"I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you."

The Daily Prayer of the Church continues today with the 10^th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke:

The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 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. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

At 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. All 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.’

Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For 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.’ (Lk. 10: 17-23).

Jesus tells his disciples that he has given them “authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.”  Some of our Christian sisters and brothers have taken this passage quite literally.  But let’s look at what Jesus is saying more closely.  You may recall that in the Book of Genesis, Satan is described as a serpent.  The context of today’s passage has the disciples telling Jesus that:  “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!”  And Jesus responds, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 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.”  Jesus is telling his disciples, and you and me, that he has given us, his Church, authority over Satan—Satan has no power over us if we are with Jesus and Satan cannot hurt us if we are with Jesus.  As St. Paul told us, “If God is for us, who can be against?”  Rm. 8:31.

Let us pray:  Almighty and loving God, as we follow Your son, Jesus, may we recognize the tempter when he comes; let it be your bread we eat, your world we serve and you alone we worship.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Thursday, 16 May, Sharing Your Faith Dinner at Jo and Jim Bremer’s home.

Sunday is Pentecost!  Wear red.  We will baptize Kensleigh Paige Florence and Jeremiah James Florence.

8 June 2013: Gospel by the Sea.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

Your servant in Christ,

The Rev. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550