Reflection on Luke 10:21-24

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

To understand today’s Gospel, we must go to the beginning of chapter 10 of Luke’s Gospel. It tells us that Jesus appointed seventy disciples and sent them in pairs to the towns he himself intended to visit and to say to the people, “The Kingdom of God has come near to you” (10:9b). After the seventy had done their work and returned from the mission, they reported to Jesus what transpired in the course of their preaching: “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us” (10:17). Upon hearing their testimony, today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and began to say:

 I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants…All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Lk. 10:21-22).

Sister and brothers, in those words Jesus addresses his Father and in the process reveals his own deepest identity in the Holy Trinity. Now, it is important to bear in mind that this is not just a good and holy man addressing God, but rather the very Son of God addressing his Father. And what we learn from his prayer, his address to his Father is that we too have been given a share in the inner life of God. He thanks his Father for concealing these things from the wise and the learned. So, the question then is, what “things?” What are the “things” that have been concealed from the learned and revealed to the little ones? They are nothing other than the mystery of Jesus’ relationship to the Father, the power that is hidden in the name of Jesus, the fact that a new Kingdom is being established, a Kingdom of love, hope, peace, justice, compassion, and joy, a Kingdom where darkness and evil can no long hold sway. 

We are not powerless people. A Christian is a power packed individual. In the name of Jesus we can do exploits. There is no other name that can guarantee us salvation, healing, peace, true freedom and protection but the name of Jesus. There is healing in that name. So, what are your fears, concerns, worries, anxieties? Whatever it is, have you prayed in the name of Jesus over all that trouble you? When the 70 disciples invoked the name of Jesus, demons submitted to them. Jesus himself saw Satan, Lucifer, the leader of the kingdom of darkness fall down from heaven like a flash of lightning. We have the same power to unseat and dethrone all the problems that the enemy throws at us. The name of Jesus is a strong tower, those who run into that name will be saved and protected. The name of Jesus is as powerful and efficacious as it was in the old. Call upon the name of Jesus and watch as demons submit to him. The power in the name of Jesus is unconquerable.