6 July 2025

6 July 2025 - 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transcript

Reading:  

Luke 10:17-20

Write:  

The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name."

Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to 'tread upon serpents' and  scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.  Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

Reflect:   

When did Jesus see Satan falling from the sky? To be honest, I always thought he was referencing the fall of Satan before the creation of Adam and Eve. I always thought this was a glimpse into the majestic power of Jesus as God.

But now… I’m not so sure. It is partly that, but I think Jesus was referencing something that happened when He turned loose the seventy-two.

Apply:   

Think about it! Jesus has just given his disciples – his expanded group of disciples – a commission, an authority as it were when he sent them out on their evangelistic mission. And we hear about the success they had with just one line: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name."

How many of you remember having a success in some job that you tried to do? You couldn’t wait to call and tell somebody! Am I right? Well that is where the seventy-two disciples were at with Jesus. They had witnessed Him do all kinds of miraculous things, but now they were doing the same kinds of things – in His Name.

The kingdom of evil – the kingdom of Satan – was showing signs of crumbling. Jesus acknowledged that with what he observed when “Satan fell like lightning.” Remember, the speed of lightning is a lot faster than the speed of gravity! (Just sayin’!) But this is the result of the early evangelization of the church that began when Jesus was still with them on earth.

When God got involved, Satan never stood a chance.

But Jesus doesn’t just stop there. He goes on to talk about the power of evangelization and the power over the kingdom of darkness, symbolized by the serpents and scorpions, that his followers would have. [This has – in the history of Christianity – given rise to some silliness about deliberate poisonous snakes handlers. Yes, there were some Protestant groups that did that. Thankfully that is not part of our Catholic faith.] But as the quote from Jesus said in today’s gospel: “I have given you the power [over] the full force of the enemy.”

So why do we still fall into sin? Why do we still let temptation attack us and at times succeed in wounding us? May I suggest that we have not taken this little story of the gospel as seriously as we should. In another place Jesus says that his disciples will judge angels! I think that really means the demons – those former angels who chose to follow Satan as he “fell like lightning from the sky.” So we need to learn what it means to have the authority of Jesus – and because of our baptisms, we all have that authority!

I imagine all of us at some point in time in our life have stood with Jesus in our faith and faced down temptation; we have stood with Jesus and rejected sin. But…. why does it come back at us? There are a couple of points I want to make with that.

First of all, the devil hates us, and even though he is wounded when we succeed, he still keeps coming back at us. He will never stop doing that until we are face-to-face to God (which is a place he can never tolerate anymore). Did you ever hear this line? The devil thought he defeated me when he saw me on my knees, but he began to tremble when he heard me say “Amen” and I stood up.

The other point has to do with Jesus’ comment at the end of the gospel: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven." – THAT is what really makes the demons tremble. I think that if we really knew the authority that God has given us in Christ, and how much he wishes to help us overcome temptation and sin, the world around us would be very different.

Who are we as children of God? We are part of the royal family! Princes and princesses in the kingdom. We are not to be spoiled brats, but true nobility, having the authority of the King to back us up. That is why the greatest gift we have – in my opinion – is the power of the sign of the cross. When we are tempted, make the sign of the cross. When we are out in the world, make the sign of the cross.

Hispanic culture, if you have noticed, often has them kissing their thumb when it is pressed against their index finger. Well, hold that out away from you. What do you see? It is the cross. According to the legend I heard, that began in Spain when Spain had been invaded from North Africa by the Muslims. Christians were not allowed to wear crosses – at all. But the people found a way to keep a cross in their hand, even if they were not allowed to wear one.

There are parts of the Western world today that want us to push into a corner of our lives the power of the cross – the power of Jesus. It is time for us to again be like the seventy-two and accept the commission we have been given by Christ to take him into the world. If we do, how much of our world will change? How much of Satan’s wounded kingdom will be wounded even deeper? How much more will we learn to rejoice in what God has done for us as we do his work to bring others to him?

When will we learn to use the power of His Most Holy Name? As Paul’s letter to the Philippians says: “at the name of Jesus, every knee must bend, in the heavens on the earth and under the earth and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord!” This is what the seventy-two learned. This is what we need to learn today.

(Gaither’s The Name of Jesus) I have sung this song before, but I want to close with it yet again.

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