Today’s Advent Reflection is from Jo Oughton
The Agenda for Rejoicing.
Luke 10:1-20
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” 12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
13 ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But at the judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.
16 ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18 He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
Reflection
At this time of year, we often seem to be too busy. Too busy to take time out to meet with God, too busy to spend time with the family, after all, we can do that at Christmas. Perhaps the last thing we are thinking about is going out into the world to talk about our faith.
I have been obsessing about red cushion covers for on my sofa, I have spent hours looking for cheap velvet cushions, preferably second hand, but definitely cheap. I have at times felt that Christmas will be ruined if I don’t have my house decorated in the best Christmas style and if I haven’t bought the best stocking fillers. In fact, these things have seemed most important and have taken my eye off other things that may seem more Important in the long run. Daily prayer and reflection can get lost during busy or high stress times, let alone sharing our faith with others. Yet today’s reading asks a lot of us.
3 “On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You’re like lambs in a wolf pack.”
4 “Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.”
Perhaps this year we are tempted to run away with little or no luggage to a strange land to tell them all about Jesus, but I suspect we are mostly excited by the thought of travel. If like me the most exciting place you have been recently is a supermarket or a dog park, perhaps the thought of going out into the world and meeting strangers feels exciting. Even so I am not sure I would be able to trust the goodwill of others or to shake the dust from my feet if they were not welcoming. Of course, this was written for a pre covid world, and so today what would following this verse look like?
Perhaps the town we enter consists of the people we come into contact with, either face to masked face, within our family and bubble, on the phone, by Zoom, on social media or any of the other ways we get human contact at the moment. When we interact with people, are we telling them about God’s Kingdom? Are we walking alongside them in their lives with advice, love and prayer?
It can feel hard to bring God up with people, but often when we do, it’s so nice to connect with someone on a deeper level that I’ve often wondered at my past reticence. We have to practise to get better at things, we train to run faster, we practise painting to improve our skills, maybe we use an app to learn a foreign language so we also need to practise sharing our faith with others.
How can you share your faith today? Do you need to feel closer to God before you start to practise? What stops you from sharing?
This reading ends in triumph, the pairs that Jesus sent out come back triumphant. They have changed lives and defeated some of the darkness in the world. All the same, the great triumph is not in their authority over evil, but in God’s authority over them and his presence.
Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing. We could do with people out there defeating some of the darkness now! Will you join in this harvest and help?
I hope so.