26th Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 3rd October 2020 — Gospel: Lk 10,17-24
Living in the Time of Fulfillment
Jesus greets his disciples as they return from their missionary journeys. They are obviously excited at how well things went. Jesus rejoices with them but redirects their enthusiasm to realize that God has been inspiring them and empowering them. His spontaneous prayer expresses his gratitude to the Father for revealing the ways of the kingdom to those who are simple and open-hearted, unhindered by preconceived ideas of how God should act. God’s “gracious will” has always worked in this way: resisting the proud and giving grace to the humble. The Father has entrusted everything to his Son, so Jesus is the channel of God’s revelation and can make him known to anyone. No one can truly understand the Father’s saving will without listening to his Son. The prophets and the kings of ancient Israel longed to see and hear the wonders of this age of salvation brought by Jesus. Yet it is given to these simple disciples to witness greatest things. Jesus then tells them that they are more fortunate than any other humans before them because they are in the presence of the Word Incarnate, the human embodiment of God’s truth and knowledge. They are indeed privileged to see the mighty works of Jesus, which resulted in the fall of Satan and his kingdom. How honoured and blessed are all disciples who live in the time of fulfillment. Living with Jesus is the time of fulfillment for all believers.
