Fore-feast of the Encounter; the Holy Martyr Tryphon (249-51)
Romans 8:28-39; Luke 10:19-21
Read Luke 10:19-21
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus (Mt. 28:18). At various times during His ministry, Jesus delegates His authority to others. Immediately after Jesus declares that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him, He commissions His disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). When Jesus rises from the dead, He appears to Mary Magdalene. That same evening, Jesus appears amongst the disciples although the doors are shut and says to them, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you,” and then “He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (Jn. 20:21-23). At one point during His ministry, Christ called His twelve disciples to Him and “gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease” (Mt. 10:1; Cf. Lk. 9:1).
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says to the seventy disciples He appointed, “See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you” (Lk. 10:19). Even the spirits must submit to His disciples! However, the spirits submit to them not because they themselves are so great or powerful but rather because they exercise the power of God by Christ’s authority. Jesus does not want His disciples to rejoice in the fact that they exercise this power but rather “that [their] names are written in heaven” (Lk. 10:20).
Although bishops and priests have been entrusted to exercise larger degrees of Christ’s authority, as baptized Christians every one of us shares in Christ’s roles as priest, prophet, and king and exercises His authority accordingly. The fact that we possess this authority is not something that any Christian should be prideful of because we need to recognize it as a gift given to us. The power belongs to God, not to us or our bishops or priests. Tomorrow we celebrate the Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord in which we remember Christ, God incarnate, “meeting” His people Israel through the persons of Simeon and Anna at the Temple. The old law was being fulfilled in Christ; the Aaronic priesthood was replaced by the priesthood of Christ. It is this priesthood in which all the baptized share.