Let your Christian light shine in the darkness

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

Christians believe in Jesus, because he is an historical person who through his Life, Death and Resurrection revealed that he was God among us. No philosophical argument or argument of any kind can destroy the reality of the experience. It is not a make-believe faith, but a flesh and blood reality. Therefore, we are to live it publicly because it is irrefutable. Jesus is the Good News we proclaim and live.

Thursday 1 October 2020

Let your Christian light shine in the darkness

 

Gospel

Luke 10:1-12

Your peace will rest on that man

1.      The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit.

2.      He said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.

3.      Start off now,

4.      but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

5.      Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road.

6.      Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!” And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you.

7.      Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.

8.      Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you.

9.      Cure those in it who are sick,

10. and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”

11. But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, “We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you.

12. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near.”

13. I tell you, on that day it will not go as hard with Sodom as with that town.’

 

The salvation of the world is not a ‘one-man task.’ Jesus does not work alone. From the very beginning he works with others. It is a cooperative activity. Jesus is the key person and guides the work but he involves those who volunteer to join him. He works through them.

He is short of volunteers because there is nothing in this world for them, apart from invisible peace and joy, which they will have in their hearts. Their reward, according to their cooperation, will come in the Kingdom of God.

How are we to get more volunteers? We are to pray. After the Ascension when the disciples were all at prayer, Mary, the Mother of Jesus was with them. Her prayer is the most effective with her Son and so with the Father, the Lord of the harvest. We should invoke her prayers for more workers in the harvest. Those who do experience the fruit of her prayer.

‘Start of now.’ There should be no delay. The work is urgent. People’s eternal salvation depends on it. Those who come forward, come forward to proclaim peace and the Kingdom of God and they should concentrate on that alone – ‘greet no one on the way.’

Jesus is sending them on their way and work. He will see they get everything they need to complete their task. They are to put their minds to the work only and not bother about ways and means. That is his responsibility.

The Christian greeting is ‘Peace be with you.’ We offer to one another the peace that only Jesus can give. ‘I give you peace. Not as the world gives it.’

We are to proclaim our faith. Our religion and our faith is not something that is private, like a hobby. Through our Christiaan life we are to work for the salvation of the world. As St. Paul said to Timothy, we are to proclaim n season and out of season. If Jesus was here with us in the present world, he  wouldn’t tell us to go into our rooms and pray in secret. Now is the time to proclaim our faith by making it public and something of which we are in no way ashamed, but in which we glory.