14^th Sunday-Year C

Is 66:10-14c

Psalm 66

Gal. 6:14-18

Luke 10:1-1-12, 17-20

God is not done! Don’t give up!

Beloved, our gospel reading today is a victory song. In a world that was filled with political unrest, wars, hunger, poverty, sicknesses that had no cure, persecution, and all sorts of evil, Jesus sent his disciples, 72 men and women at the time, to bring love, healing, and peace to their society. Even though this seemed humanly impossible, the disciples returned shouting: “Yay!!!!!!!!!!! Lord, we did it!”J. Thy came back to tell Jesus, “Yes, you are so right; if we do it the way you do it, we can change the world”!

I don’t know about you; but there are times that I am tempted to think that the problems in this world are too many and too difficult for Christians to change this world for better. Do you at times feel that way too? If you are like me, don’t lose hope.  St Paul reminds us that even though the mission might seem impossible, if we keep focusing on the Cross of Jesus, we will succeed. Like the 72 disciples, we shall also run to Jesus someday and say, Yay!!!!!!, Lord, we did it! The solutions to the problems in the world lie only in the Cross of Jesus. Therefore, we should not to be afraid to boast about the Cross of Jesus, i.e the Jesus way of doing things. We should not be afraid to bring Jesus into our social life. We should not be afraid to bring Jesus into our economic life. We should not be afraid to bring Jesus into our political life. We should not be afraid to bring Jesus into all our relationships.

            Beloved, our first reading reminds us that if you bring God into a situation, things just get better. The people of Israel had returned from exile and found everything ruined. They had to rebuild their lives: house, farms, political and economic systems, and the temple. The more they worked, the worse things seemed to get. All their human efforts seemed to fail. They found themselves in one of the worse political and economic hardships in their history. They became very frustrated and were about to give up hope.  It was at this time that they remembered the Lord who had first given them the land as a gift through Abraham, their ancestor. They remembered that it was that same God who brought them back to the land after 70 years in exile. They cried to God; and the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to tell them to rejoice and hope for a better future. God told the people to believe that if He had delivered them and given them back their land, He would bless them beyond measure. He would let prosperity flow like a river; and he did. God gave them leaders who helped them rebuild their nation.

            Beloved, when you look at all the wars, terrorist attacks, social, economic and political hardships in our world today, you may be frustrated and tempted to lose hope. As we celebrate another Independence Day (July 4^th) you may be wondering whether we are ever going to defeat Isis, rebuild our society, and have peace and prosperity? God is reminding us that it was Him, who gave us this land and that He will continue to bless us with peace and prosperity. He is telling us to rejoice and hope for a better future because the best is yet to come. I cannot tell you who will become the next president of the USA; but I can tell you this: If we, as a nation, continue to cry out to God and see Christ in every human person, the best is yet to come. God is not done with our nation. God is not done with our world! God is not done with you, as a family! God is not done with you, as a person! So, don’t give up yet! The best is yet to come!