The Seventy

What have you seen or heard that has given you greater confidence in yourself?

Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.' - Luke 10:23-24

When I read today's Gospel, I imagine that Jesus is telling his disciples the things he has told them and shown them are what he is talking about.

But what if he is not just talking to them?  What is he showing and telling us today that we may not be seeing and hearing?

Jesus sent seventy of his disciples out into the world to perform remarkable acts of healing, and when they returned, he told them their names are written in heaven.

They believed in the power of the Spirit because they saw and heard what it could do through them. 

Through their confidence in Him, they gained confidence in themselves, so great that even the prophets would have envied them.

So, what is it we could do with the help of the Spirit, that we just lack the confidence to do?

What is the point of inviting the powerful Spirit of God to dwell within us, if we fail to work with it to do God's work?

We can believe that the twelve disciples were special, having been called by Jesus to learn from him and take his message out to the world, but if they represent the chosen of our faith, what about the seventy?

Don't they represent us?

If they could do amazing things, so could we.

So, I think it is time for us to go out and amaze the world with our faith.  We just might hear and see things we never expected or imagined.

More to come...