3rd Wednesday of Lent (March 26). HIDDEN… REVEALED

Prepare to Listen.  O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 10:21-24
21At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  22All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’  23Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!  24For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
These words were spoken to the 70 disciples on their return from the mission Jesus sent them on.[1] to preach and heal in villages and towns he planned to visit enroute to the cross.  What do you think their eyes saw that made them blessed (v. 23)?
 
​A common theme in Luke is Jesus’ mission to reverse circumstances in favor of the poor, oppressed and rejected.  So it’s not surprising that in the first part of his prayer he thanks his Father for truths hidden from “the wise and the intelligent,” but revealed “to infants,” according to the Father’s “gracious will.”  The infants are the 70 who’d experienced God’s power and thus success in their mission.  Their power over demons[2] was evidence of God’s reign over all evil forces, evidence that Satan had already been defeated.  Jesus rejoiced because this meant that his “journey to Jerusalem is wrapped in power, not resignation.”  It assured him that the cross “will mean enthronement, not defeat.”[3]
 
The second part of his prayer is a blessing, given privately to the disciples.  “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, and ears that hear what you hear!”  This isn’t about their successful mission, but Jesus’ power to use them in defeating evil.  We’ve seen this too.  Not as the 70 saw and experienced it, but in the death and resurrection of Jesus that now empowers us.  The triumph of God’s Kingdom over evil is real, which means we can live in hope, despite the defeats and losses we experience in the here and now, both personal and national.
 
What do you see and hear about Jesus?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, you are blessed, you’ve revealed to us truth hidden to others.  Help me faithfully live it.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Live the revealed truth.
[1] Chapter 10 begins with the mission of the 70.  [2] Luke 10:17.
[3] Craddock, Fred B.  Luke.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  1990, p. 148