14/12/2022

St Paul and all the Apostles are Jews and so become for us the link between Old and New. The message that was rejected is Jesus. And specifically the resurrected Jesus. Born of Mary and so completely human, begotten by God and so completely God.

I need to remember that I worship God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, who is also man. The 72 are sent out to preach to all the places where Jesus himself will be seen. We have the specific instructions of how they are to behave but what they are to teach is that the "Kingdom of God is very near to you".

The 72 had become followers of Jesus but they were still Jews and their teaching about God could only have been Old Testament based. For them the Kingdom of God was the kingdom of David and Solomon. It was not their, at that time, political situation where they were ruled by appointees from Rome. It is entirely possible that they understood their message as political; their understanding of Jesus was that he was the Messiah sent to free God's people.

They were right, of course, for wrong reasons. Jesus in his ongoing teaching constantly stresses  that His Kingdom is not of this world but even up to the time of the Resurrection those closest were expecting rewards in this world.

Each day the readings at mass present us with the revelations of the Scriptures. We can find in them all that God is saying to us and use them to direct our prayers.

Dear Lord let me be near to you this day and let my response to your care for me and all humanity be truly a sincere emptying of self so that you will be my all in all.