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Blessed are the humble

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Luke 10:1, 20-21 (from The Message)
Jesus selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go ... After they returned he said to them, "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."

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 new-comers. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way."

Jesus turns his joy toward his Father, as he is filled with the Holy Spirit. God, who will later be theologically labeled Trinitarian, leaps and laughs and dances together with Herself. And Jesus invites his disciples into the dance. Let God take the lead, and dance all night.

On this day, Jesus is overjoyed. While his ministry teams were in the country, I think he prayed and fasted. And as he did, his spiritual vision cleared. "I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky" (Luke 10:18).

It isn't long before Jesus offends the Pharisees by calling them names and accusing them of hypocrisy. He told his disciples to stay only in the towns where they were welcomed, and he knows that his words will make that welcome more difficult to extend. But he knows he has no choice but to speak what he hears his Father saying.

All Jesus does is dance with his Father. All of Jesus' energy comes as he breathes in and out with the Holy Spirit. Because this relationship is all he is, Jesus moves from rock to rock, solid, assured, strong, peaceful.

God invites me to put my name in the place of Jesus. He made me to live this way. Jesus shows us how.

Father, I realize more and more that nothing comes out of the blue. You showed Jesus how to prepare for his public life, and you show me. Satan has fallen from his place of strength, and there is nothing that stands between you, your love, and each one of your children. I open up my hands and eyes to You.



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