Why Mary is Special!

Luke 11:27-28

27 As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!” 28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

Food for thought!

Despite being the shortest Gospel Reading, only 2 verses, it is by far the most elucidating. Jesus was speaking when all of a sudden some woman interrupted him. She must have been thinking, not so much of what Jesus was saying, but of his mother. She was not thinking of the preacher but the preacher’s mother. She had been carried away by a moment of emotion.

And Jesus pulled her to reality: more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice. A short story. A pastor was preaching and one old woman was all the time crying. The pastor saw her crying and thought that she was crying because he was making a point or that he was touching her heart with his message. The more she cried, the more he preached, and the more he preached the more she cried.

After service, the pastor sought the lady to find out how the message was touching her. To his amazement, the lady replied that she was crying because as the pastor spoke and looked at his long beard, she remembered her he-goat that had suddenly died, the day earlier. She could not remember a word from the pastor’s sermon. This was the situation when Jesus was talking. And this is why Jesus reminded the woman: more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.

This said, the woman made a point. The woman that mothered Jesus is indeed blessed. Mary is a blessed woman. Period. However, and this is critically important, Mary is blessed not for having biologically mothered Jesus, she is blessed in the first place, for having head God’s Word and having said, "let it be done to me according to his word." If Mary had heard but ignored the word of God as spoken by the angel, she would never ever been blessed. It means, as Jesus put it, more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice, as Mary did. So, Jesus is not denying Mary her honour; he is teaching us the correct reason why Mary is and should be honoured.

Evil or Good Thinking!

Luke 11:14-26

Jesus delivered a man from a demon that had kept him speechless. The demon gone, the man started talking a blue streak, taking the crowd by complete surprise. 15 But some from the crowd were cynical. "Black magic," they said. "Some devil trick he's pulled from his sleeve." 16 Others were skeptical, waiting around for him to prove himself with a spectacular miracle. 17 Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, "Any country in civil war for very long is wasted. A constantly squabbling family falls to pieces. 18 If Satan cancels Satan, is there any Satan left? You accuse me of ganging up with the Devil, the prince of demons, to cast out demons, 19 but if you're slinging devil mud at me, calling me a devil who kicks out devils, doesn't the same mud stick to your own exorcists? 20 But if it's God's finger I'm pointing that sends the demons on their way, then God's kingdom is here for sure. 21" When a strong man, armed to the teeth, stands guard in his front yard, his property is safe and sound. 22 But what if a stronger man comes along with superior weapons? Then he's beaten at his own game, the arsenal that gave him such confidence hauled off, and his precious possessions plundered.

23 "This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse. 24" When a corrupting spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn't find anyone, it says, 'I'll go back to my old haunt.' 25 On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant. 26 It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place. "

Food for thought!

When Jesus' enemies were helpless to oppose him by fair means they resorted to slander. They declared that his power over the demons was due to the fact that he was in league with the prince of demons. They attributed his power not to God but to the devil.

This is sad. Calling good as evil; calling Jesus as agent of the devil. This normally happens when we don't like someone; everything that person does will look evil to us; it is then that we resort to slander.

There is nothing so cruel as slander, for it is apt to stick because the human mind always tends to think the worst and very often the human ear prefers to hear the derogatory rather than the complimentary tale. We need not think that we are free of that particular sin. How often do we tend to think the worst of the people we hate?

THE PERIL OF THE EMPTY SOUL

Here is a grim and terrible story. There was a man from whom an unclean spirit was expelled. It wandered seeking rest and found none. It determined to return to the man. It found his soul swept and garnished--but empty. So the spirit went and collected seven spirits worse than itself and came back and entered in; and the man's last state was worse than his first.

(i) Here is the fundamental truth that you cannot leave the soul empty. It is not enough to banish the evil thoughts and the evil habits and the old ways and leave the soul empty. An empty soul is a soul in peril. We've got to fill a man with something. It is not enough to drive out evil; good must come in.

(ii) The best way to avoid evil is to do good. The loveliest garden I ever saw was so full of flowers that there was scarcely room for a weed to grow. In no garden is it enough to uproot weeds; flowers must be sown and planted until the space is filled. Nowhere is this truer than in the world of thoughts. Often we may be troubled with wrong thoughts. If we go no further than to say to ourselves, "I will not think about that," all we do is fix our thoughts upon it more and more. The cure is to think of something else, to banish the evil thought by thinking a good thought. We never become good by not doing things, but by filling life with lovely things.

Phillipians 4:8

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-- the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

God is a person, not a thing!

Luke 11:5-13

5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. 9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?

 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Food for thought!

Yesterday, Jesus taught us to call God a person, the Father. What Jesus is teaching us is to personalize God. Why is this important? Because for many of us God is a thing, a power or a force. Just that. We depersonalize God by generalizing him — God as an idea, God as a force, God as a dogma. But since we can’t love an idea or a force or a dogma, we effectively end up respecting God but not love him, because we cannot love a thing; we can only love a person.

So what Jesus did yesterday and today, is to immerse us in a way of language that keeps us thoroughly and absolutely personal in our approach to God, which is to say, in our prayers. What Jesus is doing since yesterday, is to teach us what he does: deal with God as a person, and not as a thing. Thus, the name Father.

Jesus tells this story to get us immediately and personally present to our God in the same way that he does. God is not a thing but a person: "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. 11 If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? 12 If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? 13 As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing--you're at least decent to your own children. And don't you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?"

Prayer is about one friend talking to another friend. By the way, did you notice the word friend? The term “friend” is used to refer to each person in the story: the friend in bed who is being asked for the bread (v. 5), the friend who arrives hungry at midnight (v. 6), and the friend who asks for the bread (v. 8). Everyone in the story is designated “friend.” Three friends. Just as none of us is indifferent to fathers and friends, so does our heavenly Father.

What this means is that prayer can be learned only in the vocabulary and grammar of personal relationship: Father! Friend! It can never be a matter of getting the right words in the right order. It can never be a matter of good behavior or proper disposition or skillful manipulation. It can never be a matter of acquiring some information about God or getting in touch with myself. It is a relationship, exclusively and unendingly personal.

Jesus concludes his teaching on prayer with this: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to whose who ask him!” (Luke 11: 13). Holy Spirit? We thought we were asking for bread for ourselves and for our friend. We thought we were asking for a fish and eggs. And we were. We are. But by introducing the term “Holy Spirit” into the conversation, Jesus anchors our understanding of the words and ways of God in the details of each and every hour of each and every day. Holy Spirit is God’s way of being personally with us in all our listening and speaking and acting. God is in all the particulars of our lives and our friends’ and neighbors’ lives. God is comprehensively and personally present.

(Further reading, Peterson, Eugene (2010-03-18). The Word Made Flesh (p. 55). Hachette Littlehampton. Kindle Edition.)

This is how you should pray!

Luke 11:1-4

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. 3 Give us each day the food we need, 4 and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.”

Food for thought!

This is Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. It is shorter than Matthew's, but it will teach us all we need to know about how to pray and what to pray for. First, how to pray:

(i) It begins by calling God Father. The very first word tells us that in prayer we are not coming to someone out of whom gifts have to be unwillingly extracted, but to a Father who delights to supply his children's needs. Psalm 9:10 says, "Those who know thy name put their trust in thee." That means that those who really know God as Father, and treat Him as such, will gladly put their trust in him, when they pray.

(ii) We must note particularly the order of the Lord's Prayer. Before anything is asked for ourselves, Father and his glory, and the reverence due to him, come first. Only when we give God his place will other things take their proper place. It means that we first think of Him before we think of ourselves; first the Father, then we.

Secondly, what to pray for. We pray for all of life and all in life. Prayer covers all life.

(a) It covers present need. When we pray, Give us our daily bread! we pray for our daily bread; but it is bread for the day for which we pray. We are not to worry about the unknown future, but to live a day at a time. We focus on today first.

(b) It covers past. When we pray, Forgive us our sins! we remember our past deeds and ask the Father to correct them; we pray for forgiveness, for the best of us is a sinful man or woman coming before the Holy Father.

(c) It covers future trials. When we pray, Lead us not into temptation! We mean any testing situation. It includes far more than the mere seduction to sin; it covers every situation which is a challenge to and a test of a person's wo/manhood and integrity and fidelity. We cannot escape it, but we can meet it with God. We tell the Father to help us not to yield to the temptations.

As you can see, in prayer we bring before our Father our present, past and future concerns. There's nothing we live out in prayer. In other words, there's a lot we can pray for.

Someone has said that the Lord's Prayer has two great uses in our private prayers. If we use it at the beginning of our devotions and activities, it awakens all kinds of holy desires which lead us on into the right pathways of prayer. If we use it at the end of our devotions and activities, it sums up all we ought to pray for in the presence of God.

Mary & Martha!

Luke 10:38-42

 As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. 39 She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. 40 But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand." 41 The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. 42 One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it--it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."

Food for thought!

Do you have Marthas in your life? I mean people like the woman of the gospel called Martha? People who are not happy that you wake up everyday and come/go to church or sit down before or after work in some quite place for meditation? People who see your devotion as waste of time? They are normally people  that are too busy for the Lord, too busy for prayer,  too busy for quite moments or anything spiritual. People who interrupt you whenever you try to sit down for Jesus.

Or you are the Martha, always pulled away by all you have to do in your life? Like Martha, do you often interrupt someone or some people in their prayers or their meditation or their devotions? Jesus has a word for both Martha and Mary.

Or you are both Mary and Martha? You have a part of you that is like Mary that wants to sit down for prayer and meditation and reflection? And another part of you that is always busy, always dynamic, always in action, always on the move?

Do you sometimes feel a clash in you or a fight within you, whereby whenever you sit for Jesus you feel as if you are wasting time? Do you sometimes feel guilty when you don't find time for prayer because of your busy schedule at work? Do you sometimes feel that you  are not praying nor playing enough? Did you notice that Mary and Martha are sisters? In other words, the two are not supposed to be rivals nor enemies but sisters and friends?

A balanced life is lived with both Mary and Martha together. We cannot all be Martha all day and all days. We cannot all be Mary all day and all days. We need to pray but also to work. In the world, in the home and in every life, we need prayers but also players. A good life is like a good home where Marthas and Marys live in peace and harmony. It is this kind of home that Jesus visits.

Some people are naturally dynamos of activity; others are naturally quiet. It is hard for the active person to understand the person who sits and contemplates. And the person who is devoted to quiet times and meditation is apt to look down on the person who would rather be active. This should not be so, because God did not make everyone alike. God needs his Marys and his Marthas, too. That's why He made them as sisters.

We cannot spend life as Marys (Sundays); we cannot spend all life as Marthas (weekdays). Life should be lived from Sundays to Mondays, from Marys to Marthas, from contemplation to action, from words to works.

From words to works!

25 Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” 27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.” 28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. 32 So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. 34 He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ʻTake care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.ʼ 36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

Food for thought!

“You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

These words introduce us into our meditation for today. They also prepare us to begin our workweek. Yesterday, many people were at some church, and one of the things we do in churches is the Profession of Faith. The whole Mass, in general, and the Creed, in particular, is about talking, praising, singing and praying.

Most of us have learned what we say at Mass so much that we don't apply much effort to say what we say. It comes quite naturally to answer the prayers, just like the man in today's Gospel Reading. He said quite naturally: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.”

And then Jesus told him, and tells us, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Sunday is about saying, like the man in the gospel. Monday, is about doing. We have to move from Sunday to Monday, from words to works, from acts of faith to faith of acts. Jesus tells us as he told that man, do and you will live. Like the Samaritan in the gospel, we have to put our faith into action. The others in the story, the priest and Levite, didn't do anything to the man. A priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ʻTake care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.ʼ

A heretic he may be, but the love of God is in his heart. Sometimes the orthodox are interested in defending dogmas and theologies than in helping the needy; yes, sometimes those we despise as unfaithful are the true Samaritans of today. In the end we will be judged not by the creed we held and professed but by the needy we helped; not by our answers but by our practice. It is not enough to know, it is important to do; good words do not substitute for good works.

“You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (From words to works).

Are you bitter or better!

Luke 17:5-10

The apostles came up and said to the Jesus, “Give us more faith.” But Jesus said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.

“Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, ‘Sit down and eat’? Wouldn’t you be more likely to say, ‘Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I’ve finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper’? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.’”

Food for thought!

When you have done your best!

Imagine for a moment that you have reached the end of your life and are reflecting on the many and varied scenarios that have comprised your world. Wouldn’t you want to look back with pride, knowing you had made the best of each situation, regardless of how difficult it may have been? Isn’t this better than looking back and sorrowfully wishing you had handled things differently?

To guard against possible regrets, it is important to handle every experience to the best of your current ability. You may have to practice more patience; strive a little harder to accomplish your goal; reach inside yourself a little deeper to garner greater strength; and muster a little more faith in God and yourself. You may need to make a commitment to push yourself harder and farther than at any time in the past.

After you have given everything you feel you have to give and still seem to come up short, there is nothing to be ashamed of because you have done your best. You can experience the inner peace of those who know they gave their all. You can be a success regardless of the outcome. You can be better, not bitter, from the experience because you know you really gave your best effort. The commitment of giving your best at all times enables one to find value in—and lend value to—every experience in life. Take what is given to you to accomplish today, and make it a most wonderful expression of your gifts and talents. Utilizing your inner resources in this manner, you can look back over the events of your life with satisfaction and peace of mind, because there will likely be no regrets.

We can become bitter or better as a result of our experiences —Eric Butterworth

Celebrate your successes with caution!

Luke 10:17-24

17 The seventy came back triumphant. "Master, even the demons danced to your tune!" 18 Jesus said, "I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. 19 See what I've given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. 20 All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you-- that's the agenda for rejoicing." 21 At that, Jesus rejoiced, exuberant in the Holy Spirit. "I thank you, Father, Master of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the know- it- alls and showed them to these innocent newcomers. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way. 22" I've been given it all by my Father! Only the Father knows who the Son is and only the Son knows who the Father is. The Son can introduce the Father to anyone he wants to. " 23 He then turned in a private aside to his disciples." Fortunate the eyes that see what you're seeing! 24 There are plenty of prophets and kings who would have given their right arm to see what you are seeing but never got so much as a glimpse, to hear what you are hearing but never got so much as a whisper. "

Food for thought!

When the Seventy disciples returned on their first weekend, they were radiant with the triumphs which they had wrought in the name of Jesus; they had achieved a lot. They were happy for their results, just as we are at the end of the month or at weekend. It is good to celebrate our victories, our successes. It is good to tell Jesus, not only our problems, but also our successes. Some of us talk to the Lord only when we are afflicted, never when we are celebrating our milestones.

However, many times our joy is misplaced and/or breeds pride. After telling Jesus about their victories, Jesus immediately said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven." That is a difficult phrase to understand. It may have been a warning against pride. The legend was that it was for pride towards God that Satan was cast out of heaven and glory. It may be that Jesus was saying to the rejoicing disciples, "You have had your triumphs; keep yourselves from pride, for once the chief of all the angels fell to pride and was cast from heaven."

Certainly Jesus went on to warn his disciples against pride and over-confidence. It was true that they were given all power, but their greatest glory was that their names were written in heaven. It will always remain true that our greatest glory is not what we have done but what God has done for us. 

We should rejoice not because we made so much money this week, or that we broke so many deals, or that we have had so much success this week; we should rejoice rather because the Lord has used us to serve his people. In other words, we rejoice for being known by heaven, and for having our names written in heaven. This is the true cause for joy and glory.

Be grateful!

Luke 10:13-16

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! If Tyre and Sidon had been given half the chances given you, they'd have been on their knees long ago, repenting and crying for mercy. 14 Tyre and Sidon will have it easy on Judgment Day compared to you. 15" And you, Capernaum! Do you think you're about to be promoted to heaven? Think again. You're on a mud slide to hell. 16 "The one who listens to you, listens to me. The one who rejects you, rejects me. And rejecting me is the same as rejecting God, who sent me."

Food for thought!

This gospel reminds us that to have heard God's word is both a great privilege and great responsibility. Everyone will be judged according to what he has had the chance to know; the little or the more we know is always enough to either save us or condemn us. We allow things in a child we condemn in an adult; we forgive things in a mad person we punish in a normal man. Responsibility is the other side of privilege. And privilege is the other side of responsibility. Whatever we have been given in this life, both spiritual and material, is both a gift and a task.

In other words, God has equipped each one of us for a task; we are custom-built for something. We are what we are, we are where we are for a purpose. If someone else had been given half the chances and opportunities given us, " they'd have been on their knees long ago, repenting and crying for mercy."

Let us be grateful for all life has given us, like work, family, health, etc.

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, spent the years after his time in the Nazi concentration camps trying to give back to others. He taught as a professor at Boston University. He also travelled extensively giving talks and sharing the wisdom he gained from his life experiences. One of the questions he asked young people was, “How will you cope with the privileges and obligations society will feel entitled to place on you?” As he tried to guide them, he shared his sense of responsibility to others: What I receive I must pass on to others. The knowledge that I have must not remain imprisoned in my brain. I owe it to many men and women to do something with it. I feel the need to pay back what was given to me. Call it gratitude . . . To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been there before me, and I walk in their footsteps."

Overwhelmed? Get on your knees!

Luke 10:1-12

10 After this the Lord chose seventy-two others and sent them out two by two, to go ahead of him to every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 He said to them, “There is a large harvest, but few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest. 3 Go! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. 4 Don't take a purse or a beggar's bag or shoes; don't stop to greet anyone on the road. 5 Whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’ 6 If someone who is peace-loving lives there, let your greeting of peace remain on that person; if not, take back your greeting of peace. 7 Stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you, for workers should be given their pay. Don't move around from one house to another. 8 Whenever you go into a town and are made welcome, eat what is set before you, 9 heal the sick in that town, and say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near you.’ 10 But whenever you go into a town and are not welcomed, go out in the streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. But remember that the Kingdom of God has come near you!’ 12 I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to that town!

Food for thought!

The Lord selected seventy OTHERS and sent them. This statement is very revealing. It tells that Jesus worked and works, not only with the twelve apostles, but with many others. It is a gross misunderstanding to hold that the Lord worked with only the twelve apostles; that the Lord works only with bishops and priests and nuns. In all times, even in ours, there are many OTHERS, nameless men and women chosen to help Jesus.

As the Gospel says, he "sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go." These people were chosen to represent Jesus. As we know, Jesus never could have been in 35 cities (35 pairs), in the short three years that lasted his ministry. He however, devised a way of multiplying himself, so much so that he did go to 35 places without going there! This is normally called delegation. It means that Jesus also delegated. Why? Because delegation multiplies us. It frees us up to do other things that are a better use of our time and talents.  I wonder what Jesus stayed doing when the 70 went out!

With the 70 others, Jesus teaches us some truths about delegation. First and foremost He is teaching us what we know: we dream alone but we never realize our dreams alone. We need a team; we have to delegate.

In your professional life, do you ever imagine yourself as being part of Jesus' team? Do you know that you're Jesus' delegate whenever you are and go? Do you realize that your ultimate manager is Jesus? Do you ever talk to him about your job, asking him to send you more human resources, more financial resources, more customers, more opportunities? Do you listen when the Lord tells you what to do and how to do it? Do you ever pray at your workplace?

Jesus gave them this charge: "What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands."

Are you feeling overwhelmed by your situation? Do you sometimes feel like a lamb in a wolf pack, that is, surrounded and threatened by adversaries? Do you sometimes feel the Lord is sending you, as he did to 72 disciples,  among wolves, ready to devour you? Well, get on your knees. This is the advice from him who sends you thus. And when you have prayed, when you have been on your knees, when you have prayed about it, get up and go straight and face the very challenge that was threatening you.

It is interesting to note that Jesus, after telling us to pray, he commends us to be careful. In other words, we are not going to be reckless just because we have been on our knees; prayer does not replace carefulness; prayer is not recklessness. Prayer means wakefulness. In other words, as we normally say, trust in God but lock your house or car!