460.doc

Scripture: Lectionary 460: Baruch 4:5-12.27-29. Psalm 69:33-35.36-37. Luke 10:17-24:

Today the readings are quite comforting and supportive our prayer life and our listening to the inspired word of God through what a secretary of a prophet named Baruch offers to us. He was the secretary or scribe for the great prophet Jeremiah. His words and those of the Psalm lead us into the remarkable event and then several insights into the interior life of Jesus as offered to us by our Evangelist Luke—the one who treats of prayer the most.

We experience even more consolation and providential care when we read today’s excerpt from the Gospel. First, there is the event or happening of the seventy-two disciples who return and tell Jesus that they are amazed at the power they have received from Jesus to even cast out demons! Jesus reminds them that they should rather rejoice that by going out in his name their names will be written in heaven—a symbolic way of saying they will be with him in heaven. Then Jesus shares with us through the writing of Luke his own prayer of rejoicing in the Holy Spirit (another favorite theme of Luke) that God reveals Jesus to those who are receptive like children. This is probably the way the disciples came back and reported their extraordinary cures and driving out demons; they were able to do this because of their sense of wonder and simplicity as disciples of Jesus who really caught his message.

Jesus is also teaching us how to pray by sharing his intimate prayer of going with the Holy Spirit to the Father. Our own prayer should be helped as we address the Father through the Spirit in Jesus’ Name. Name often is identified with God-like power and the event of the disciples thus gives us an insight into their prayer too. Jesus is always present to them as they do things in his name and he leads them to pray through the Spirit to the Father. Thus we have an example of Trinitarian prayer within this passage. We learn from the Jewish writers of Mysticism that we need to go beyond the literal meaning of texts to their depth—as they do!

Jesus addresses God as Father and reveals his love and knowledge of God to us who need all the help we can get when it comes to praying as he did. Jesus too rejoices and has this sense of wonder while praying that his disciples have. The priestly prayer of John in chapter seventeen goes very deeply into the intimacy of Jesus’ prayer and our small passage from Luke does so as well. We are very privileged to be entering into the very intimate prayer of Jesus this day.

We see what God has done for us through Jesus and realize the blessedness that is ours. We experience what they did and we listen to Jesus telling us: “Bless are they eyes that see what you see. I tell you, many prophets and kings wished to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” Amen.