher species.
Christ now sends out ahead of Himself a now growing number
of disciples, six times as many as before. They are to act as His heralds and
forerunners, as messengers from the living realm of the angels, bearers of the
good news. He also gives the picture of them working as harvesters—for many
souls are now ripe and waiting to be gathered in.
He has given the disciples spiritual potency. And they are
delighted that it yields results, even against demonic powers. But Christ warns
them that spiritual power is not the most important thing: what is important is
that their own souls and spirits maintain their connection to the true source
of their life—their Father in the heavens. For power by itself has the tendency
to corrupt the bearer. “Be glad” He says, “that your true being is taken up
into the world of the heavens.”
This recognition is an important signpost along the way, the
path that Christ Himself is walking. For He Himself, with all His mighty
spiritual power, submits Himself to powerlessness, even unto death. The paradox
here is that only through submission to death can He ensure that humanity will
live; for He brings Life into the realm of death.
We too sometimes think simplistically that our connection
with Christ will give us power and prosperity, even if only inwardly. And
perhaps for a time it does. But as long as our names remain written in the
Father’s Book of Life, we can confidently let go of, surrender even our inner
wealth and power when time is ripe. For we know that Christ is there too in
that place. So the poet encourages us:
First, still and yet, come closer,
come forward as a rock of any kind,
igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary,
not even knowing what
kind you are,
come anyway.
Then, just this:
Commit to fall toward the wind
that takes and gives;
The fire that burns down
and yet also creates;
The earth that knocks you sideways
yet nourishes you in the aggregate;
The water that drowns your ego out,
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