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Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will to reveal Him."
Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it."
- Luke 10:17-24
Yesterday, we read that, after teachings on discipleship, the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.' But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me."
Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." My study bible says that I saw Satan fall describes an event that took place before the creation of the world. Five times Satan set his will against God (Isaiah 14:12-15; see also Revelation 12:7-12). We should also note that "serpents and scorpions" are images of demons and devils, putting them in the context of "all the power of the enemy." But the greatest rejoicing isn't in power -- it's in belonging to the Kingdom of heaven.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son will to reveal Him." My study bible tells us that "babes," in this context, are people of simple faith and open hearts (see 18:15-17). And Jesus refers here to the ways God works in the world, how things are revealed. It is all about relationship. He is the face of the Father in the world, He is inseparable from the Father. It is through Him we know God.
Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it." There is a powerful, extraordinary quality hidden in today's reading, and we may miss it unless we understand the reality revealed through Christ and the power over the demonic shown here to and through His disciples. It's a kind of extraordinary authority shared even with "babes." Jesus refers to the generations of those who sincerely desired to have what they have, and yet it was not revealed to them. Hidden from prophets and kings, what He has revealed to these "babes" chosen to be His apostles is a profound secret sought for ages by the wise and worldly.
It is truly remarkable to hear Jesus marvel. When He tells the disciples, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see," He's pointing out to them the amazing work of God in this ministry. So many -- the wise and powerful of the ages -- have sought what has been revealed to these apostles, made known to them. We also get the extraordinary prayer of thanks by Jesus to the Father, making the occasion doubly remarkable: "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes." He is rejoicing in the Spirit, the Gospel tells us, when He says these things. This in itself is a rather tremendous revelation; such moments aren't given to us often in the texts of the Gospels. The greatest joy of Christ is in the will of the Father, which is love. And here is love: that what was always sought by the wise and prudent has been revealed to babes. It is another way that God has "lifted up the lowly." It is a profound form of justice, as it teaches all of us what God's love is about. It's not that the "wise and prudent" do not need the love of God as well, or that they all need to be torn down. What is happening here is a message about the Kingdom. What we expect, our worldly sense of how things should be, is all turned upside down in Christ's ministry. Jesus Himself, who speaks with authority so that people marvel, has no worldly authority. He hasn't worked His way into some great position of teaching in the hierarchy of the religious establishment. None of His disciples are learned in the sense that they had already been a part of the religious rulers. What they have, though, is a capacity for love and relationship to Christ, and this is the "new wine" that must be put in "new wineskins." It's a hint about the work of the Spirit, as the text tells us Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit. Let us remember that we are assured of the fall of Satan, and the work in the world of the disciples is to express the power over the demonic that Jesus has shared with them. We are also to remember what is to come, that one of these hand-picked disciples will betray Him. There are the oppressive forces that fight the work of God, the work of Christ, and the Spirit in the world. There are those who doubt spiritual work in "babes" of all kinds, and the wisdom of babes that may be unacceptable for one reason or another within a particular hierarchy, or ways of thinking. There is a force of oppression. And then there is the force of liberation, the defeat of the "occupying" enemy, and it is a force of love and grace, a different kind of power that the "darkness doesn't comprehend" - neither perceiving nor overcoming. Let us remember Jesus' joy in the revelation to the babes. What He wants is just the currency of love, the foundation of real discipleship.
