Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Bảy Tuần 26 TN Luke 10:17-24
Sức mạnh và những điều đã được tiết lộ mà Chúa ban cho họ không phải là phần thưởng cho sự thông minh của họ, hay thành tích là việc của họ. Nhưng họ đã được Chúa ban cho là vì sự cởi mở tâm hồn, lòng trí của họ và lòng ước muốn của họ để làm theo ý của Thiên Chúa.
Có bao giờ chúng ta dừng lại ít phút mỗi ngày để suy ngẩm và cảm ơn Chúa vì tất cả những gì mà Ngài đã ban cho chúng ta, Ngài đã mời gọi chúng ta và giúp chúng ta được trở nên một phần trong Nước Trời của Ngài. Chúng ta có thể nhìn thấy một vinh dự tuyệt vời đó là việc có thể nhận ra được sự mặc khải của Chúa Thánh Thần để giúp chúng ta biết được cảm ứng của Thiên Chúa trong tâm hồn chúng ta.
Xin Thiên Chúa ban muôn vàn Ân sũng và Hồng ân của Ngài xuống nơi Chúng con, để chúng con được mạnh dạn trong sự thương yêu và phục vụ Chúa mà không có tính toán, so đo. Chúng con cảm ta Chúa là Cha của chúng con đã viết tên của chúng con hôm nay trong cuốn sách hàng sống ờ trên Trời.
Sat
26th
Week Ordinary Time
Jesus gave the seventy-two a lot of spiritual power for their mission. Indeed, even Satan was thrown down, for the critical part of Jesus' mission had arrived. Some of them were overly impressed with themselves so Jesus warned them that these powers were nothing far more important was the fact that their names were written in heaven. The power that they were given and the things that were revealed to them were not rewards for cleverness, education, or achievement. They were given because of the openness of their hearts and minds and their desire to do the will of God. Jesus is our teacher and revealer and it is to him we turn for enlightenment and the gift of the spirit. We are too received the Baptism from Jesus, We are all capable of doing great things in the Lord.
Do we ever stop to reflect and thank God for having invited us to be part of his kingdom? Can we see what a wonderful privilege is available to us, to receive the Spirit's revelation and to know God's touch on our hearts? We are not invited just to be a servant of God, wielding His power for the sake of His kingdom. God wants to make us his children. He wants to shower us with His affection as any father would care for his children.
Having a personal relationship with God, and the promise of being with Him forever, this is our heritage as disciples of Jesus. May the realization of God's gifts make us bold in loving and serving Him without counting the cost. Let us thank our Father today for writing our name in the book of life.
Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary
Time
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.” Luke 14:8–9
Jesus told this parable during a dinner at the home of a leading Pharisee. We are told that “the people there were observing him carefully.” On one hand, such attentiveness might seem commendable. We could imagine ourselves listening to His every word, captivated by divine teaching. That kind of attentiveness would certainly qualify as “observing Him carefully.”
However, the Greek verb used here conveys a tone of suspicion, even hostile scrutiny. Jesus, fully aware of their hidden judgments, responds not with defensiveness but with deliberate action. In the passage preceding today’s Gospel, He heals a man with dropsy—an abnormal swelling caused by fluid retention—at the very start of the meal and on the Sabbath. Though clearly an act of compassion, this healing was also a provocation, meant in part to elicit a response from those who believed such a deed violated the Sabbath law of rest.
Jesus then observes how the guests scramble for the places of honor at the table. Seizing the moment, He offers the parable found in today’s Gospel. Once again, he intentionally provokes his listeners. These guests, associated with a prominent Pharisee, were likely among the social and religious elite. By defying their expectations and social customs, Jesus challenges them with what might rightly be called a holy provocation.
Ordinarily, to provoke others would be uncharitable. As Christians, we are called to kindness, patience, and unity. But in His divine wisdom, Jesus saw a higher good: their conversion. He provoked not to shame but to bring hidden sins to light. Once those sins are acknowledged and repented of, healing can begin.
The sin He targets is prideful desire for status, recognition, and honor. Watching the guests seek places of prominence, Jesus sees the deeper ailment: spiritual swelling. Their condition was more serious than the physical condition of dropsy; they were inflated with self-importance. Just as the man’s body retained fluid, their souls were bloated with ego and the need for esteem. Their self-promotion masked insecurity, a disordered self-understanding, and a failure to grasp their true worth in God’s eyes.
Jesus confronts this not with condemnation, but with divine wisdom. He doesn’t denounce honor itself; rather, He teaches that true honor is a gift, never something to be seized. In the parable, the humble guest takes the lowest place and is later exalted by the host. There is little doubt that those at table could picture the embarrassment of being asked to step down or the delight of being invited to move up. He used their worldly desire to teach a spiritual lesson.
It is striking that Jesus transforms their pride into a moment of revelation and an invitation to grace. In the spiritual life, we must descend in humility so that God may lift us up. He desires to clothe us in glory and to let others rejoice in that honor, but only He can bestow it. When we exalt ourselves, the honor we gain is hollow, and we will eventually be humbled. Only the glory granted by God is real.
Reflect today on the humility Christ invites you to embrace. Are there areas of your life in which you seek recognition or esteem? Ask for the grace to take the lowest place, trusting that your true dignity will come not from the world or your self-elevation, but from the One who sees the heart and lifts the lowly on high.
Most humble Lord, You descended into poverty and obscurity, and submitted to the cruel fate of death on a cross. Your humility led the Father to exalt You above every name, raising You above the choirs of angels and the saints, and bestowing eternal glory on You, as You glorify the Father. Draw me into Your sacred humility. Strip me of every desire for worldly honor or praise of my own making. May I seek only the glory that You bestow upon those who are faithful to Your holy will. Jesus, I trust in You
Saturday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time 2026
1. Jesus, the New Moses: The seventy-two disciples return from their mission rejoicing: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Their success reveals the authority of Jesus and the arrival of God’s Kingdom. Jesus has sent them to prepare the towns and villages for his coming, and now they have witnessed the power of his name. The number of disciples is significant. Just as the Twelve recall the twelve tribes of Israel, the seventy or seventy-two recall the seventy elders whom Moses appointed to assist him in leading Israel through the wilderness (Numbers 11:16-25). Jesus is the New Moses who is leading God's people on a new Exodus. The mission of the seventy-two therefore points beyond itself. Jesus is gathering and forming a renewed people of God and preparing them to enter the Kingdom. The comparison with Moses also highlights the difficulty of leading God’s people. Israel repeatedly grumbled against Moses and resisted the path God had given them. In the Gospel, we have already seen opposition to Jesus increase as he turns toward Jerusalem. Yet Jesus continues his journey and continues to send his disciples ahead of him. The disciples’ mission, therefore, is not primarily about their own accomplishments. They are sent in Jesus’ name. Whatever good they accomplish comes from the authority and grace they have received from him. This is important for every Christian vocation. God gives each of us responsibilities, gifts, and opportunities to serve. We should use them generously, but we should never confuse God’s work with our own accomplishments. We are servants of a mission that belongs to Christ.
Saturday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” Luke 10:23–24
Imagine seeing Jesus in person. What would that have been like? What would it have been like to see Him, listen to Him preach, witness His miracles and spend time sitting with Him quietly? The experience of being with Him as He walked the earth would have been determined by the depth of interior sight you had. There were many who saw Jesus but rejected Him, and even killed Him. Clearly, they did not have the interior eyes of faith to see Him for Who He was. Others left everything behind to follow Him. Clearly, they perceived Who He was in His divine soul through the gift of faith.
As Jesus states above, the disciples were blessed to see Him. Many prophets and kings of old desired to see the Messiah. Century after century, the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah would have left many with much anticipation and hope that they would be among those blessed to see Him. Recall, for example, Simeon the prophet who waited his whole life to see the Christ Child. Then, when Mary and Joseph brought the Child Jesus into the Temple to present Him to the Lord, Simeon took the Child into his hands and proclaimed, “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:29–32). Indeed, Simeon, the disciples, and all who encountered Jesus as He walked the earth were truly blessed. They were blessed to see the Son of God with their own eyes.
Jesus proclaimed the eyes of the disciples to be blessed for seeing Him. However, if He were to speak to us today, He would proclaim us doubly blessed. We do not see Him in physical form, walking the earth. But we are able to perceive Him in a way that even Simeon did not experience in His life. Simeon saw the Savior of the World with his eyes, present in human form. But today, we are able to see Him in an even more profound way. By the gift of grace and the indwelling of God, we are able to look within our own souls and discover the true presence of God living within us.
One might argue that seeing Jesus with your eyes is preferable to seeing His divine presence within your soul. But is it? Certainly not. Again, recall that there were many who saw Jesus with their eyes but did not recognize Him as God. Today, we are privileged to perceive the presence of Christ in our world in the deepest way possible. He came to live within us. He came to possess us. He came to unite Himself with us in a union so deep that it transforms us completely, making us into His very body.
If it took faith to see the divinity of Jesus when He walked the earth, it will also take faith to see His true presence within us. Our sins cloud His presence. Our lack of faith makes it hard to see Him there. But God is alive within every soul that is in a state of grace, and it must be our ongoing duty to discover His indwelling presence and to be with Him within. In her spiritual masterpiece, “Interior Castles,” Saint Teresa of Ávila explains that the infinite God does dwell within us. It is our duty to enter into the most secret core of our being, the most interior castle, navigating through our many sins, so that we will enter the deepest center where the fullness of the great King dwells.
Reflect, today, upon Jesus’ words spoken to the disciples: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” Know that this statement applies even more to you. Seek to have the eyes of faith so that you can perceive the true presence of the Savior of the World living within your own soul. Seek Him out, gaze at Him with love, bask in His divine presence and allow that presence to overshadow you, transforming you into the person God wants you to be.
My indwelling Lord, I am blessed beyond belief by Your divine presence dwelling within me. Please open my eyes to see You and my ears to hear You so that I will be able to dwell with You Who have come to dwell in me. Jesus, I trust in You.
`
Saturday 26th Ordinary Time 2025
Encountering the Word of God
1. Jesus, the New Moses: In Luke 8, Jesus sent out the 12 apostles to heal and teach. Here, in Luke 10, Jesus sends out 70 or 72 disciples to herald his coming to Jerusalem. Both numbers have a symbolic meaning. The 12 apostles symbolically represent the restoration of the 12 tribes of Israel. The 70 or 72 disciples symbolically represent the 70 or 72 elders appointed by Moses to help govern the tribes of Israel. “In the book of Numbers, Moses appointed seventy elders to help lead and adjudicate while the people of Israel were in the wilderness. In the same way that these seventy elders were to guide the flock of Israel in Moses’ place, the seventy disciples are sent out in pairs to guide the neighboring towns to the kingdom. Part of the reason that Moses needed to appoint seventy elders in the first place was the obstinance and grumbling of a people who did not want to be led. We have seen similar responses from those who reject Jesus; the closer he gets to Jerusalem and his new exodus, the more intense this opposition will become” (Powell, Walking with Christ, 63).
2. Peace and Faith: The message of the seventy disciples to the towns and villages was one of peace. “We know that many of Israel’s leaders did not desire such peace. They longed for the destruction of Rome; they wanted war. This desire to conquer evil with evil, violence with violence, was similar to Israel in the time of the Exodus when they wanted to return to Egypt. They wanted to go in the wrong direction” (Powell, Walking with Christ, 64). When the seventy saw that even demons were subject to them, Jesus exhorts them not to be amazed at the mighty deeds and miracles. Jesus knows that the days of such outward signs will come to an end, and only those with faith, with “eyes to see,” will be able to recognize Jesus as the King, even when he hangs on the cross.
3. Baruch’s Prophetic Exhortation: The First Reading is taken from the third part of the Book of Baruch. Baruch was the personal secretary of the prophet Jeremiah. This part of his book takes the form of a prophetic exhortation. “It explains the exile as God’s discipline of his sinful people (4:5-20), announces that he will deliver them from captivity (4:21-29), and encourages Jerusalem with the news that its children are about to return home (4:30-5:9)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 1364). Baruch offers a word of hope and encouragement for God’s children. “If the people are truly repentant, they can be confident of restoration in the future. The exiles are to ‘take courage’ (4:5, 21, 27) in the knowledge that God is coming to ‘deliver’ them (4:18, 21) from their captivity and to become their everlasting Savior’ (4:22). Indeed, their enemies, the Babylonians, are about to see ‘destruction’ (4:25; cf. 4:31-35), and the mother city of Jerusalem is told to ‘take courage’ (4:30) because her sons and daughters, which were carried away from her, will soon come streaming home (4:36-37; 5:5)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 1364).
Saturday 26th
Ordinary Time
He told them to cure the sick and to preach and they took him at his word. Jesus said it, they believed it. Because of this simple acceptance of Jesus' words, great miracles were worked through simple men of humble upbringing. But Jesus warns them not to rejoice that they worked miracles, but to rejoice because their names were written in heaven. It is not enough to work miracles in Jesus' name. We must know him so well that we develop a personal relationship with him. Do we really know Jesus? Is our knowledge of Jesus from various religious information, or is it personal and loving, bringing rest and respite to the dark corners of our lives? If we want to work for Jesus, we must first know Jesus. If we want to do miracles in his name, we must first receive him with the simplicity of a child.
Sức mạnh và những điều đã được tiết lộ mà Chúa ban cho họ không phải là phần thưởng cho sự thông minh của họ, hay thành tích là việc của họ. Nhưng họ đã được Chúa ban cho là vì sự cởi mở tâm hồn, lòng trí của họ và lòng ước muốn của họ để làm theo ý của Thiên Chúa.
Có bao giờ chúng ta dừng lại ít phút mỗi ngày để suy ngẩm và cảm ơn Chúa vì tất cả những gì mà Ngài đã ban cho chúng ta, Ngài đã mời gọi chúng ta và giúp chúng ta được trở nên một phần trong Nước Trời của Ngài. Chúng ta có thể nhìn thấy một vinh dự tuyệt vời đó là việc có thể nhận ra được sự mặc khải của Chúa Thánh Thần để giúp chúng ta biết được cảm ứng của Thiên Chúa trong tâm hồn chúng ta.
Xin Thiên Chúa ban muôn vàn Ân sũng và Hồng ân của Ngài xuống nơi Chúng con, để chúng con được mạnh dạn trong sự thương yêu và phục vụ Chúa mà không có tính toán, so đo. Chúng con cảm ta Chúa là Cha của chúng con đã viết tên của chúng con hôm nay trong cuốn sách hàng sống ờ trên Trời.
Jesus gave the seventy-two a lot of spiritual power for their mission. Indeed, even Satan was thrown down, for the critical part of Jesus' mission had arrived. Some of them were overly impressed with themselves so Jesus warned them that these powers were nothing far more important was the fact that their names were written in heaven. The power that they were given and the things that were revealed to them were not rewards for cleverness, education, or achievement. They were given because of the openness of their hearts and minds and their desire to do the will of God. Jesus is our teacher and revealer and it is to him we turn for enlightenment and the gift of the spirit. We are too received the Baptism from Jesus, We are all capable of doing great things in the Lord.
Do we ever stop to reflect and thank God for having invited us to be part of his kingdom? Can we see what a wonderful privilege is available to us, to receive the Spirit's revelation and to know God's touch on our hearts? We are not invited just to be a servant of God, wielding His power for the sake of His kingdom. God wants to make us his children. He wants to shower us with His affection as any father would care for his children.
Having a personal relationship with God, and the promise of being with Him forever, this is our heritage as disciples of Jesus. May the realization of God's gifts make us bold in loving and serving Him without counting the cost. Let us thank our Father today for writing our name in the book of life.
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.” Luke 14:8–9
Jesus told this parable during a dinner at the home of a leading Pharisee. We are told that “the people there were observing him carefully.” On one hand, such attentiveness might seem commendable. We could imagine ourselves listening to His every word, captivated by divine teaching. That kind of attentiveness would certainly qualify as “observing Him carefully.”
However, the Greek verb used here conveys a tone of suspicion, even hostile scrutiny. Jesus, fully aware of their hidden judgments, responds not with defensiveness but with deliberate action. In the passage preceding today’s Gospel, He heals a man with dropsy—an abnormal swelling caused by fluid retention—at the very start of the meal and on the Sabbath. Though clearly an act of compassion, this healing was also a provocation, meant in part to elicit a response from those who believed such a deed violated the Sabbath law of rest.
Jesus then observes how the guests scramble for the places of honor at the table. Seizing the moment, He offers the parable found in today’s Gospel. Once again, he intentionally provokes his listeners. These guests, associated with a prominent Pharisee, were likely among the social and religious elite. By defying their expectations and social customs, Jesus challenges them with what might rightly be called a holy provocation.
Ordinarily, to provoke others would be uncharitable. As Christians, we are called to kindness, patience, and unity. But in His divine wisdom, Jesus saw a higher good: their conversion. He provoked not to shame but to bring hidden sins to light. Once those sins are acknowledged and repented of, healing can begin.
The sin He targets is prideful desire for status, recognition, and honor. Watching the guests seek places of prominence, Jesus sees the deeper ailment: spiritual swelling. Their condition was more serious than the physical condition of dropsy; they were inflated with self-importance. Just as the man’s body retained fluid, their souls were bloated with ego and the need for esteem. Their self-promotion masked insecurity, a disordered self-understanding, and a failure to grasp their true worth in God’s eyes.
Jesus confronts this not with condemnation, but with divine wisdom. He doesn’t denounce honor itself; rather, He teaches that true honor is a gift, never something to be seized. In the parable, the humble guest takes the lowest place and is later exalted by the host. There is little doubt that those at table could picture the embarrassment of being asked to step down or the delight of being invited to move up. He used their worldly desire to teach a spiritual lesson.
It is striking that Jesus transforms their pride into a moment of revelation and an invitation to grace. In the spiritual life, we must descend in humility so that God may lift us up. He desires to clothe us in glory and to let others rejoice in that honor, but only He can bestow it. When we exalt ourselves, the honor we gain is hollow, and we will eventually be humbled. Only the glory granted by God is real.
Reflect today on the humility Christ invites you to embrace. Are there areas of your life in which you seek recognition or esteem? Ask for the grace to take the lowest place, trusting that your true dignity will come not from the world or your self-elevation, but from the One who sees the heart and lifts the lowly on high.
Most humble Lord, You descended into poverty and obscurity, and submitted to the cruel fate of death on a cross. Your humility led the Father to exalt You above every name, raising You above the choirs of angels and the saints, and bestowing eternal glory on You, as You glorify the Father. Draw me into Your sacred humility. Strip me of every desire for worldly honor or praise of my own making. May I seek only the glory that You bestow upon those who are faithful to Your holy will. Jesus, I trust in You
1. Jesus, the New Moses: The seventy-two disciples return from their mission rejoicing: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Their success reveals the authority of Jesus and the arrival of God’s Kingdom. Jesus has sent them to prepare the towns and villages for his coming, and now they have witnessed the power of his name. The number of disciples is significant. Just as the Twelve recall the twelve tribes of Israel, the seventy or seventy-two recall the seventy elders whom Moses appointed to assist him in leading Israel through the wilderness (Numbers 11:16-25). Jesus is the New Moses who is leading God's people on a new Exodus. The mission of the seventy-two therefore points beyond itself. Jesus is gathering and forming a renewed people of God and preparing them to enter the Kingdom. The comparison with Moses also highlights the difficulty of leading God’s people. Israel repeatedly grumbled against Moses and resisted the path God had given them. In the Gospel, we have already seen opposition to Jesus increase as he turns toward Jerusalem. Yet Jesus continues his journey and continues to send his disciples ahead of him. The disciples’ mission, therefore, is not primarily about their own accomplishments. They are sent in Jesus’ name. Whatever good they accomplish comes from the authority and grace they have received from him. This is important for every Christian vocation. God gives each of us responsibilities, gifts, and opportunities to serve. We should use them generously, but we should never confuse God’s work with our own accomplishments. We are servants of a mission that belongs to Christ.
Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” Luke 10:23–24
Imagine seeing Jesus in person. What would that have been like? What would it have been like to see Him, listen to Him preach, witness His miracles and spend time sitting with Him quietly? The experience of being with Him as He walked the earth would have been determined by the depth of interior sight you had. There were many who saw Jesus but rejected Him, and even killed Him. Clearly, they did not have the interior eyes of faith to see Him for Who He was. Others left everything behind to follow Him. Clearly, they perceived Who He was in His divine soul through the gift of faith.
As Jesus states above, the disciples were blessed to see Him. Many prophets and kings of old desired to see the Messiah. Century after century, the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah would have left many with much anticipation and hope that they would be among those blessed to see Him. Recall, for example, Simeon the prophet who waited his whole life to see the Christ Child. Then, when Mary and Joseph brought the Child Jesus into the Temple to present Him to the Lord, Simeon took the Child into his hands and proclaimed, “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Luke 2:29–32). Indeed, Simeon, the disciples, and all who encountered Jesus as He walked the earth were truly blessed. They were blessed to see the Son of God with their own eyes.
Jesus proclaimed the eyes of the disciples to be blessed for seeing Him. However, if He were to speak to us today, He would proclaim us doubly blessed. We do not see Him in physical form, walking the earth. But we are able to perceive Him in a way that even Simeon did not experience in His life. Simeon saw the Savior of the World with his eyes, present in human form. But today, we are able to see Him in an even more profound way. By the gift of grace and the indwelling of God, we are able to look within our own souls and discover the true presence of God living within us.
One might argue that seeing Jesus with your eyes is preferable to seeing His divine presence within your soul. But is it? Certainly not. Again, recall that there were many who saw Jesus with their eyes but did not recognize Him as God. Today, we are privileged to perceive the presence of Christ in our world in the deepest way possible. He came to live within us. He came to possess us. He came to unite Himself with us in a union so deep that it transforms us completely, making us into His very body.
If it took faith to see the divinity of Jesus when He walked the earth, it will also take faith to see His true presence within us. Our sins cloud His presence. Our lack of faith makes it hard to see Him there. But God is alive within every soul that is in a state of grace, and it must be our ongoing duty to discover His indwelling presence and to be with Him within. In her spiritual masterpiece, “Interior Castles,” Saint Teresa of Ávila explains that the infinite God does dwell within us. It is our duty to enter into the most secret core of our being, the most interior castle, navigating through our many sins, so that we will enter the deepest center where the fullness of the great King dwells.
Reflect, today, upon Jesus’ words spoken to the disciples: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” Know that this statement applies even more to you. Seek to have the eyes of faith so that you can perceive the true presence of the Savior of the World living within your own soul. Seek Him out, gaze at Him with love, bask in His divine presence and allow that presence to overshadow you, transforming you into the person God wants you to be.
My indwelling Lord, I am blessed beyond belief by Your divine presence dwelling within me. Please open my eyes to see You and my ears to hear You so that I will be able to dwell with You Who have come to dwell in me. Jesus, I trust in You.
`
Saturday 26th Ordinary Time 2025
Encountering the Word of God
1. Jesus, the New Moses: In Luke 8, Jesus sent out the 12 apostles to heal and teach. Here, in Luke 10, Jesus sends out 70 or 72 disciples to herald his coming to Jerusalem. Both numbers have a symbolic meaning. The 12 apostles symbolically represent the restoration of the 12 tribes of Israel. The 70 or 72 disciples symbolically represent the 70 or 72 elders appointed by Moses to help govern the tribes of Israel. “In the book of Numbers, Moses appointed seventy elders to help lead and adjudicate while the people of Israel were in the wilderness. In the same way that these seventy elders were to guide the flock of Israel in Moses’ place, the seventy disciples are sent out in pairs to guide the neighboring towns to the kingdom. Part of the reason that Moses needed to appoint seventy elders in the first place was the obstinance and grumbling of a people who did not want to be led. We have seen similar responses from those who reject Jesus; the closer he gets to Jerusalem and his new exodus, the more intense this opposition will become” (Powell, Walking with Christ, 63).
2. Peace and Faith: The message of the seventy disciples to the towns and villages was one of peace. “We know that many of Israel’s leaders did not desire such peace. They longed for the destruction of Rome; they wanted war. This desire to conquer evil with evil, violence with violence, was similar to Israel in the time of the Exodus when they wanted to return to Egypt. They wanted to go in the wrong direction” (Powell, Walking with Christ, 64). When the seventy saw that even demons were subject to them, Jesus exhorts them not to be amazed at the mighty deeds and miracles. Jesus knows that the days of such outward signs will come to an end, and only those with faith, with “eyes to see,” will be able to recognize Jesus as the King, even when he hangs on the cross.
3. Baruch’s Prophetic Exhortation: The First Reading is taken from the third part of the Book of Baruch. Baruch was the personal secretary of the prophet Jeremiah. This part of his book takes the form of a prophetic exhortation. “It explains the exile as God’s discipline of his sinful people (4:5-20), announces that he will deliver them from captivity (4:21-29), and encourages Jerusalem with the news that its children are about to return home (4:30-5:9)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 1364). Baruch offers a word of hope and encouragement for God’s children. “If the people are truly repentant, they can be confident of restoration in the future. The exiles are to ‘take courage’ (4:5, 21, 27) in the knowledge that God is coming to ‘deliver’ them (4:18, 21) from their captivity and to become their everlasting Savior’ (4:22). Indeed, their enemies, the Babylonians, are about to see ‘destruction’ (4:25; cf. 4:31-35), and the mother city of Jerusalem is told to ‘take courage’ (4:30) because her sons and daughters, which were carried away from her, will soon come streaming home (4:36-37; 5:5)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 1364).
He told them to cure the sick and to preach and they took him at his word. Jesus said it, they believed it. Because of this simple acceptance of Jesus' words, great miracles were worked through simple men of humble upbringing. But Jesus warns them not to rejoice that they worked miracles, but to rejoice because their names were written in heaven. It is not enough to work miracles in Jesus' name. We must know him so well that we develop a personal relationship with him. Do we really know Jesus? Is our knowledge of Jesus from various religious information, or is it personal and loving, bringing rest and respite to the dark corners of our lives? If we want to work for Jesus, we must first know Jesus. If we want to do miracles in his name, we must first receive him with the simplicity of a child.
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