Truth
Pentecost 4
Collect: The Lord sends us out like lambs among wolves – let us not act as
wolves among God’s lambs, but in gathering together recognize the
mission and ministry we share. The Spirit of God has come near unto us!
God, we thank you for this Spirit and pray that you will inspire us to take
risks for the kingdom, Amen
From the desk of the minister: Don’t rejoice in the result,
but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Last week we were focussing on discipleship and the priority of being a
disciple of Jesus. People were called and they have excuses to do things first
before responding to the call. Jesus emphasized that “no one who puts a hand
to the plough and look back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
This week reading from Luke 10, the larger group of people are coming back
from their mission trip. The results are not detailed by Luke, but when the
disciples return, tired and exhausted, bursting with stories about what they
have done, Jesus deflects them. His words to them are oddly grim, “Do not
rejoice…that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven.” It is strange to see Jesus not interested in their success
stories. If we question why Jesus not interested in the result, then the great
urgency is coming to the fore. There is no need to talk about the result,
because the result is not the last thing. We would rather focus on the end result
and that is the result that is counted. Jesus wants his disciples to write their
names in the book of Life. And that is the ultimate result that Jesus is seeking
from his disciples.
In the reading from Galatians, Paul is telling the Galatians about the truth
of being a disciple v.8 – “If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap
corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap
eternal life from the Spirit.” For us Christians, St. Paul is telling us that
we are not to boast on our success stories, “May I never boast of anything
except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world. For being circumcised or not is
anything; but a new creation is everything.”
Grace & Peace, Rev Maile