14TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR–7/4/10
by Msgr. Eric R. Barr, STL
Readings: Gal. 6:14-18, Lk 10:1-12, 17-20
I. The Fall of Satan
A. "I watched Satan fall like lightning from the sky." I just love that passage, one of my most favorite in the Bible. Remember that Luke is the Star Wars Gospel, the one that talks about the warfare between the Light and the Darkness, between Christ the Savior and Satan the Destroyer. The bad guy in Luke’s Gospel is not the Jews, or Pontius Pilate, or the sometimes dim apostles, or the other enemies of Christ. The bad guy is Satan; he’s the one that has enslaved the world and Christ is the One who has come to break apart that empire of sin, sickness and death
B. "I watched Satan fall like lightning from the sky." As the Word of God, Christ watched Lucifer, now known as Satan the Adversary, be thrown out of heaven because of his rebellion against God. Christ saw Satan fall then, and now in the Gospel, he sees Satan fall again as his disciples go out and forgive the sinner, heal the sick and raise the dead. Jesus says, "I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you." Now in our day, some foolish people think that means that they can handle poisonous snakes and drink deadly poison. No! Christ doesn’t preach stupidity, and the snakes and scorpions he is talking about are not the kind you find on Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel.
II. The Cross is the Power of Christ
A. What is this power that Jesus gives? Well, St. Paul says it clearly: May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world...From now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body." It is the Cross that gives us the power to do the great deeds that Jesus predicts of us. It is the Cross that enables us to conquer evil. It is the Cross that constantly holds up to us the image of Satan falling, falling, falling, like lightning from the sky.
B. One of the great Church Fathers (Maximus of Turin Sermon 37.5) says: "Since we possess the Lord Jesus who has freed us by his suffering, let us always look on him and hope for medicine for our wounds from his sign (of the Cross). That is to say, if perhaps the poison of greed spreads in us, we should look to him and he will heal us. If the malicious desire of the scorpion stings us, we should beg him and he will cure us. If bites of worldly thoughts tear us, we should ask him and we will live. These are the spiritual serpents of our souls. The Lord was crucified in order to crush them."
C. In other words, it is when we are close to the Cross of Christ that we have power. In practical terms that means staying close to Jesus, calling his name to our lips, not as a curse word, but as a word of power and prayer. That means trying to live his message, not just doing good deeds, but allowing goodness to be absorbed in our souls–becoming genuinely good people.
D. The disciples were successful in their mission because they were so on fire with the Lord, so close to him, that when people saw or heard them, they saw and heard Christ, so the other thing we need is transparency; we have to let Jesus shine through us and that can only happen if we truly believe that Jesus is Lord of our lives. I’ve seen churches where the power of Christ is waning, because people are not holding fast to the Cross of Christ. Here at our parish, right now, we’re doing okay, not perfect and not great, but okay. We are seen as a light of Christ, we are seen as a beacon of hope, as a sign and image of goodness, but we could be so much more. We can be comforted because of the good we have done, but we have to be challenged to be more so that any evil in our little corner of the world will be banished and on the run. That’s our task, that’s our goal, that’s how we put this Gospel into practice.
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