Posts Tagged ‘Luke 10:1-11 and 16-20’
Abundant Love – Br. Luke Ditewig
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Br. Luke Ditewig
2 Kings 5:1-14
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Big voices, big egos, big money to pressure, prod, and profit. The proud posturing of the powerful who think they are great versus children, the poor, foreigners, and the marginalized unseen, unheard, hurt. In such a world and week, we have the story of Naaman.
A great man in high favor, the military commander of one of Israel’s enemies with a skin disease. A young girl captured from Israel says there’s a prophet in Samaria who could cure him. Naaman goes off asking but the king of Israel doesn’t know or acknowledge that such power could be in Israel. He supposes the enemy is trying to provoke. For what human cures such a disease? The powerful are in need and don’t know. They listen and follow the young girl, away from her people, who knows and speaks truth.
The Risk of Vulnerability – Br. David Vryhof
(The Sending of the Seventy)
Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20
Given what the gospels report about Jesus’ twelve disciples – how they were often slow to comprehend the message of the kingdom, and repeatedly failed to live by its principles – it seems to me that Jesus is taking quite a risk here in commissioning these seventy to go out as his representatives. If the twelve he had chosen to be his closest friends and companions were having trouble grasping the message, how was this lot supposed to get it right? What training did they have? Who was going to supervise them or hold them accountable? How could he be sure they were capable of representing him, or that they would be faithful to his message? Had he had a chance to test their theology? Had he checked their backgrounds? Had he measured their commitment, or tested their reliability? But here he is, entrusting them with the message of the kingdom and empowering them to heal in his name.
It seems that Jesus was willing to take chances. He was willing to place heavenly treasure in fragile earthen vessels. He was willing to turn them loose, to send them out, to let them speak, without being certain of the outcome. And, not surprisingly, he’s still doing that today – sending each of us out to be messengers of that Good News; asking us, despite our weaknesses and shortcomings, to be his ambassadors in the world; proclaiming, through us, that “the kingdom of God has come near.”
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