“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Tuesday, 29th November 2016,
First Week of Advent
Is 11:1-10;
Ps 71:1-2,7-8,12-13,17;
Lk 10:21-24.
BECOMING A CHILD OF GOD
The first reading reveals to us about the coming of the messiah who is filled with the Holy Spirit and who will be the great ruler of earth and heaven as the Prince of peace. Christ has already accomplished him mission (already), but we who come at a point of time, have to still accept the salvation offered by Him (not yet). The prophet, in the first reading announces a new era that would be inaugurated by the Messiah. And then comes the expected king, Jesus. We see him full of joy through the Holy Spirit and praising His Father because of the glorious triumph over evil and Satan. This victory is won even by his disciples as in the case of the seventy two disciples who also rejoiced that Satan was defeated at their hands (Lk 10: 1-17). This is the knowledge infused into the disciple by Christ – that God has saved us from sin, death and all evils. The disciples return from their first missionary journey. They are exuberant: “Even the devils submitted to us in your name, Lord!” Jesus responds by thanking his heavenly Father for having revealed his power through these ordinary folk, his disciples, and not to the learned of this world. Jesus calls them ‘little children’.
Who are the little children? They are the seventy two disciples who return from the mission: simple people without much education, but who believed in God. Therefore, if we want to understand the things of the kingdom, we should become the disciples, the little ones! The little ones perceive the action of the kingdom in the common things of life. The disciples experienced this gift of God when they invoked the name of Jesus in their preaching and healing. Today, Jesus invites us into a close relationship with him and his Father. He calls us “friends, not servants” for he has told us everything about himself; and he asks us to call God “our Father”, just as he himself does.
Prayer: Most loving Father, help me to become your little child. Amen.