BEFORE JESUS REACHED JERUSALEM He was rejoined by the seventy-two missionaries He had sent out. Joyful at the success of their mission, they reported that they had even been able to cast out devils in His name. And Jesus answered that He had observed their efforts with satisfaction, though they were not to take pride in the power He had given them:
“I was watching Satan fall as lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Yet do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven.”
And He exulted in the divine wisdom which had empowered for His work these humble instruments, rather than the learned men of Israel.
“I praise Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent, and didst reveal them to little ones. Yes, Father, for such was Thy good pleasure. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father except the Son, and him to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”
In a tender invitation to all men, He called them to accept Him as their comforter and model.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden light.”
Then He turned to His disciples and reminded them of their great privilege in seeing and hearing the Redeemer, the Messiah promised by the prophets:
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For amen I say to you, many prophets and just men have longed to see what you see, and they have not seen it; and to hear what you hear, and they have not heard it.”
Matthew 11:25-30 | Matthew 13:16-17 | Luke 10:17-24
Meditation: To see and to hear the Redeemer made the disciples blessed above all the prophets. In reflecting on the privilege of the disciples, we can think also of our own even greater privileges. They could see and hear Him. But we are joined to Him in His Mystical Body, the Church. Our intimacy with Him far exceeds that of His contemporaries. For “it is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.”
Information from The Life of Christ “Our Lord’s Life with Lesson in His Own Words for Our Life Today” The Catholic Press, Inc. 1959. 125-126. © 1954 edited by Reverend John P. O’Connell, MASTD and Jex Martin, following mainly A Chronological Harmony of the Gospels by Stephen J Hartdegen OFM NIHIL OBSTAT John A McMahon; IMPRIMATUR Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago August 1, 1953. Print. Drawing by Albert H Winkler.
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