Today’s Gospel begins with a brief account of the disciples
returning from their mission.
Earlier, Jesus had sent them out with specific instructions. He
gave them a mission, and with that mission he gave them authority. They were to
proclaim the Kingdom of God, heal the sick, and confront the power of evil.
Now they come back to Jesus. They hearts are filled with Joy. These
two moments are worth noticing: first, they are sent by Jesus; then, they
return to Jesus.
The disciples understand that they did not send themselves. The mission
was not their personal project. It was a gift and a responsibility entrusted to
them. The authority they exercised did not originate in them either. They
received it from Jesus. And when the mission is over, they return to the one
who sent them and tell him what happened.
That already teaches us something about Christian discipleship. Whatever
mission God entrusts to us, whether in the Church, in our family, in our work,
or in the ordinary circumstances of life, we are first sent by him. And after
our work, our struggles, our successes and failures, we must learn to return to
him.
But what particularly excites the disciples?
They say: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of
your Name.”
They must certainly have preached. They healed the sick. They
entered homes and announced that the Kingdom of God was near. Yet what seems to
astonish them most is that even the demons submitted to them through the name
of Jesus.
Authority in the name of Jesus: For the disciples, this was a
powerful discovery: there is authority in the name of Jesus.
They had gone out not in their own name, but in his. And they
discovered through experience that the name they proclaimed was not an empty
name. The power belonged to Christ.
Jesus himself confirms that something important has happened. He
says, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.” Their
mission was participating in God’s victory over the power of evil.
Real Source of Joy: But then Jesus does something very important. He redirects their
joy.
“Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but
rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
Jesus leads them from a good reason for rejoicing to a deeper motivation.
Meditating on this Gospel, we can ask ourselves: “What gives us profound
joy?
Very often our joy depends on what happens around us. We rejoice
when our work succeeds, when people appreciate us, when our plans go well, when
we achieve something important, when our health is good, or when our family is
doing well.
These are real reasons for gratitude and should not be neglected.
There is nothing wrong with rejoicing in them.
However, they are also fragile and when we easily become sad when
we lose them.
Man-made joy is fragile: Success can become failure. Health can change. People who praise
us today may criticize us tomorrow. A project in which we invested so much may
not produce the result we expected.
And we live in a world where there is so much difficult news: war,
violence, illness, economic hardship, broken relationships, uncertainty,
suffering and death. If our joy depends only on favorable circumstances, it
will always be vulnerable.
Jesus therefore gives his disciples and us something deeper on
which to build their and our joy: “Rejoice because your names are written in
heaven.”
In other words, our deepest joy must not come essentially from what
we have accomplished, but from who we are before God.
We belong to him.
We are known by him.
We are loved by him.
We are his child.
None of these can be measured by human success or failures.
Jesus himself “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” and praised the Father
because these things had been revealed to the childlike.
There is a beautiful connection here. The disciples rejoice because
they have accomplished something. Jesus rejoices because of what the Father
gives.
The childlike person is able to receive. Such a person knows that
everything begins with grace.
That is also the lesson of the disciples’ mission. Christian joy
therefore begins with receiving before achieving.
Perhaps this is the invitation of today’s Gospel: when so many
things around us can take away our peace, let us return to the deepest reason
for our joy.
We should not rejoice simply because “Something good happened to
me.”
This is the reason why St Paul said: “Rejoice always in the Lord; I
say it again, rejoice." Philippian 4:4. God is not asking us to rejoice
because of hardship, sickness, painful experience of losing a beloved one, etc.
Instead, we rejoice because we worship a God with whom nothing is impossible.
We belong to God. He knows us. He loves us. And our names is
written in heaven.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, thank you for calling us by name and sending us to be
your disciples. Keep us from seeking our joy only in success, recognition, or
what we are able to accomplish. Teach us to rejoice above all because we belong
to you and our names are written in heaven.
Give us humble and childlike hearts, open to receive what the
Father wishes to reveal. In moments of difficulty, disappointment, and
uncertainty, remind us that our deepest joy is found in knowing you, loving
you, and being loved by you.
May everything we do begin in you, be carried out in your name, and
lead us back to you. Amen.
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