“A debriefing”
Meditation – Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Luke 10:17-24 (Forward, p. 37) CEV p. 1073
Here Jesus practices something that moderns have learned about, often neglecting it to their peril, or at very least, to their detriment. It is the practice of having a feedback or debriefing session. This is absolutely necessary after a tragic or unduly negative experience but is equally helpful after a more positive one.
Here Jesus does this with the seventy-two followers He had sent out on a missions trip. They are absolutely ecstatic at their success: “Lord, even the demons obeyed when we spoke in your name!’ And, Jesus, correctly and rightfully, echoed that success and affirmed it: “I saw Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” And what is more, is that He now tells them, ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet.’ “I have given you power to trample on snakes and scorpions and to defeat the power of your enemy Satan. Nothing can harm you.” But then, He sets all this into its proper context. All this is for nothing if you don’t have a proper relationship with God: “But don’t be happy because evil spirits obey you. Be happy that your names are written in heaven!” This is what truly counts.
Here, however, Jesus interrupts His discourse to speak, instead, to His heavenly Father. He thanks and praises Him for revealing all this to such ordinary people as these disciples of Him, rather than to wise and educated people. (Here, interestingly, Jesus echoes much of what the evangelist John records Him as saying, and as the apostle Paul would later say). And yes, this is one of the glories of the gospel. It is not limited to the specially endowed ones, those blessed with special knowledge or insight, as the Gnostics believed. It is not a gospel or a message only for the intelligencia but for everyone, for all of us.
Turning again to the disciples, He tells them in private, “You are really blessed to see what you see! Many prophets and kings were eager to see
what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.” And, as those disciples were truly blessed, even more so are we today. We know the full breadth of Jesus’ ministry, what He said and what He did. We have His promised Holy Spirit to abide with us and reside in us forever. And we have His written word, the Scriptures, to teach and guide us. We are truly privileged—but then, with this privilege, also comes a responsibility. We are to live it in our lives, and to share it whenever and however we can. We have such a privilege and such a responsibility. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!’” (verse 23).
“On a summer afternoon in Tennessee, I gathered with ministry partners to celebrate our ecumenical and secular work serving migrants—and specifically those in the LGBTQ+ community. We exchanged stories and information and then came together afterward for worship. The service was joyous, and spirit filled.
“In that moment, I was reminded that all the love we share for this community came to us first from God. We are serving as God’s ministers in the world, much like the seventy-two Jesus appointed in this passage from Luke to go on ahead and proclaim to all, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
“When the seventy-two returned triumphant, Jesus gives thanks for their work and gently reminds them that the power they use to serve others comes to them through him. He has revealed to them the love of God. I continue to be blessed every day as I walk in the power of the Spirit to serve the world.”
Moving Forward: “How are you working to reveal the kingdom of God.”