Dear Parish Family, 

To understand our First Reading from Isaiah more fully, we have to reflect upon the centrality and importance of the temple in Jerusalem. That building was the dwelling place of God and the reminder of the covenant of God’s fidelity. It was the foundation of Israel‘s presence as God’s chosen people. These people were what the Temple said they were. It became the celebration place for Israel’s identity, their history and their future. Just as the Temple was a place of encounter between God and God’s people, in coming to the Temple people will in turn will become ‘light to the Nations.”

We are listening to verses from the final chapter of this series of poems and the verse immediately preceding our reading pictures God in a maternal posture of conception and giving birth. The Temple itself is also in a maternal posture giving birth and consoling nourishment. The presence of God is again a blessing for all, who, like young children, sit in her lap and are comforted by her motherly gestures of faithful love. Those who find life and strength from such sustenance will live their lives as faithful children in service to their God.

We hear a rather extended “pep talk” by Jesus in today’s Gospel as final instruction for his disciples. As Moses selected seventy elders to guide and govern his people, so Luke positions Jesus as a Moses, sending out seventy-two advance men and women to make known his coming. The basic thrust of his instruction is that they are to depend on nothing and nobody except the Spirit which Jesus sends with them. We hear of their joyous return and their excited report of all they have done and seen.

Jesus receives their report and reminds them that what they had experienced was that they belong dependently for their identity on God. Jesus is the “kingdom of God,” which is close at hand. The ones sent are how that “kingdom” will be handed on. They will see and do great things, but even greater are the works that will be done through them without their knowing it.

Both these reading with their rich imagery should impact us as a worshipping community. Our coming together to the Church makes us all like a ‘temple’ where other people can encounter God. It is almost like in a media saturated world, the only advertisement that God uses are His faithful people. Many of us are hesitant to acknowledge or accept this role because we might feel incompetent or unworthy. This is where the Gospel instruction punches holes in our objections as Jesus stresses the fact that we are just instruments and it is the Spirit that does the real work. What is required of us is our willingness. Once we cross this threshold of willingness, we will meet a God of surprises who will fill our lives with challenges but also with joys that the world cannot give or take away.